ESSAY EXAMPLE A GRADE ~ A2 SOCIOLOGY ~ CRIME AND DEVIANCE ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME 21 MARKER

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  • Created by: AJ
  • Created on: 09-04-13 17:18

Question: Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess sociological contributions to our understanding of the nature of environmental crime (21 marks)

Green or environmental crime can be defined as crime against the environment. This type of crime can be linked to globalisation with its increasing interconnectedness. Item A suggests that "illegal dumping of toxic industrial waste, and illegal logging and destruction of the rainforest" are examples of green crime.

Traditional criminology, however, has only been interested in law breaking activity. The starting point for this approach is the national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment. For example, Situ and Edmonds define environmental crime as 'an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law'. The advantage of this approach is that it has a clearly defined subject matter, however it is criticised for accepting the definitions of crime shaped by big businesses and power elites.

Moving on, green criminology takes a radical approach, starting from the notion of harm rather than law. White argues if harm is done to the environment or human and non-human animals that this should be the subject of green criminology regardless of it's legal status. Green criminology is a form of trangressive criminology as it

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