Green and Environmental Criminology

Green and environmental criminology represents the coming together of two areas of study: particularly, the study of environmental harms, justice, and laws with the study of class, race, gender, and ethnicity inequalities examined by radical criminologists. These research initiatives include studies of green offending, green victimization, and costs associated with pollution, manufacturing, and distribution of environmental hazards, and enforcement of environmental law. These studies also expand the definition of crime to encompass victimizations to the ecosystem and nonhumans. In these studies, green criminologists aim to understand how power differentials perpetuate environmental degradation, and offer alternatives that promote global sustainability, environmental justice, and public health and safety.