Green Crime

Situ and Emmons

Environmental crime is 'an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law'

What is the problem with this definition?

Laws are socially constructed and changed from place and time.
Representing dominant groups- big corporations are committing the most crime

What is green criminology?

Crimes against the environment.
Linked to globalisation and the increased interconnectedness of societies.

Traditional criminology

An argument that to tackle green crime we need to take a transgressive approach.

AO2/3: David Attenborough Blue Planet 2

8 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean every year

White

Any action that harms the environment and/or the (non) human animals within it regardless of whether a law has been broken or not.

Green criminology is a form of transgressive criminology- it includes new issues and oversteps boundaries.

Transgressive approach

Globalisation has increased green crime.
Traditional laws have fallen behind- pollution, deforestation: not illegal, difficult to police.

Crimes against the environment are seen as less deviant than theft (blue collar crime).
Pollution affects the globe- countries have different laws-> socially constructed.

AO2- Bhopal

The Union Carbide factory leaked a poisonous gas- illegal in the US.
25,000 died approx, 120,000 still suffering
The parent company is the US escaped prosecution- paid a low $410M for all victims.
Not clear if it was green crime or corporate negligence- caused huge social and environmental harm.

Snider

Rich make the laws

Sayer

Loopholes in the law

Taylor

Growing inequalities- the rich commit crimes for profits.

White - anthropocentric view

Human centered world view- humans have the right to dominate nature and consume as they wish.
Puts economic growth before the environment.

White - ecocentric view

Humans and the environment are interdependent.
Environmental harm also causes harm to humans.
Both humans and the environment are likely to be the victim of exploitation from global capitalism.

AO2- BP oil spill (2010)

BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
3 companies- BP, Transocean, Halliburton.
Companies were omnipresent- all in the pursuit of profit.
US regulations were inadequate , no requirement that the cement plug needed to be tested, 11 people died.

Application to White

Any action that is causing harm is a green crime.
Systematic failings from BP, Halliburton, Transocean, US govt.
Lobbying to not increase regulation.

South et al

Primary green crime
Secondary green crime

Primary Green crime

Crimes that directly cause the destruction of the Earth e.g., deforestation, air pollution

Secondary Green crime

Breaking the rules that could prevent environmental disasters e.g., letting sewage into rivers (Thames Water)

Greenpeace- 1985

French government authorised the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior as it was blocking their nuclear bombing site

Beck: Risk Society

We are more aware of the risks posed to us through green crime.
Deforestation, pollution, destruction of the ozone layer.
Manmade: tech, science.

Greta Thunberg- social media to raise awareness.

AO2- Deforestation of world's rainforest

Between 1960 and 1990, 1/5 of the world's tropical rainforest was destroyed.
In the Amazon, forest has been cleared to rear beef cattle for export (methane- greenhouse gas)
The criminals of these crimes includes the state and those who profit from deforestation (white collar crime, Chambliss- capitalism is criminogenic)

AO2- Use of Nuclear Energy

The use of nuclear energy creates a growing problem for nuclear waste disposal as well as increasing risks of accidents.
e.g., Chernobyl

AO3- White

Transnational companies move manufacturing operations to the South to avoid pollution laws in developing countries

Wolf

Four groups that commit green crime:
Individuals
Private business organisations
States and goverments
Organised crime groups

Individuals

Littering, fly tipping, not recycling, food we eat (beef), animal trafficking

Private business organisations

In the pursuit of profit- commit green crime to cut corners for the sake of profit (Thames Water's sewage in rivers)
Breaching health and safety regulations

States and governments

State crime like war crimes

AO3- Santana

The military is the largest institutional polluter e.g., nuclear weapons, landmines.
Nuclear arms race causing unprecedented nuclear waste

Organised crime

Can cause mass green crime through collusion with the government.
Interpol- significant proportion of green crime is carried out by organsied crime groups

AO3- Massari and Monzini

Study in the Bay of Naples.
Mafia is responsible for dealing with 90% of all nuclear waste that goes through the city
Done via the govt- way they are disposing of it is not environmentally friendly

Potter - environmental racism

Those who are most at risk of being a victim of green crime tend to be ethnic minorities, the perpetrators tend to be white.

In 2019, Natural England found Black and ethnic minority Britons were exposed to particulate matter pollution at a rate of 19-20% higher than white Britons.

White

LEDCs face the consequences of the actions of MEDCs.
Greater risk of exposure to air pollution, water pollution.
Less regulation to environmental laws- multinational corporations take greater advantages.

AO2/AO3

Oxfam's unwanted clothes are ending up washed up on Ghana's beaches
Telegraph: 2022

Snider

Rich makes the laws.
Laws and regulations against pollution or the environment are rarely passed.
This is because laws that do get passed threaten profit.
Even if they do come into place they are rarely enforced- private companies can lobby governments to relax regulations.

AO2- Sutherland

Like white collar crimes, environmental crimes carry less stigma.
Individuals/companies committing green crime have the power to influence discourse around the crime- have the power to not be labelled criminals.

AO3- Volkswagen emission scandal (2015)

VW fitted 11 million vehicles with defeat device at cheating emissions tests, breaching environmental regulations which meant the company was possibly responsible for nearly 11 tonnes of extra air pollution each year.

Different measurements

Many of the powerful can avoid prosecution, even if their crimes are discovered, making it hard to discover and measure the true extent of it

Different laws

Countries have different law surrounding green crimes, which make it hard to compare the levels of green crime globally.

Different definitions

Conflict over the true definition of what constitutes a green crime means that there are problems arising from measuring, monitoring and reporting green crime. Critics say defining these boundaries is a matter of values so it can not be established objectively.

AO3- evaluation of green criminology

Highlighted an increasing global issue of green crime.
Directly addresses harm against the environment- impact on nature & humans

Distinct measure and laws that define what a crime is.
Becomes difficult to define green criminology by ignoring this- matter of values rather than a matter of law