NCJ Number
219964
Editor(s)
Piers Beirne,
Nigel South
Date Published
2007
Length
339 pages
Annotation
The 12 original essays in this book examine the various ways in which governments, transnational corporations, military operations, and ordinary people engaged in their daily activities routinely harm environments, human life, and other animal life.
Abstract
The introductory paper defines "green criminology" as "the study of harms against humanity, against the environment (including space), and against nonhuman animals committed both by powerful institutions and ordinary people." The three papers in Part I provide a broad introduction to a green criminology. They introduce discussions about the meaning of "green" and "green" politics, concepts of environmental and ecological justice, and animal rights and "speciesism." The first paper analyzes four features of social and political thought associated with the green movement, including consideration of animal rights and welfare movements. Another paper argues that the environmental and ecological harms that are criminalized in statutes largely reflect a human-centered perspective. The third paper of Part I provides an overview of the intersection of animal rights theory with existing green criminology, suggesting that some of the major concerns of one can illuminate and extend those of the other. The three papers of Part II support a strong version of animal rights theory. This theme pervades discussions of how humans abuse animals through their techniques of identifying them, in the various forms of vivisection, and in the harmful images of animals circulated online. The six papers of Part III focus on harms to ecological systems and environments. The topics include how climate change bears on women's vulnerability to male violence; crime, regulation, and radioactive waste in the United Kingdom; food-related crime; the corporate abuse of nature; green criminology in the United States; and the security threat from noncompliance in small-scale fisheries. A list of resource Web sites and a subject index