Green Criminology

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2018) | Viewed by 40308

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Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Justice Studies, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Ave, 467 Stratton, Richmond, KY 40475, USA
Interests: cultural criminology; cultural ecocriticism; cultural geography; ecotheory; green criminology; visual criminology; visual theory

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Guest Editor
School of Justice Studies, Eastern Kentucky University, 521 Lancaster Ave, 467 Stratton, Richmond, KY 40475, USA
Interests: anthropology of law; critical criminology; cultural criminology; green criminology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the past three decades, a stream of criminological inquiry has emerged which explores, measures and theorizes crimes and harms to the environment at the micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels. This “green criminology,” as it has come to be known, has widened the criminological gaze to consider crimes and harms committed against nonhuman animals, air, land (from forests to wetlands), and water in local, regional, national and international areas or arenas. Accordingly, green criminology has endeavoured to understand the causes, consequences and potential responses to air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, corporate environmental crime (e.g., illegal waste disposal), food production and distribution, resource extraction and exploitation, and wildlife trade and trafficking.

The proposed Special Issue aims to introduce the green criminological perspective to a broader social science audience. Recognizing that green criminology is not the first social science to explore the phenomena and harms at the intersections of humanity and ecology, the proposed special issue seeks to offer the unique insights developed over nearly 30 years of green criminological thought and scholarship to students, professors, researchers and practitioners working in the fields of anthropology, economics, environmental humanities, environmental sociology, geography, history and political ecology. Noting that Social Sciences has previously published articles and issues that have made a significant impact in a diverse array of fields and disciplines across the spectrum of social science, we feel that the proposed special issue offers a mutually beneficial opportunity to bring together green criminologists and other social scientists working on issues of environmental degradation and despoilation.

For the proposed Special Issue, we intend to include contributions from researchers in green criminology from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Latin America, including early- and mid-career scholars, as well as more established voices in the field. We anticipate a collection of 7–10 substantive and original articles.

Prof. Bill McClanahan
Prof. Avi Brisman
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Green criminology
  • Environmental harm
  • Eco-global criminology
  • Environment
  • Ecology

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 188 KiB  
Editorial
Green Criminology for Social Sciences: Introduction to the Special Issue
by Bill McClanahan and Avi Brisman
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(10), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9100170 - 29 Sep 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3522
Abstract
April 22, 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

16 pages, 313 KiB  
Article
Animals as Something More Than Mere Property: Interweaving Green Criminology and Law
by James Gacek and Richard Jochelson
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(7), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9070122 - 12 Jul 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 8451
Abstract
Our article argues that non-human animals deserve to be treated as something more than property to be abused, exploited, or expended. Such an examination lies at the heart of green criminology and law—an intersection of which we consider more thoroughly. Drawing upon our [...] Read more.
Our article argues that non-human animals deserve to be treated as something more than property to be abused, exploited, or expended. Such an examination lies at the heart of green criminology and law—an intersection of which we consider more thoroughly. Drawing upon our respective and collective works, we endeavor to engage in a discussion that highlights the significance of green criminology for law and suggests how law can provide opportunities to further green criminological inquiry. How the law is acutely relevant for constituting the animal goes hand in glove with how humanness and animality are embedded deeply in the construction of law and society. We contend that, when paired together, green criminology and law have the potential to reconstitute the animal as something more than mere property within law, shed light on the anthropocentric logics at play within the criminal justice system, and promote positive changes to animal cruelty legislation. Scholarship could benefit greatly from moving into new lines of inquiry that emphasize “more-than-human legalities”. Such inquiry has the power to promote the advocacy-oriented scholarship of animal rights and species justice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)
11 pages, 239 KiB  
Article
Food Crime: A Review of the UK Institutional Perception of Illicit Practices in the Food Sector
by Alice Rizzuti
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(7), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9070112 - 2 Jul 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6234
Abstract
Food offers highly profitable opportunities to criminal actors. Recent cases, from wine and meat adulteration to milk powder contaminations, have brought renewed attention to forms of harmful activities which have long occurred in the food sector. Despite several scandals over the last few [...] Read more.
Food offers highly profitable opportunities to criminal actors. Recent cases, from wine and meat adulteration to milk powder contaminations, have brought renewed attention to forms of harmful activities which have long occurred in the food sector. Despite several scandals over the last few decades, food has so far received scant criminological attention and the concept of food crime remains subject to different definitions. This article assesses regulations in the United Kingdom (UK) and UK authorities’ official reports published between 2013 and 2018 through a review of academic literature published in English. It charts the evolution of the food crime concept, its various meanings, and different harmful activities associated with food crime, which originate from unlawful acts and omissions. This article also points out that further criminological research needs to address the definitional issue of food crime and inform a more integrated policy approach by considering activities beyond food fraud and the protection of food safety. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)
15 pages, 10024 KiB  
Article
From Social Deviance to Art: Vandalism, Illicit Dumping, and the Transformation of Matter and Form
by Mark Tano Palermo
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(6), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9060106 - 19 Jun 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6272
Abstract
In this article, assemblage art is presented to visually underscore social discourse relevant to urban vandalism and illegal dumping. The waste emergency, brought about, in part, also by illegal dumping and littering, is experienced on a daily basis across the globe in industrialized [...] Read more.
In this article, assemblage art is presented to visually underscore social discourse relevant to urban vandalism and illegal dumping. The waste emergency, brought about, in part, also by illegal dumping and littering, is experienced on a daily basis across the globe in industrialized and less-industrialized countries alike. Likewise, vandalism is so pervasive in some areas that we have come to normalize it as intrinsic to urban life. The pieces presented here serve as attention-inducers. Destroyed or dumped things are assembled into new forms which symbolically and “totemically” represent [contemporary] collective identity. While the poetics of the art presented is not political, nor was the art created for social purposes, its social impact or social and criminological connection with deviance is a consequence of the “where” the assembled parts were found. The matter collected is transformed and its shapes and its source can now be seen and confronted, rather than avoided. Broken parts become a new whole, and also herein lies another symbolic connection with the world of deviance as far as the obvious possibility for change and transformation, relevant to broken lives and broken communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)
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20 pages, 406 KiB  
Article
Procedural Environmental Injustice in ‘Europe’s Greenest City’: A Case Study into the Felling of Sheffield’s Street Trees
by James Heydon
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(6), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9060100 - 10 Jun 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5511
Abstract
With around two million trees within its boundaries, the city of Sheffield, England, is known as the ‘greenest city in Europe’. Of these, 36,000 are ‘street trees’, defined as those planted on pavements and other public rights of way. As of 2012, however, [...] Read more.
With around two million trees within its boundaries, the city of Sheffield, England, is known as the ‘greenest city in Europe’. Of these, 36,000 are ‘street trees’, defined as those planted on pavements and other public rights of way. As of 2012, however, a private contractor was awarded a £2.2 billion contract by Sheffield City Council to upgrade the city’s roads over a 25-year period. This required the felling of over 6000 street trees by the end of August 2017. By 2015, this had sparked such widespread public opposition that the felling programme missed its 2017 deadline. For protesters, the central point of contention was and continues to be the seemingly indiscriminate felling of healthy trees. This article examines the specific forms of harm precipitating local public involvement in such opposition. In doing so, it explains the substantive injustices associated with the felling of street trees before focusing on the underpinning forms of procedural environmental injustice that have allowed for their ongoing production. This contributes to wider green criminological literature by demonstrating how public participation in decision-making is crucial for the attainment of environmental justice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)
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16 pages, 328 KiB  
Article
Wildlife Crime: A Crime of Hegemonic Masculinity?
by Ragnhild Sollund
Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(6), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9060093 - 5 Jun 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 7397
Abstract
Scholarship within green criminology focusing on crimes and harms against nonhuman animals has been increasing. Little attention, however, has been directed at the gendered aspects of these crimes. For example, why is it that the great majority of offenders involved in wildlife trade [...] Read more.
Scholarship within green criminology focusing on crimes and harms against nonhuman animals has been increasing. Little attention, however, has been directed at the gendered aspects of these crimes. For example, why is it that the great majority of offenders involved in wildlife trade and the illegal killing of endangered predators are male? The aim of this article is to fill the gap in the literature, relying on confiscation reports from Norwegian Customs of nonhuman animals—most of whom are listed in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora)—as well as an analysis of verdicts in cases in Norwegian courts of “theriocides” (animal murders) of large predators. This article will assess the number of men and women involved in these crimes and harms, and will present some trends of theriociders. This article will employ ecofeminist and masculinities theories to better understand the gendered dynamics involved in wildlife trafficking and the theriocides of large carnivores. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Criminology)
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