Assess sociological contributions to our understanding of the nature of environmental crime.

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Assess sociological contributions to our understanding of the nature of environmental crime

Ulrich Beck argues that in today's late modern society we can now provide we can provide adequate resources for all (at least in the developed countries). However, the massive increase in productivity and the technology that sustains it have created new risks. Many of these risks involve harm to the environment and its consequences for humanity, such as global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from industry. What if the pollution that causes global warming is perfectly legal and no crime has been committed, is this a matter for criminologists?

Traditional criminology has not been concerned with such behaviour, since its subject matter is defined by the criminal law, and no law has been broken. The starting point for this approach is the national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment. For example, Situ and Emmons define environmental crime as 'an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law'. Like other traditional approaches in criminology, it investigates the patterns and causes of law breaking.

However, green criminology takes a more radical approach. It starts from the notion of harm rather than criminal law. Rob