INTRODUCTION

Crime is inevitable in any human society since some violation or the other of any code of court
prescribed for the members of a society is bound to occur. Not only is crime inevitable but,
paradoxical, as it may sound, some sociologists have gone to the extent of saying that crime, to
some extent, helps in promoting social solidarity among people constituting the society. The
inevitability and universality of the phenomenon of crime has been described by Emile
Durkheim in the following words:

There is no society that is not confronted with the problem of criminality. Its form changes;
the act thus characterized are not the same everywhere; but everywhere and always, there have
been men who have behaved in such a way as to draw upon themselves penal repressionNo
doubt it is possible that crime itself will have abnormal forms, as for example, when its rate is
usually high . This excess is indeed undoubtedly morbid in nature To classify crime among the
phenomenon of normal sociology is not to say merely that it is inevitable, although regrettable,
phenomenon, due to incorrigible wickedness of men, it is to affirm that it is a factor in public
health, an integral part of all healthy societies.1

CRIMINOLOGY

Criminology is an interdisciplinary science that gathers and analyzes data on various aspects of
crime and criminal behavior. As with all scientific disciplines, its goal is to understand the
subject matter and also to determine how such understanding can benefit humankind. The term
criminal can and has been applied to many types of behavior, some of which nearly all of us have
been guilty of at some time in our lives. The most often quoted definition is that of Paul Tapan
(1947), who defined crime as an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed
without defence or excuse, and penalized by the state. A crime is thus an act in violation of a
criminal law for which a punishment is prescribed; the person committing must have intended to
do so and must have done so without legally acceptable defence or justification.2

Simply put, criminology is the scientific study of crime. More broadly, Edwin
Sutherland identified criminology as the study of law making, law breaking and the response to
the law breaking.3 Criminology is the study of crime and criminals. But even this definition is of

1 Emile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method (1950) at p.no.65.

2 Antony Walsh & Craig Hemmens, Introduction to Criminology (2011), Sage Publication at p.no.2.

3 Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey, Principles of criminology, 6 th edition (Philadelphia : J.B.
Lippincott, 1960).
limited use whilst we might recognize that criminals commit crime and criminologist study
crime, what is needed today also, is the definition of crime to be understood, what criminology
is?! Most dictionaries offer multiple definitions of the word crime, usually starting with the
idea that it is a breach of criminal law, an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed
injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and is legally prohibited

Now the point is, as per the ancient perception towards criminology is that crimes are committed
by human and committed against human and criminology is the study of the same defined
aspects of crime. But gradually with time, the definition has undergone some modifications; now
the definition of crime is broader in its approach and includes the contemporary concept of
crimes against environment as well.

GREEN CRIMINOLOGY

Environmental crime is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. These
types of crime, however, do not always produce an immediate consequence, and the harm may
be diffused. As such, the complexity of victimization in terms of time, space, impact, and who or
what is victimized is one of the reasons why governments and the enforcement community have
trouble in finding suitable and effective responsive measures.

Green criminology is, indeed, the meeting point of criminology and

environmental issues. In its narrowest, but least contentious, conceptualization, green
criminology concerns itself with the breach of laws designed to protect the environment or
animals (such as laws restricting pollution, or prohibiting hunting) in a nutshell Green
Criminology is the analysis of environmental harms from a criminological perspective, or the
application of criminological thought to environmental issues. Given that environmental
protection is one of the fastest growing areas of both international law and (for example) UK
criminal law this narrow focus is more than enough to justify a specialist Green Criminology. In
a broader definition, green criminology is concerned with social and individual harms caused by
or through the willful or negligent damage of the environment. In its broadest sense, green
criminology is concerned with all types of harm inflicted on the environment caused by human
activity, whether or not there are obvious human victims.4

Within the broader analytic framework of traditional criminology, harms to the environment
are crimes, and green criminologists seek to understand both how these happen and where,
when and why they occur. Green criminologists also focus on those who commit these crimes
(the criminals of mainstream criminology) and who (or what) suffers when crimes occur
(victims). We draw on criminological traditions of policing, punishment and crime prevention
to consider how best to respond to environmental harm and environmental offenders; we take

4 Taken from the greencriminilogy.com, a site specifically designed for green criminology.
concepts inherent in criminal justice to develop ideas about social, environmental and ecological
justice.

The term "green criminology" was introduced by Michael J. Lynch in 1990, and
expanded upon in Nancy Frank and Michael J. Lynchs 1992 book, Corporate Crime, Corporate
Violence,5 which examined the political economic origins of green crime and injustice, and the
scope of environmental law. The term became more widely used following publication of a
special issue on green criminology in the journal Theoretical Criminology edited by Piers Beirne
and Nigel South6 Green criminology has recently started to feature in university-level curriculum
and textbooks in criminology and other disciplinary fields.7 8

The study of green criminology has expanded significantly over time, and is supported by groups
such as the International Green Criminology WorkinGroup.9 There are increasing interfaces and
hybrid empirical and theoretical influences between the study of green criminology, which
focuses on environmental harms and crimes, and mainstream criminology and criminal justice,
with criminologists studying the 'greening' of criminal justice institutions and practices in efforts
to become more environmentally sustainable and the involvement of people in prison or on
probation in ecological justice initiatives.10

Traditional criminologists find it hard to relate criminology and environment rather they deny
from doing so however the apparent link between Criminology and Environment can be
established in a number of ways

5 Frank, Nancy and Michael J. Lynch 1992 Corporate Crime, Corporate Violence. Albany, NY: Harrow
and Heston.

6 (1998, volume 2, number 2).

7 White, R., & Heckenberg, D. (2014) 'Green Criminology: An Introduction to the Study of
Environmental Harm' London: Routledge.

8 Retrived from : http://www.21pw.com/dictionary/Green-criminology_796857( visited on

19thapril,2017:;06:00pm)

9 Chapter 4 'Greening Justice' of Graham, H., & White, R. (2015) 'Innovative Justice' London: Routledge.

10 White,R., & Graham, H. (2015) 'Greening Justice: Examining the Interfaces of Criminal, Social and
Ecological Justice' British Journal of Criminology [Advance Online Access]: 1-21.
 1. First, we can identify a range of crime and criminal justice activity relating directly to
environmental issues.
2. Second, we can see the study of environmental harm in general as an extension of the
well-established (and indeed fundamental) tradition within both sociology and
criminology of critically questioning the very definition of crime and the core subject
matter of criminology.
3. Finally, it is possible to identify a number of areas where environmentalists can benefit
from the experience of sociologists and criminologists working within more traditional
notions of crime.

It is an established principle in sociology that the definition of crime depends and varies from
society to society more so in a society the definition of what is- crime, changes with time, in
the present scenario environmental crisis has come up to be an omnipresent problem for all the
nations around the world alike Criminology and environmental issues overlap where criminal
activity clearly takes place, or where the agents of criminal justice are called into play. At first
glance we might not see much obvious criminal activity in relation to the natural world. Only a
minority of instances of environmental harm are accounted for by criminal activity the vast
majority of fishing, deforestation, pollution and so on are actually legal, and are often seen as
important economic activity. More traditionally-minded criminologists do not see this sort of
activity as the business of criminology at all. Radical criminologists argue that the criminal law
can often be seen to be acting, predominantly, against the interests of the lower classes and the
poor while serving the interests of the powerful that activity is not readily defined as a crime
(and therefore the perpetrators are not treated as criminals), relates as strongly to environmental
issues as it does to corporate crime or state crime. Green criminology is merely following a
well-established criminological tradition in this sense. 11. Green criminologists make the point
that most, if not all, environmental harms incorporate harms to individuals and social groups and
that many entail human rights abuses. People lose their livelihoods, property and way of life as
traditional lands are cleared for agriculture or development. We can count millions of avoidable
deaths around the globe that are linked to preventable environmental problems, such as the
absence of clean drinking water or exposure to pollutants.12

There are clearly many areas where criminology, sociology and environmentalism have
overlapping interests. Increasing numbers of activities considered harmful to the environment is
subject to criminal control, and other types of crime occur in response to environmental
problems. Even in the current Indian scenario where environmental issues are not criminalized

11 Day, D. (1989) The Eco Wars: A Laymans Guide to the Ecology Movement, Paladin.

12Retrieved from https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Rational%20choice%20theory

%20(criminology)&item_type=topic /as on 20t March 2017.
we can recognize that the sociology of crime has much to contribute to environmentalism. It is
all but known to us that in the international scenario India has been at the forefront among the
South Asian countries, trying to combat climate change and conserve the environment, quite
ironically enough green criminology as a concept is little know in India, no awareness,
whatsoever, exist in this regard. Not taking into account the dearth of awareness in India, green
criminology in its own ways can contribute to a great extent.

With environmental problems likely to intensify in coming years, the links between sociology,
criminology and environmentalism are also likely to become increasingly important. It is, in the
time when climate action is of utmost importance, we need to understand that activity affecting
the environment need to be dealt with strict sanctions and punishment for a better tomorrow and
such instances need to be covered under the umbrella of law as a guiding force to curb the
proliferation of anti-environmental activities.