Environmental Crime and Its Victims ― Perspectives Within Green Criminology

Environmental crime is one of the most profitable and fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. These types of crime, however, do not always produce an immediate consequence, and the harm may be diffused. As such, the complexity of victimization - in terms of time, space, impact, and who or what is victimized - is one of the reasons why governments and the enforcement community have trouble in finding suitable and effective responses. This book provides a diverse and provocative array of arguments, critiques and recommendations from leading researchers and scholars in the field of green criminology. The chapters are divided into three main sections: the first part deals with specific characteristics of some of the major types of environmental crime and its perpetrators; the second focuses explicitly on the problem of victimization in cases of environmental crime; and the third addresses the question of how to tackle this problem. Discussing these topics from the point of view of green criminological theory, sociology, law enforcement, community wellbeing, environmental activism and victimology, this book will be of great interest to all those concerned about crime and the environment.

Toine Spapens is Professor of Criminology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and part-time Professor of Environmental Crime, the Police Academy of the Netherlands. His research interests are in environmental crime, organized crime, regulatory issues and international police and judicial cooperation. Rob White is Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Australia. He has written widely in the areas of criminology and youth studies, and has a particular interest in issues related to environmental harm, ecological justice and green criminology. Marieke Kluin is a PhD Researcher at Delft Technical University, Safety Science Group. Her doctoral research with the working title ’Compliance and rule violation in the chemical industry’ focuses on the relationship between rule violation, compliance, organizational criminology, and safety in the chemical industry.