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Few would dispute the power of climate change to lead to profoundly destructive weather events. At the same time, the possibility of climate change as a consequence-or even a cause-of criminal events is far less recognized. As the earth grows warmer, issues regarding land use, water rights, bio-security, and food production and distribution will continue to have far-reaching impact, and produce more opportunity for offenses by individuals and groups as well as political and corporate entities.In Climate Change from a Criminological Perspective, a panel of pioneering green criminologists investigates an increasingly complex chain of ecological causes and effects. Illegal acts are analyzed as they contribute to environmental decline (e.g., wildlife poaching) or result from ecological distress (e.g., survival-related theft). Regulatory and other interventions are critiqued, concepts of environmental harm refined, and new research methodologies called for. And while individual events described are mainly local, the contributors keep the global picture, and substantial questions about human rights and social relationships, firmly in mind. Topics featured include:Global warming as corporate crime.Climate change and the courts: U.S. and global views.Climate change, natural disasters, and gender inequality.The roles and responsibilities of environmental enforcement networks.A sociocultural perspective on climate change denial.PLUS: instructive in-depth chapters on criminological aspects of Hurricane Katrina and the Japanese nuclear disaster.A volume of considerable timeliness and vision, Climate Change from a Criminological Perspective will be read and discussed, and will inspire action, by researchers in criminology, criminal justice, environmental studies, and related disciplines, as well as policymakers.
List of contents
The Criminology of Climate Change.- It's the End of the World as We Know It: Climate Change from a Criminological Perspective.- Heading Toward a New Criminogenic Climate: Climate Change, Political Economy, and Environmental Security.- The Cultural Silence of Climate Change Contrarianism.- Is Global warming a State-Corporate Crime?- Climate Change in the Courts: A US and Global Perspective.- Environmental Enforcement Networks: Their Role in Climate Change Enforcement.- Oil Production, Climate Change, and Species Decline: The Case of Norway.- Climate Change, Gender, and Natural Disasters: Social Differences and Environment-Related Victimisation.- Natural Disasters and Crime: Criminological Lessons from Hurricane Katrina.- Uncontrollable Nuclear Power Accidents and Fatal Environmental Harm.- A Proposal for a New Vehicle Based Carbon Tax.- Conclusion.
About the author
Rob D. White is the Director of the Criminology Research Unit at University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia. He is also the editor of
Controversies in Environmental Sociology (Cambridge University Press), as well as author of
Crimes Against Nature: Environmental criminology and ecological justice and editor of both
Environmental Crime: A Reader and
Global Environmental Harm: Criminological Perspectives, with Taylor & Francis. His book
Transnational Environmental Crime: Toward an Eco-Global Criminologyis to be published by Routledge in 2011.
Summary
Few would dispute the power of climate change to lead to profoundly destructive weather events. At the same time, the possibility of climate change as a consequence—or even a cause—of criminal events is far less recognized. As the earth grows warmer, issues regarding land use, water rights, bio-security, and food production and distribution will continue to have far-reaching impact, and produce more opportunity for offenses by individuals and groups as well as political and corporate entities.
In Climate Change from a Criminological Perspective, a panel of pioneering green criminologists investigates an increasingly complex chain of ecological causes and effects. Illegal acts are analyzed as they contribute to environmental decline (e.g., wildlife poaching) or result from ecological distress (e.g., survival-related theft). Regulatory and other interventions are critiqued, concepts of environmental harm refined, and new research methodologies called for. And while individual events described are mainly local, the contributors keep the global picture, and substantial questions about human rights and social relationships, firmly in mind. Topics featured include:
Global warming as corporate crime.
Climate change and the courts: U.S. and global views.
Climate change, natural disasters, and gender inequality.
The roles and responsibilities of environmental enforcement networks.
A sociocultural perspective on climate change denial.
PLUS: instructive in-depth chapters on criminological aspects of Hurricane Katrina and the Japanese nuclear disaster.
A volume of considerable timeliness and vision, Climate Change from a Criminological Perspective will be read and discussed, and will inspire action, by researchers in criminology, criminal justice, environmental studies, and related disciplines, as well as policymakers.
