Sociology A2 globaslisation, green crime, human rights and state crimes

globalisation is the growing interconnectedness between socitites

many causes for this growth e.g growth of ICT and cheaper flights

Global crime economy

Held et al, globalisation of crime as places and people are becoming closer and spreadig acorss boarders and the spread of transnational organised crime.

• global criminal economy over $1 trillion this is people traffacking, sex slaves etc.
• drug trade is worth $300-400 billion

Global risk consciouness

• creates new insecurties
• risk is now global than tied to places e.e asluym seekers
• intesnsification of social control at the national leve e.g tighter border control

marxist: globalisation led to greater inequality globalisation led to TNCs gaining more profit

• causing job insecurties, poverty etc.
• governments have lowered control benefits

producing rising crime patterns and new patterns:

• greater insecurties lead to crime
• gives people in high places a chance for larger scale opportunties
• new employement = new opportunties for crime

globalisation has produced new criminal opportunities, rise to new forms of criminal organisation:

1. global organisation:

• hobbs and dunningham crime is linked to globalisation
• individuals acting as a 'hub' loose-knit network forms which links legit and illlegit activities

different from rigid mafia style

new forms of global links are still based in local contexts

2. McMafia

Glenny (2008) McMafia organisations emerged in Russia after the fall of communisim

• russia delegrated much economy leading to high food prices and rent prices
• oil prices stayed the same
• they then sold the oil one, globally
• this then formed a new elite

crimes of which are harmful to the environment

'global risk society' and the environment - beck

most threats are human made rather that a natural disaster

• late mod society, productivity and technology
• harm to the environment can cause serious consequences
• on an increasingly global scale
• late mod society is an increasing global risk society

tradtitional criminolgy, patterns and casues of law breaking

• pollution is legal so they don't really care

green criminolgy, radical. is all about focusing on harm caused

• states have different laws so there is no solid definition
• environmental harmds are not illegal
• green crime is much wider
• it is transgressive, oversteps the boundaries of tradition criminolgy to include new issues

types of green crime

south (2008) identified 2 types of green crime:

1. primary e.g air pollution, water polluttion, speices decline and deforsetisation these are the four main crimes. it is direct result of destruction of earths natural resources

2. secondary flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environemntal disasters 

toxic waste dumping

• when done legally is expensive
• illegal is globalised as western societies send their waste to poorer countries
• in some poor countries it is still legal

two views of harm

1. nation-states and tnc's: human centred viewand they can dominate putting economic growth before animal welfare etc.

2. green criminology: ecocentric view, animals and humans are equal and should be considered this way

Green and ward (2005) statecrime:illegal or deviant activites perpretraited by or with help of state agencies

this includes: genocide, war crime, torture etc.

four catergories:

1. political

2. economic

3. social/cultural

4. crimes by security

scale of state crime:

• commit seriously large scale crimes
• they have the power to conceal them
• they make the laws so they can say whether the crime is lawful or not
• UN can't intervene as there is set rules to say so

human rights and state crime:

• no single agreed list of human rights most people define them through natural rights as it varies from states
• right is an entitlement to protect you from the state

crime as the violation of human rights:

• ciritcal criminologists Scwheignder and swheighnder (1970) state crime to be defined in terms of violation of basic human rights and when broken by the state it is a crime

state crime and culutre of denial

• dictatoraship: deny all knowledge
• democratic states: legitamise their actions in 3 stages of spiral of denial

1. didn't happen

2. it must be something else

3. its justified

• neurolisation theory: state in which states neutrolise their actions denial of victim, injruy and resposnbilities