Enviromental Crimes

Question 1

Who commits enviormental crime?

Answer 1

Individuals, businesses gov.

Question 2

How do individuals commit enviromental crime?

Answer 2

Dumping of waste, littering, picking protected wild flowers, shooting birds, fox hunting, etc. Individual enviormental crimes is a recently recognised type of crime as a result of actions of the Environment Agency and the increased concerns over global warming.

Question 3

How do businesses commit enviromental crime?

Answer 3

Pollution and dumping of waste. Tightening of regulations on the disposal of toxic waste - generated profitable trading in the global illegal disposal of hazardous waste. Waste considered too dangerous for disposal in MEDCs is shipped to LEDCs - no regulation on toxic waste.

Question 4

What happened in the Bhopal diaster?

Answer 4

Poisnous gas leaked from the union carbide plant. 20,000 were injured, 10,000 dead - exposure to the fumes. Parent company in the USA blamed the subsidary company in India. They escaped prosecution, persuaded with the Indian gov to accept a low settlement for all victims.

Question 5

How do govs commit enviromental crime?

Answer 5

Pollution and transport and dumping to waste material. Refers to the disposal of nuclear waste from nuclear power plants.

Question 6

What happened to the Rainbow Warrior?

Answer 6

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - whaling should be an environmental crime as it has made whales and endangered species. Greenpeace ship: Rainbow Warrior. French gov was carrrying out nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace ship was there to protest against the tests - sunk by French secret service - authorised by gov. This is an example of state sponsored violence against environmental groups.

Question 7

What have laws on envionmental crimes led people to do?

Answer 7

The increased awareness of green issues in recent years has led to the introduction of enviormental legislation. Leads individuals and corporations to seek to break the environmental laws.

Question 8

How has globalisation effected environmental crimes?

Answer 8

The Earth is a single eco-system - any threat to the environments is a threat of a global scale. Air pollution from industry in country can turn into acid rain that dalls in another.

Question 9

How are environmental threats made? (Beck)

Answer 9

Human-made. Beck refers to these manufactured risk - dangers that are human made and that wer have never faced such as global warming. Therefore, we live in a global risk society.

Question 10

What is Traditional Criminology’s view on environmental crime? (Situ and Emmons)

Answer 10

Concerned with environmental crimes as defined by national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment. Situ and Emmons - define environmental crimes as acts that violate the law.

Question 11

What is the evaluation of Traditional Criminology’s view on enviormental crime?

Answer 11

+ The advantage of this approach is that is has a clealy defined subject matter.
- Accepts the official defintions of environmental crime which are often created by the powerful groups in society in their own interest.

Question 12

What do green criminology look at?

Answer 12

Looks at any action that harms the environment, even if it is not criminal.

Question 13

What does White argue about environmental crime? (Green Criminology)

Answer 13

Many of the worst environmental harms are not illegal. Different countries have different laws so that the same action may be a crime in one country but not in another. Actions must still be studied by green criminology as they are harmful to the environment.

Question 14

Why is green criminology a form of transgressive criminology?

Answer 14

As it oversteps the boundaries of traditional criminology to include the study of issues not defined as illegal by acting as international law. Adopts a eurocentric view of environmental crimes. Humans and the environment are interderpendent - anything that harms the environment harms humans too.

Question 15

What is the anthropocentric view?

Answer 15

Human centred view of large corporations. This view argues humans have the right to dominate the nature of their own ends.

Question 16

What is primary environmental crime?

Answer 16

Currently seeen as environmental issues and are lefal under international law. They result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources. Include water and air pollution, deforestation, growing genetically modified crops and species.

Question 17

Why shoudl primary environmental crime be analysed by criminologists according to South?

Answer 17

Due to the extenet of dmaage and environmental uncertainty they cause.

Question 18

What are types of primary environmental crimes?

Answer 18

1. Crimes of air pollution.
2. Crimes of desforestation.
3. Crimes of species decline and animal rights.
4. Crimes of water pollution.

Question 19

What are crimes of air pollution?

Answer 19

Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport, adds 3 billion tons of carbon to the atmopshere annually. The potential criminals are corporations, businesses and individuals.

Question 20

What are crimes of desforestation?

Answer 20

1960-90 - 1/5 of the world’s tropical rainsforest, much of it through illegal logging. In the Amazon, forests were cleared to rear beef cattle. In the Andes pesticides are spread to kill coca and marijiana plants, this also destroys crops + contaminates water. The criminals are govs and corporations.

Question 21

What are crimes of species decline and animal rights?

Answer 21

50 species a day are becoming extinct. 46% of mammelas are at risk. 70-95% of the Earth’s species live in the rainforest which are under threat. There is trafficking of animals and their body parts, dog fighting and badger baiting is on the increase. Criminals are organised gangs, individuals, govs and coporations.

Question 22

What are crimes of water pollution?

Answer 22

1/2 million people lack access to clean drinking water , 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water, Marine pollution threatens 58% of the world’s ocean reefs. Criminals are the corporations that dump toxic waste and govs that allow the release of untreated sewage into rivers and seas.

Question 23

What are types of secondary environmental crimes?

Answer 23

1. State violence against oppostional groups.

2. Hazardous waste and organised crime.

Question 24

What is secondary environmental crime?

Answer 24

Includes actions that are illegal under international law. but not enforced, e.g. dumping of hazardous waste.

Question 25

Example of state violence against oppostional groups?

Answer 25

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - whaling should be an environmental crime as it has made whales and endangered species. Greenpeace ship: Rainbow Warrior. French gov was carrrying out nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace ship was there to protest against the tests - sunk by French secret service - authorised by gov. This is an example of state sponsored violence against environmental groups.

Question 26

What is hazardous waste and organised crime?

+example

Answer 26

Safe and legal disposal of toxic waste is highly expensive so many companies seek to dispose of it illegal. In Italy, eco-mafia profits from such illegal toxic waste dumping into the sea. 1950s - UK authorities and coporations dumped 28,500 barrels of radioactive waste into the sea off the Channel Islands.

Question 27

What is the evaluation of green criminology?

Answer 27

+ Recognises and highlights the growing importance of global environmental issues and the need to address how these harm both human and non-human species.
- As it focuses on harmful actions, rather than on clearly defined illegeal actions, the scope of its study is too broad.