Taylor Purrott
Complete a ten-marker practice question ‘In what ways are global and green crime connected’.
. Can use a statistic or relevant current example here. Importance of SPECIFIC DETAILED examples
. Your points are not expected to be very long for this question but must be developed with examples.
One way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both cause millions of avoidable deaths
around the globe, most of whom who suffer is the poor. Potter points out that it is nearly always the poorest
people who suffer most from environmental harms, but the rich corporations responsible usually avoid any
repercussions. (Marxist) Taylor similarly stated that globalisation has led to greater inequality and rising crime
which largely affects those who live in poorer areas or have a lack of stable income. For example, countries
such as Africa suffer green crimes such as oil exploitation and a lack of safe drinking water whilst similarly,
global crime is interconnected with this. For example, the democratic republic of Congo is classed as low
income, due to this, criminals see this as a prime opportunity for importing and exporting (mostly due to a lack
of funding for policing), especially as it is located on a coast (oil spills are not uncommon), The democratic
republic of Congo scored a criminality rating of 7.75, scoring 1 st of 54 African countries and 1st of 11 central
Africa countries according to Africa.ocindex. This is largely related to the fact that Africa lacks a lot of natural
resources due to drought, overfishing and drilling for oil so criminals must go elsewhere in order to make an
income.
Another way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both occur as a result of global and
local issues as argued by Robertson and his theory of ‘Glocalisation’. For example, global crime often occurs as
a result of the situation at hand locally, if the local area is suffering from poverty, it can spur criminals to steal
and focus their crimes on more wealthy areas that will provide a larger pay off, even if that means crossing
global borders. Similarly, Aas pointed out that like organised/global crime, green crime demonstrates the
‘intersection of the local and the global’ this is because local environmental harm is often ‘the product of a
chain of geographically dispersed events and activities. In the earlier example, the poverty at hand could be
caused by a lack of natural resources caused by mass deforestation or the poisoning of water with oil.
A final way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both are deemed to be ‘out of date’.
This was originally coined by Gastrow who argued that ‘perceptions are out of date’ he argued that the
government and police force misinterpret just how clever criminals have become and the lengths they are
willing to go to in order to achieve their goal. Relating to this, Carrabine et al shared Gastrow’s views as they
argued for the categorisation of green crime as ‘green crime’ itself wasn’t enough. Carrabine et al founded the
categories of primary and secondary green crime to emphasise how green crime can vary and how up until
that point it had largely been underestimated. An example of this would be that the government assumes
green crime is not as large a problem as it is and thus ignores the areas affected by crimes such as
deforestation which then leads to a lack of natural resources. With no help being received criminals take to a
global scale relatively easily as the police force underestimate how easy it is to cross the border and
alternatively how hard it is to communicate and work with other forces abroad.
Complete a ten-marker practice question ‘In what ways are global and green crime connected’.
. Can use a statistic or relevant current example here. Importance of SPECIFIC DETAILED examples
. Your points are not expected to be very long for this question but must be developed with examples.
One way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both cause millions of avoidable deaths
around the globe, most of whom who suffer is the poor. Potter points out that it is nearly always the poorest
people who suffer most from environmental harms, but the rich corporations responsible usually avoid any
repercussions. (Marxist) Taylor similarly stated that globalisation has led to greater inequality and rising crime
which largely affects those who live in poorer areas or have a lack of stable income. For example, countries
such as Africa suffer green crimes such as oil exploitation and a lack of safe drinking water whilst similarly,
global crime is interconnected with this. For example, the democratic republic of Congo is classed as low
income, due to this, criminals see this as a prime opportunity for importing and exporting (mostly due to a lack
of funding for policing), especially as it is located on a coast (oil spills are not uncommon), The democratic
republic of Congo scored a criminality rating of 7.75, scoring 1 st of 54 African countries and 1st of 11 central
Africa countries according to Africa.ocindex. This is largely related to the fact that Africa lacks a lot of natural
resources due to drought, overfishing and drilling for oil so criminals must go elsewhere in order to make an
income.
Another way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both occur as a result of global and
local issues as argued by Robertson and his theory of ‘Glocalisation’. For example, global crime often occurs as
a result of the situation at hand locally, if the local area is suffering from poverty, it can spur criminals to steal
and focus their crimes on more wealthy areas that will provide a larger pay off, even if that means crossing
global borders. Similarly, Aas pointed out that like organised/global crime, green crime demonstrates the
‘intersection of the local and the global’ this is because local environmental harm is often ‘the product of a
chain of geographically dispersed events and activities. In the earlier example, the poverty at hand could be
caused by a lack of natural resources caused by mass deforestation or the poisoning of water with oil.
A final way in which global and green crime are connected would be that both are deemed to be ‘out of date’.
This was originally coined by Gastrow who argued that ‘perceptions are out of date’ he argued that the
government and police force misinterpret just how clever criminals have become and the lengths they are
willing to go to in order to achieve their goal. Relating to this, Carrabine et al shared Gastrow’s views as they
argued for the categorisation of green crime as ‘green crime’ itself wasn’t enough. Carrabine et al founded the
categories of primary and secondary green crime to emphasise how green crime can vary and how up until
that point it had largely been underestimated. An example of this would be that the government assumes
green crime is not as large a problem as it is and thus ignores the areas affected by crimes such as
deforestation which then leads to a lack of natural resources. With no help being received criminals take to a
global scale relatively easily as the police force underestimate how easy it is to cross the border and
alternatively how hard it is to communicate and work with other forces abroad.
