Undergraduate Criminology: SOCI244 'Green Criminology' notes

GREEN CRIMINOLOGY – critical realist

Part 1 (15%): write down the main premise of each theory

Part 2 ( 40%): multiple-choice questions

Part 3 (45%): long-answer (in-depth account of perspectives),
thorough account of perspectives, history, strengths, critiques –
origins, main concepts, significance and critiques



PART 1

Key premise

- Grounded in the idea that not all harms are crimes, green
criminology studies environmental destruction and the inequalities it
generates



PART 2

Green criminology claims that:

a) The rights of non-human animals are more important than the rights
of humans
b) The solution to environmental problems is the criminalisation of
environmental harms
c) It is important to understand that human animals, non-human
animals, plants and habitats are part of an interrelated planetary
ecosystem
d) Gang violence is central to the understanding of environmental
harms



Commodification of nature means that:

a) Nature has been broken up and its parts have been assigned a
monetary value
b) Nature has become non-renewable
c) Humans have become more comfortable destroying nature
d) Nature is treated as a sink that absorbs environmental destruction




1. Key Premise of Green Criminology

, Choose the right answer

Q1. The key premise of green criminology is that:
A. All environmental harms are already criminalised
B. Environmental destruction is best understood through individual
offending
C. Not all harms are crimes, and many environmental harms remain legal
D. Crime should be narrowly defined by criminal law

Correct answer: C



Choose all that apply

Q2. Green criminology studies:
☐ Environmental destruction
☐ The inequalities generated by environmental harm
☐ Only legally defined environmental crimes
☐ Harms affecting human and non-human life

Correct answers:
☑ Environmental destruction
☑ The inequalities generated by environmental harm
☑ Harms affecting human and non-human life



2. Origins and Foundations

Choose the right answer

Q3. Green criminology challenges traditional definitions of crime by
arguing that:
A. Crime is a biologically determined behaviour
B. Crime is a fixed and objective category
C. Harm can exist without criminalisation
D. All harmful behaviour should be punished

Correct answer: C



Choose all that apply

Q4. The emergence of green criminology is linked to critiques of:
☐ The power of law-makers to define crime
☐ The focus on individual offenders
☐ The neglect of state and corporate harm
☐ The over-criminalisation of minor street crime