Globalisation, Green Crime & State Crime

Castells - Forms of Global Criminal Economy

- arms trafficking, to illegal regimes, guerrilla groups & terrorists
- trafficking in nuclear materials esp from former communist countries
- smuggling of illegal immigrants e.g. Chinese Triads make an est $2.5b annually
- trafficking in women & children - up to 1/2m trafficked annually in W Europe
- sex tourism - W travel to Third World countries for sex
- trafficking in body parts e.g. est 2000 organs annually taken from condemned/executed criminals in China
- cyber-crimes
- green crimes e.g. illegal dumping of waste
- international terrorism
- smuggling of legal goods e.g. alcohol & tobacco to evade taxes or stolen goods e.g. cars
- trafficking in cultural artefacts
- trafficking in endangered species e.g. to produce trad remedies
- drugs trade - est worth $300-400b annually
- money laundering - est up to $1.5tr per yr

how is the supply side for the global criminal economy linked to globalisation?

e.g. third world drugs-producing countries e.g. Colombia, Peru & Afgh have large pops of impoverished peasants so drug cultivation = attractive option
in Colombia est 20% of pop depends on cocaine production for livelihood & cocaine outsells all other exports combined

as a result of new insecurities from globalisation, what is created?

global 'risk consciousness'

what is one of the risks from globalisation perpetuated by the media?

immigration - portrayed as terrorists & scroungers 'flooding' the country

what is the result of the increased 'threat' from immigration?

intensifiaction of social control e.g.
UK has toughened its boarder control regulations e.g. fining airlines if they bring in undocumented passengers
UK has no legal limits on how long a person may be held in immigration detention
other European states have introduced fences, CCTV & thermal imaging devices to prevent illegal crossings

Taylor (1997) - Globalisation, Capitalism & Crime

globalisation has led to changes in patterns & extent of crime
given free rein to market forces so created greater inequality & rising crime

how has globalisation led to crime at both ends of the social spectrum?

allowed TNCs to switch manufacturing to low wage countries, producing job insecurity, unemployment & poverty
deregulation means govs have little control over their own economies e.g. to create jobs or raise taxes, while spending on welfare has declined
deregulation created opps for insider trading & movement of funds around the globe to avoid taxation
creation of TN bodies e.g. EU has offered opps for fraudulent claims for subsidies est at $7b+ per annum

example of rise in illegitimate opportunities due to the decline in legitimate ones?

LA, de-industrialisation led to growth of drugs gangs numbering 10,000 members

Rothe and Friedrichs - Crimes of Globalisation

role of international financial organisations e.g. IMF & World Bank in crimes of globalisation
dominated by major capitalist states e.g. World Bank has 188 members but 5 (USA, Japan, Germany, Britain & France) have over 1/3 of voting rights
these bodies impose pro-capitalist neoliberal economic 'structural adjustment programmes' on poor countries as conditions for loans e.g. often require govs to cut spending on health & ed & priv servies
this allows W corporations to expand into these countries

Rothe et al (2008) - Crimes of Globalisation

programme imposed on Rwanda in 1980s caused mass employment & created economic basis for the 1994 genocide

Hobbs and Dunningham - Patterns of criminal organisation

way crime is organised is linked to economic changes brought about by globalisation
increasingly, involves individuals w/ contacts acting as 'hub' around which loose-knit networks form w/ individuals seeking opps & often linking legitimate & illegitimate activities
this contrasts large-scale hierarchical 'Mafia'-style criminal organisations of past
crime works on a 'glocal' system - still locally based but w/ global connections, meaning form it takes will vary from place to place, according to local conditions even if influenced by global factors e.g. availability of drugs from abroad
changes associated w/ globalisation have led to changes in patterns of crime e.g. shift from old hierarchical gang struc to loose networks of flexible, opportunistic entrepreneurial criminals

Glenny (2008) - McMafia

ex of relationship between criminal organisation & globalisation
McMafia - refs to organisations that emerged in Russia & E Europe following fall of communism
break up of SU after 1989 coincided w/ deregulation of global markets
gov regulated sectors remained at soviet prices so anyone w/ funds e.g. former communist officials & KGB generals could buy up oil, gas, diamonds or metals for next to nothing
selling them abroad at astronomical prices, they became new capitalist class - 'oligarchs'
collapse of communist state heralded a period of increasing disorder so to protect wealth turned to 'mafias' that had begun to spring up e.g. Chechen mafia
new Russian mafias were purely economic organisations formed to pursue self-interest
w/ assistance from fluid & violent organisations, billionaires able to find protection for their wealth & means of moving it out of the country
criminal organisations vital to the entry of new Russian capitalist class & at same time mafias able to build links w/ criminal organisations in other parts of the world

Beck (1992) - 'Global risk society'

massive increase in productivity & tech that sustains it have created new 'manufactured' risks
many risks involve harm to the environment & consequences for humanity e.g. global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions
& many of these risks global

example of global nature of human-made risk can produce crime

Mozambique in 2010
in Russia where global warming triggered hottest heatwave in century, causing wildfires that destroyed parts of the country's grain belt
resulting shortage led Russia to intro export bans & pushed world price of grain
Mozambique heavily dependent on food imports - saw 30% rise in price of bread
sparked intensive rioting & looting of food stores
left at least 12 dead

what are the two types of criminology?

traditional criminology
green criminology

what is traditional criminology concerned with?

subject matter defined by the criminal law
starts w/ national & international laws & regulations concerning environment

Situ and Emmons (2000) - environmental crime is an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law

what is the advantage of traditional criminology?

already has clearly defined subject matter

what is the disadvantage of traditional criminology?

criticised for accepting official definitions of environmental problems & crimes which are often shaped by powerful groups e.g. big businesses to serve own interests

what is green criminology concerned with?

starts from notion of harm vs criminal law
form of transgressive criminology - zemiology
therefore can develop a global perspective on environmental harm

White (2008) - proper subject of criminology is any action that harms the physical environment and/or the human & non-human animals within it, even if no law has been broken

White (2008) - two views of harm

anthropocentric - human-centred view of environmental harm, assumes humans have right to dominate nature, put economic growth before the environment
ecocentric - sees humans & environment as interdependent, both humans & environment liable to exploitation

South (2014) - types of green crime

primary - crimes that result directly from destruction & degradation of earth's resources
secondary - crime that grows out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disaster

what are some examples of primary green crime?

- crimes of air pollution - burning fossil fuels from industry & transport adds 6b tons of carbon to atmosphere every yr & carbon emissions growing at around 2% per yr
- crimes of deforestation - between 1960 and 1990, 1/5 of world's tropical rainforest was destroyed
- crimes of species decline & animal abuse - 50 species a day are becoming extinct
- crimes of water pollution - 25m die annually from drinking contaminated water

what are some examples of secondary green crimes?

- state violence against oppositional groups - e.g. 1985 French secret service blew up Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland habour, NZ, killing 1, vessel there in an attempt to prevent a green crime which was French nuclear weapons testing in S Pacific

- hazardous waste & organised crime - 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off Channel Islands, reported dumped by UK authorities & corporation in 50s

- environmental discrimination - e.g. b communities in US often find their housing situated next to garbage dumps or polluting industries

what are some evaluations of green criminology?

- recognises importance of environmental issues & the need to address the harms & risks of environmental damage both to humans & non-human animals
- by focusing on broader concept of harms rather than simply legally defined crimes, it is hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly - defining boundaries involves making moral/political statements about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong