Globalisation and crime in contemporary society

Green crimeCrime against the enviroment

Who…… What……

Could……

Should… Why……

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Where……How……

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How is green crime linked to Globalisation?

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Outcomes: -

Differentiated learning : -

Literacy: - SMSC: -

Lesson Overview

VCOP8 questions

SMSC- What rights do all human beings have? (state crime)Do humans have more rights than animals and the environment? If so what are they? (consider within green crime)

To know what impact globalisation has had on crime.To understand the impact globalisation has had on crime.To be able to evaluate sociological explanations of globalisation and crime.

Level of difficulty of key words used in activity8 Questions

How is green crime linked to globalisation

Green crime is increasinglyseen as a form of globalcrime for two reasons

REASON 1

The planet is a singleecosystem in whichhumans being ,other speciesand the enviroment areinterconnected andinterdependant .

Harm done to other speciesor aspects of theenviroment such as air,water supplies , the oceanand the rainforest are seenas increasingly impactingnegatively on on the qualityand future of humanlifewhere ever it is in the world .

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 us(humanity) but on our enviroment to.

• For example greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to global warming and climate change .

• We live in societies threatened by global risks

Policing green crime Difficulty in policing green crime

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 . For examples 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 to question and take action against transnational corporations because they are dependant on them for their income . Laws that do exist to protect enviroment is often weak

Sociologial perspectivesRadical 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 theenviroment is damage tothe other species as wellputting human race at riskin the future

Anthropocentric (this is the view of big business)

Humans have the right toexploit the enviromentand other species for theirown 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 (you can further study this in the handout povided )

• Crimes of species decline and animal rights

• Crimes of fresh water abd marine pollution such as iol 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

• Offloading products such as pharmaceuticals onto third world markets after they have been banned on safety grounds in the west

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 tilte focuses on Marxist explnation of crime and deviance

Examine some of the ways in which green crime and globalisation may be related. (12 marks)

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 ,assasination of political opponents ,supporting terrorists activities against elected governments and invading less powerful states.

George Bush & Tony Blair‘technically war criminals’

Discuss…

Mini debate

George Bush & Tony Blair‘technically war criminals’

• USA and UK invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power

• Some argue this broken international laws as they have not secured the agreement of the international community via United Nations Security

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 opps 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

1. 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 .

2. 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’

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 –gov 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

Continued: Cohen • 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 . For example most people would accept that freedom should be a human right but not everyone would agree that freedom from poverty is a right

• 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 .

1. deny their victims by labelling them as terrotists or extremists

2. They deny injury or damage by saying the other side started it

3. deny responsibility by saying they were simply following orders or doing their duty

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

• Schwendinger is clearly in the other camp

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 animals and monsters to which 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

• Methods • Difficult to research

state crime we consider ocs hiding conventional crimes-dark figure of crime but this is even harder and acts as the true dark figure of crime

• The is a new area and still evolving . It is important to be evaluative you may have noctied how the study of state crime is relant on secondary sources be aware of the strenghts and weaknesses of these.

Exam question