Green Crime

PART 1 - Carrabine (2008) Primary Green Crime: Air Pollution

China, the world's fastest growing economy has the highest annual incidence of premature deaths triggered by air pollution in the world. A World Health Organisation report estimates that air pollution diseases have killed 656,000 Chinese citizens.

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PART 2 - Carrabine (2008) Primary Green Crime: Deforestation

Such as logging for legal and illegal crops has destroyed around 20% of the Amazon Rainforest, much fo which has been done illegally. The Environmental Justice Foundation (2007) believes 3.2 million m2 of illegally logged timber was sold in the UK.

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PART 3 - Carrabine (2008) Primary Green Crime: Species Decline & Animal Rights

70 people were arrested in Brazil after being accused of running an international smuggling operation that traded half a million wild animals a year. It is the biggest operation in a decade against illegal traders who sell exotic animals.

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PART 4 - Carrabine (2008) Primary Green Crime: Water Pollution

April (2010) - a drilling rig being leased by BP Oil Company underwent a series of problems that lead to a massive oil spill. The oil rig was located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst of its kind in American history.

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PART 5 - Carrabine (2008) Primary Green Crime: Water Pollution

Many experts believe it was the country's biggest environmental disaster ever. It cost BP 3 billion dollars and appears to in be caused by the company's negligence (in some parts).

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PART 1 - Carrabine (2008) Secondary Green Crime: State Violence against Oppositional Groups

For example - The French Secret Service blew up a Greenpeace Ship (The Rainbow Warrior) when it attempted to prevent nuclear testing.

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PART 2 - Carrabine (2008) Secondary Green Crime: Disposal of Hazardous Waste and Organised Crime

Toxic and radioactive waste is very expensive to destroy so western organisations may use legal and illegal contacts to dump this waste.

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PART 3 - Carrabine (2008) Secondary Green Crime: Disposal of Hazardous Waste and Organised Crime - Bridgland (2006)

The 2004 Tsunami washed illegally dumped toxic waster on to Somali beaches. These have often been dumped by European countries. In Italy the mafia is heaviliy involved in the illegal dumping of toxic waste.

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PART 1 - Globalisation & Green Crime: Beck (1992)

By living in a global risk society (in late modern westernised society) we can provide enough resources for all, but technology has created new manufactured risks that we have never faced before. This also affects global warming.

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PART 2 - Globalisation & Green Crime: Beck (1992)

Green crime cross international boundaries so would not be a crime in a traditional sense as they may not violate the law in one particular country. Globalisation is a useful way to understand green crime.

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PART 3 - Globalisation & Green Crime: Demands for Goods

Globalisation has also caused a massive increase in the demand for consumer goods which has put increased strain on global resources. Removal of these resources has had a massive impact upon environments previously free of human activity/pollution.

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PART 1 - Marxism & Green Crime

Marxists see green crime as a inevitable consequence of the criminogenic nature of capitalism as businesses are damaging the environment. As capitalists are driven to increase profit, the ecocides commited by their businesses are necessary.

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PART 2 - Marxism & Green Crime

Capitalists will resist any laws that come in to restrict the damage their businesses are doing to the environment as it may cut into their profit margins. Business owners may actively engage in green crimes to cut costs/maintain profits.

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PART 1 - Interactionism & Green Crime: Becker

Green crime is the same as any other type of crime and deviance. Moral entrepreneurs define acts as deviant. Green crime didn’t use to be an issue in society as powerful groups did not label many of the crimes as deviant.

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PART 2 - Interactionism & Green Crime: Becker

The western world has the power to define most issues as criminal, so it is these countries are acting a global entrepreneurs. Once a green crime has been labelled it could lead to other types of secondary deviance as a consequence of being labelled.

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PART 3 - Interactionism & Green Crime: Becker

For example, if a business is labelled as committing green crimes they may then commit further violations as they try and avoid legislation designed to protect the environment.

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PART 1 - Evaluation: Strengths

Relatively new and radical approach, it points out that not only humans are victims of crime. White (2008) argues that crie should include all activities that harm human and non-human species.

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PART 2 - Evaluation: Strengths

Beck (1986) - 'smog is democratic' - Green crime affects all members of society regardless of ethnicity, class or gender and that is why it should be a concern to us all.

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PART 3 - Evaluation: Strengths

Highlights that green crime affects the most vulnerable members of the global community, the poorest of the world get the brunt of green crime.

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PART 4 - Evaluation: Strengths

Environmental racism as in reality the white western world has inflicted the majority of the harm of green crimes on the poorest ethnic groups.

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PART 5 - Evaluation: Strengths

Green crimes may be irreversible. They are difficult to police and enforce sanctions against as they cross international boundaries.

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PART 1 - Evaluation: Weaknesses

Green crime crosses national/transnational boundaries with different laws, so it may be hard to define what constitutes a green crime.

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PART 2 - Evaluation: Weaknesses

Some sociologists consider ecocides (destruction of habitats such as Tar Sand in the USA) a green crime. However, others say it is the progress of capitalism.

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PART 3 - Evaluation: Weaknesses

Morally wrong - Not criminal, but green deviance.

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PART 4 - Evaluation: Weaknesses - Roscoff (1998)

It may be expensive and illegal to dump waste in the developed world. It will be cheap and legal to dump this waste in developing countries. Governments are more likely to use laws to regulate environmental issues.

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PART 5 - Evaluation: Weaknesses

Enough is being done to tackle green crime. The largest growth in legal definitions of new crimes in the UK revolve around environmental issues, so it may not be an issue that is studied in its own right.

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Green Crime

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