Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
useful for understanding the processes tackled here. Before focusing on the specific
contribution of a HRBA and green criminological perspective to the study of con-
flicts related to the exploitation of natural resources, we will introduce the concepts
of corporate and governmental crime, criminalization, and the notion of harm. We
will subsequently try to show how this theoretical framework is being applied in the
LAR project's two concrete cases. Finally, some discussion points will be presented for
further debate.
6.2 CRIME, HARM AND CRIMINOLOGY
Traditionally, criminology's central focus of study has been crime, law-breaking
behaviour and the responses to it (Walklate 2007: 5). Defined in this way, criminology
can be considered an 'object' discipline, finding its epistemological grounds in so-called
'mother' disciplines, particularly social sciences (mainly sociology and psychology) and
law. Moreover, such a demarcation of criminology's study terrain appears to imply that
the law, and particularly criminal law, is used as the reference point (norm) in defining
which behaviour is criminal and which is not. Laws, however, are variable in time -
some acts are legal at one point in time and illegal in another- as well as in place -what
is legal in one system of law is illegal in another. Since what is considered a 'crime' dif-
fers in time and place, many criminologists consider crime to be a social construct. The
social problems or behaviours that are criminalized (defined and treated as a crime in
a given time and place) are a matter of cultural practices, social constraints and politi-
cal (power) relations. Even acts that are seemingly generally condemned, such as theft,
rape or murder, are tolerated or even stimulated in some situations, such as during war
and other armed conflicts. Property laws and law enforcement, for example, are very
selective and mainly reflect the interests of those owning property or powerful enough
to seize it. A landless peasant unlawfully trespassing a fence might be criminalized and
sent to prison, while a large entrepreneur in the same area unlawfully grabbing land
(by faking titles, corrupting officials or using 'security' personnel) might be seen by the
authorities as an agent of 'progress and development'. Hence, two criminal acts of the
same kind can be dealt with in a totally different way.
If crime is a social construct, the question is whether criminology should limit itself
to study harmful behaviour that has been defined as a crime. The discussion is very
old in American criminology. In his pioneering work, Swedish-American criminologist
Thorsten Sellin (1938) argued that conduct norms embodied in criminal law impose
'artificial boundaries' on the discipline. Thus, in order to find more scientifically valid
and accurate crime causation theories, criminologists should really focus on the extra-
legal conduct norms of various social groups in society. He set cultural phenomena,
beyond legally defined or officially recorded crime, at the basis of the study of criminal
conduct.
It was the American sociologist Edwin Sutherland (1940; 1983) who really broad-
ened the object of criminology with his path-breaking concept of 'white-collar crime'.
Despite much discussion about how inclusive the concept should be, white collar crime
can be broadly defined as “illegal or unethical acts that violate fiduciary responsibility
of public trust committed by an individual or organization, usually during the course
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