Globalisation and crime in contemporary society Green crime Crime against the enviroment

How is green crime linked to globalisation Green crime is increasingly seen as a form of global crime for two reasons REASON 1 The planet is a single eco system in which humans being , other species and the environment are interconnected and interdependent . Harm done to other species or aspects of the environment such as air, water supplies , the ocean and the rainforest are seen as increasingly impacting negatively on on the quality and future of human life where ever it is in the world E.g the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster of 1986 spread thosands of miles across Europe ,resulting of sheep farming in parts of England and wales .

Reason 2 –why green crime is linked to globalisation Green crime is carried out by powerful interests, particularly transnational corporations such as oil and chemical companies working with the co-operation of nation states and local wealthy elites

Manufactured risks Beck Many of the threats to our ecosystem cames from manufactured risks and this is a result of massive demand for consumer goods and technology which has an effect on humanity but on our enviroment too. (E.g. greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to global warming/climate change) We live in societies threatened by global risks

Policing green crime and Difficulties 1. Very few local or international laws governing the state of the enviroment . International laws difficult to construct because not all countries agree to sign up to global agreements . (E.g. USA & China reluctant to agree to meet international targets to reduce carbon emissions) . 2. Laws that exist are shaped by powerful capitalists interests , esp. global ‘big business’. Gov in developing countries don't question and take action against transnational corporations because they are dependant on them for their income . Laws that do exist to protect environment is often weak

Sociological perspectives - Radical criminologist: Rob White Green crime should be defined as ‘any action that harms the physical enviroment and any creatures that live within it , even if no law has technically been broken’ Current laws are inconsistent as they often different across countries and biased as they are influenced by businesses who have vested interest in harming the enviorment for their own gain because the business require that

Eco-centric vs anthropocentric view of green crime Eco-centric: Damage to the enviroment is damage to the other species as well putting human race at risk in the future Anthropocentric (this is the view of big business): Humans have the right to exploit the environment and other species for their own benefit . White -argues that this capitalist ideology is responsible for a great deal of enviormental harm

Key study : Nigel South – classifying green crime Primary crime Direct result of the destruction and degradation of the planets resources Crimes of air pollution – industrial carbon and greenhouse gas emissions Crimes of deforestation - illegal logging Crimes of species decline and animal rights Crimes of fresh water & marine pollution such as oil spillages Secondary crime Crimes that are a result of flouting existing laws and regulations Dumping toxic waste - esp. developing world Breach of health and safety rules causing disaster such as Bhopal disaster of 1984 Offloading products such as pharmaceuticals onto third world markets after they have been banned on safety grounds in the west Here I can activity of identifying primary and green crime from article or box

Evalaution of green criminology Green criminology recognises the growing importance of enviromental issues and manufactured global risks It recognises the interdependence of humans , other species and the enviroment However its focus on harm rather than criminality means green criminology is often accused of being engaged with subjective intrepetation rather than objective scientific analysis and is therefore biased.

Examiners notes in relation to theory and methods Research methods Operationalising means the measurement of abstract concpets, Green crime is easy to measure because it is legally defined, but harm is more difficult because it is a matter of intrepetation Theory It would make sense to use green crime to illustrate the crimogenic nature of capitalism if an exam essay title focuses on Marxist explnation of crime and deviance

Globalisation and crime in cotemporary society Human rights and state crime

Defintion of state crime & examples Illegal activties carried out by the agents of the state such as armed services, the secret services ,civil servants, the police and prision services on behalf of the government and political leaders in the name of state interests. Genocide, ethnic cleansing , use of torture, assassination of political opponents, supporting terrorists activities against elected governments and invading less powerful states.

Eugene McLaughlin Censorship of the media and institutional racism as state crimes Herman Schweindinger definitions of state crimes should include also human rights crime ,violating people’s right (human rights) should be defined illegal and therefore is criminal . However his definition is broad . He suggest is some groups are denied same opportunities as the majority of the population on the basis of racism,sexism and homphobia , or if they are economically exploited results in unequal conditions that are a results of crimes against human rights

Disagreement over what counts as state crimes state crimes that is carried out by powerful people or groups who can define their activies as legitimate, this makes it difficult to measure the extent of state crime. Gov have the power to cover up such activities and actually control the flow of information and esp the media by issuing legal instructions to prevent journalists for speaking about state crimes in the ‘public interest’ Russina guy who killed him

(Continued) The powerful can define what counts as crime on society. What is defined as crime or violence is an ideological construct. e.g. gov can define killing done by a member of the public as a problem but this would not apply if it is done by a soldier. This is ideological relativity – govs can decide who is defined as terrorists or freedom fighter and what counts as war crimes. E.g Holocaust =war crime but dropping atom bomb in Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the West is seen as necessary. Ideology as a belief system

(Continued): Difficult to find out extent of state crime because of governments denial of their actions or justifying their actions to cover up their illegal acts - e.g. national interest Those who carry out acts on behalf of gov do not see themsleves as criminal they use techniques of neutralization to deny or justify crimes . deny their victims by labelling them as terrotists or extremists They deny injury or damage by saying the other side started it deny responsibility by saying they were simply following orders or doing their duty Cohen critical of Schwendinger that state crime should include violating human rights Genocide and torture are clearly crimes but economic exploitation is not clearly criminal but is morally unacceptable . There is not enough agreement over what makes up human rights . E.g. most people would accept that freedom should be a human right but not everyone would agree that freedom from poverty is a right

Cohen criticises Schwendinger Immorality is being confused with criminality He is taking a high moral value position attempting to impose this view in the world of criminology Links to whether sociology should be objective or subjective

Kelman and Hamilton – ‘crimes of obedience’ Socialised into believing it is their duty to obey and that their behaviour is acceptable and necessary because enemies are ‘monsters’ to whom normal rule of morality does not apply Critics of the concept of state crimes argue that the so called criminality of state crime is outweighed by the fact that the act was committed in the name of national interests E.g necessary to go beyond law in defeating terrorism so assasination and torture are ‘necessary evils

Examiners comments theory and methods Difficult to research state crime. We consider the hidden nature of some conventional crimes (‘dark figure of crime’) but this is even harder to access. The is a new area and still evolving . It is important to be evaluative; you may have noticed how the study of state crime is reliant on secondary sources; so aware of the strenghts and weaknesses of these.