NCJ Number
202677
Journal
Theoretical Criminology Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 483-506
Editor(s)
Lynn Chancer,
Eugene McLaughlin
Date Published
November 2003
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article raises numerous concerns relevant to environmental criminology through the provision of a case study of the social, political, and economic dynamics surrounding the provision of drinking water.
Abstract
Environmental criminology necessarily incorporates a range of theoretical perspectives and strategic emphases, dealing with a wide range of environments and issues. Investigating environmental criminology issues from a criminological perspective requires an appreciation of how harm is socially and historically constructed. This article attempts to demonstrate through the case study of drinking water, that environmental harm occurs on both local and global levels. Water can be used to demonstrate the range of considerations that need to be taken into account when investigating other issues. The article demonstrates the complexities in determining the character, extent, and impact of environmental harm. It reviews environmental actions and resistance, both from the perspective of corporate and state sectors and from that of green activists. Lastly, it identifies diverse and sometimes competing approaches to environmental regulation and to the prevention of environmental harm. Criminological imagination contributes to the struggles by rethinking how new global relationships can diagnose, deter, prevent, and sometimes criminalize ongoing environmental harms. References