Tanya Wyatt

This article explores the nexus of stigmatisation and environmental activism in the Campaign to Protect Pont Valley against open-cast mining in the northeast of England. Drawing on Imogen Tyler’s work, our analysis examines stigma power as embedded in wider efforts to police and repress environmental dissent and defend core neoliberal values. Examination of qualitative interviews with campaigners, drive-past insults shouted at activists, online police statements and public responses, and online trolling of activists by mining employees and the wider public reveals stigmatisation to be a process of power, informed by neoliberal ideologies (of the threat and danger of worklessness), and reproduced through neoliberal power structures (the state, corporate power, and popular culture), shaped by the insecurities that are specific to social and political contexts. We show how the state mobilises stigma through ideologies associated with austerity and the hostile environment to delegitimat...

The harm and crime committed by humans does not only affect humans. Victimisation is not isolated to people, but instead encompasses the planet and other beings. Yet apart from fairly recent green criminological scholarship employing an expanded criminological gaze beyond the human, the discipline of criminology has largely confined itself to human victims, ignoring the human-caused suffering and plight of the billions of other individuals with whom we share the Earth. In order to take another step in rectifying criminology’s blindness to the non-human world, we propose a ‘Wildlife Criminology’. Wildlife Criminology is a complimentary project that expands the existing green and critical criminological scholarship even further beyond the human. As the book’s chapters will demonstrate, criminology’s current and future engagement with wildlife issues needs to develop by considering wider notions of crime and harm involving non-human animals and plants. We focus on non-human animals: as...

This chapter explores the killing of wildlife in the name of sport via an examination of shooting, fisheries, game, and poaching. The chapter examines the extent to which legal activities such as shooting and fishing are endemic with illegal activities including: permit breaches; excessive catch; subverting of ‘fair chase’ rules, and corruption within permit and licensing schemes. The chapter argues that the legal and the illegal exist side by side and also examines the poor regulation of such sports such that regulatory problems and inadequacies allow the continued exploitation of animals in a manner that legal systems often fail to deal with adequately. The chapter also examines animal ‘sports’ such as bull-fighting which largely depend on violence towards animals and the spectacle of seeing an ostensibly ‘wild’ animal ‘competing’ in activities alongside humans.

In the Anthropocene, humans are changing and harming the planet in significant and possibly irreversible ways. Biodiversity loss is one of the main elements of these human-caused harms. Wildlife and conservation policies, such as Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (the Bern Convention) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) are attempts to stop the loss of wildlife. This article explores the implementation of both of these conventions in the UK through a mixed-methods study including content analysis of convention documentation and eight semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that whilst the UK has a reputation for actively engaging in wildlife conservation and being a nation of animal lovers, management of its own wildlife is under resourced and could be improved. Both conventions are complex, with different parties focusing on different aspects (i.e., commercial interests via ...

This chapter focuses on militias and insurgents as powerful actors that are responsible for significant victimisation in unstable parts of the world. The types of crimes they commit are detailed as well as who has been victimised. We explore the political ideology that underpins their motivations and what distinguishes insurgents from terrorists. We explore these dynamics through two case studies: the kidnapping of hundreds of girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2014 and the Shining Path in Peru in the 1970s and 1980s. We interrogate the relationship between the groups, the victims and the state, which, as with other chapters, links back to the intersectionalities of individual characteristics that are linked to victimisation—in this case to gender, age and religion in relation to Boko Haram and class and race in relation to the Shining Path. Furthermore, we look at the power dynamics of these groups vis-a-vis the global community.

This chapter further explores the theme of wildlife as human property and exploitable natural resource with an examination of the sale and exploitation of wildlife for food. Wildlife as food is a complicated issue as not only does it include luxury ‘exotic’ foods like caviar, whale, and bear paws, but also includes common species such as deer, rabbits, and snakes. Adding to the complexity is that some species, like caviar, were at one time common, but because of over-exploitation and unsustainable consumption have become a luxury. Alternatively, once common non-human animals like the pangolin have been exploited to dangerous levels due to their status as a luxury food (and medicine). The chapter gives specific examples where wildlife is consumed as food to explore the various motivations of consumption. There is an in-depth discussion of caviar, where there is evidence of organised crime orchestrating this complicated global black market. We end this chapter by discussing the specie...

This chapter explores the links between non-human animal abuse and interpersonal violence with a specific focus on the extent to which harm caused to wildlife may be an indicator of violent tendencies and a predictor of future violence. Experts estimate that from 48 percent to 71 percent of battered women have pets who also have been abused or killed and the link between domestic animal abuse and human violence is widely recognised by scholars and law enforcement professionals. This chapter focuses on the violence inherent in hunting and poaching. The chapter speculates as to the link concerning violence towards wildlife and the extent to which wild animal abuse can indicate a propensity or inclination towards other forms of violence.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” —William Butler Yeats (1889) Welcome to our course, “Race and Ethnicity”! These are not, needless to say, normal circumstances. This is the first time in four decades of teaching that I am doing so “online.” It may be a new experience for you as well. There are bound to be glitches (not to mention Murphy’s Law) as we adapt to the new conditions and challenges... but I have no doubt that we will overcome them together. Our course, which begins on March 31, 2020, is being held in the context of the historic crisis we are all engulfed in, a once-in-a-century global pandemic that is not only bordering on a public health apocalypse but shaking all aspects of our lives and of our worlds (interpersonal, educational, occupational, financial, economic, political, residential, medical, social, cultural, psychological, familial)—requiring adaptations to rapidly changing and unpredictable circumstances. (Like this online course, for instance!) It is precisely in such moments of crisis—which shake our taken for granted notions and routines to their foundation, revealing the artifices of our social constructions of “reality” (including what we construct as “race” and “ethnicity”)—that a sociological imagination flourishes. A folk saying has it that “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I look forward to making sociological lemonade with you this quarter. The pandemic will not hit everyone alike, but will be patterned along hard lines of social and economic inequality and disadvantage—including race and ethnicity and immigration status. Not everyone can “stay at home.” Harsh realities are being exposed anew by this public health catastrophe... including the fact that SYSTEMIC RACISM IS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE... along with possibilities to reshape the structure of our societies in the calamitous aftermath. (But as Frederick Douglass famously said long ago: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”) We will read 1 book during our 11-week course: Race in America, by Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer. This is one of the very best textbooks on the subject that I have seen. The book is made up of 11 chapters, each about 40 pages (including many images, maps and graphics); you’ll be reading a chapter a week on average. The first 2 chapters spell out key concepts and address the historical invention and institutionalization of “race.” The next 8 core chapters (#3-10) focus on separate (but interconnected) fields of social life: political, economic, residential, legal, educational, aesthetic, associational, and intimate spheres (family, self, identity). The last one, chapter 11, looks to the future: “Toward Racial Democracy.” In addition to the text, you will read a few supplementary readings, listed in the syllabus and course agenda. In tandem with the course readings, over the next ten weeks I will regularly email you selected articles, reports, and analyses seeking to connect what you are studying to the breaking news of the day; while we cannot know now what may come in the coming months, we can be pretty certain that the issues addressed by our course will be at the heart of the historic crisis (or crises) that will engulf us. By the end of the class you will have effectively a “curated” set of such accompanying relevant readings. Tuesday March 31 is the start of our class. Saturday April 4 marks the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. As I do every year at that time, as well as on the anniversary of his birth on January 15, I send my students an annual message of remembrance. Please take time to read and reflect on it. The goal of this class is to broaden your intellectual horizons; to study stress, not to cause it; to invite you to a memorable sociological adventure amid a global crisis that you and I will still be talking about many years from now. And remember: Our course will end in June, but not our role and responsibility as members of the polis, as citizens as well as sociologists confronted by historic crises. The critically informed citizen—whose voice is heard, who acts and votes and remains civically engaged—is racism’s worst enemy. Becoming a critically informed citizen, ending racial domination and making a more just world is a lifetime commitment that never ends. Silence is not an option at this (potential) turning point in the history of American democracy and racial justice, even amid a once-in-a-century pandemic. Know that history. Voice that history. Read-think-write... and act. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere... Justice too long delayed is justice denied." —Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)

The term 'Green Criminology' was first introduced by Lynch in 1990 although the history of criminologists concerning themselves with specific environmental and animal related crimes goes back further than this For example Pecar (1981) put forward an even earlier statement about new environmentally damaging forms of criminality in Slovenia and the role of criminology and sciences related to this (Eman, Mesko and Fields 2009: 584) but with no English‐language translation Pecar’s article made no international impact.

The aim of this report is to present existing and new empirical evidence on the scale, nature and value of the illegal and irresponsible puppy trade, with a particular focus on the role of breeders, traders, consumers and enforcement agencies in the trade. We aimed to answer two central questions: - What are the nature, extent and value of legal and illegal puppy sales in the UK? - What improvements can be made at each part of the trade to help prevent the international illegal trade of puppies and unregistered puppy farms?

This exploratory study develops a “southern green cultural criminology” approach to the prevention of environmental harms and crimes. The main aim is to understand differing cultural representations of nature, including wildlife, present within four Colombian Indigenous communities to evaluate whether they encourage environmentally friendly human interactions with the natural world, and if so, how. The study draws on primary data gathered by the Indigenous authors (peer researchers) of this article via a set of interviews with representatives of these four communities. We argue that the cosmologies that these communities live by signal practical ways of achieving ecological justice and challenging anthropocentrism.

This chapter examines the notion of wildlife as property or ‘things’ and critically analyses the extent to which anthropocentric notions of wildlife as a resource for human exploitation determines harm caused to non-human animals. This chapter examines how anthropocentric notions of morality and human-centred values underpin the exploitation of non-human animals and the sense in which they are owned. Employing a green criminological perspective, the chapter examines the use and abuse of wildlife within the animal ‘entertainment’ industry. The chapter examines the use of wildlife within aquariums, zoos, and circuses and examines both the legality of this use and the non-human animal harm contained within such uses. Evidence exists, for example, of psychological harm caused to wildlife in zoos that would likely be unlawful if experienced by companion animals. Yet, zoos and safari parks are ostensibly legal operations, thus animal welfare legislation is often the only mechanism through...

The continuing invisibility of much crime and victimisation, in the UK and overseas, and the lack of adequate response to them, is a central tenet of this collection. Bringing the key features of invisible crime up to date for the twenty-first century, this volume re-visits and elaborates upon the 'seven features of invisibility' that were introduced in the acclaimed earlier text Invisible Crimes (Palgrave, 1999) and aligns this with current knowledge and research. Establishing invisible crimes, social harms and victimisations as an area worthy of criminological and victimological inquiry, this unique collection forms a critical perspective on invisibility and offers new insight into methodologies capable of examining it. The volume explores the various 'spaces' of invisibility - the body, home, street, environment, state and virtual world – to develop a framework of typological underpinnings applicable to a range of crimes and harms that tend to remain obscured or hidden through various examples and case studies. It examines the broader reasons for the relative invisibility of some crimes and social harms and how various victims and injustices have become more visible or rendered less so over time and place.

Following Mill’s (1859) definition, the ‘harm principle’ came to dominate legal debates about crime and the appropriate response of the justice system, effectively replacing official talk of morality in modern secular societies. However, the harm principle has collapsed without an accepted definition of harm or a method to adjudicate between competing claims. To address this, we propose a definition of ‘good’ derived from evolutionary perspectives. From this, a universal goal for society can be recognised, specific objectives to reach that goal can be listed, and a new definition for harm can be used to repair the harm principle and restore its ability to underpin criminal law and the principles of justice in society.

Organised crime groups’ involvement in illicit markets is a common focus of law enforcement and governments. Drug, weapon, human and wildlife trafficking (and others) are all illegal activities with link to organised crime. This paper explores the overlooked illicit market of puppies. We detail the state of knowledge about the organisation of the UK puppy trade, which includes irresponsible and illegal breeding of puppies throughout Europe and their often-illegal movement into the UK. In 2017, we conducted an analysis of hundreds of online advertisements in Scotland, 12 expert interviews, a stakeholder survey of 53 participants, and 40 focus groups across Great Britain. Our data suggest an organised illicit market running in parallel to the legal trade. We speculate as to whether at some point along the supply chain organised crime groups are responsible for the suffering and death of the puppies and the economic and emotional damage to ‘consumers’. Online monitoring and physical sc...

Illegal wildlife trade or wildlife trafficking is a global threat to all kinds of species, not just charismatic megafauna or to wildlife in Africa and Asia. This paper presents the findings of an investigation of the illegal trade in native and non-native wildlife and wildlife products between the European Union and Mexico. Using literature analysis, secondary trade data, and expert interviews, this study explores the nature and extent of wildlife trafficking between these two regions, including the involvement of organised crime within an eco-global criminological framework. This is important for the regions studied and also for the global community, more generally, as wildlife trafficking is contributing not only to species extinction, but also to instability, violence, and unhealthy physical environments for people.

Conflict between police, private security and political protesters is a topic that has been researched widely in criminology and other disciplines (e.g., Choudry 2019; Gilmore et al. 2019; Goyes and South 2017; Jackson et al. 2018; Rigakos 2002; South 1988; Weiss 1978). Adopting a green criminological lens, this article seeks to contribute to this rich body of research by examining police and private security responses to campaigning against opencast (open-pit) coal mining in Pont Valley, County Durham, United Kingdom (UK). Based on qualitative interviews, the article examines activists’ perceptions of responses to their campaign. Our findings reveal that rather than acting as neutral arbiters, police colluded with private interests, overlooking the abusive behavior of private security and bailiffs, particularly during the eviction of a protest camp at the proposed mining site. Activists believed that their right to protest was not respected, that their safety was jeopardized, and t...

Wildlife trafficking is a major black market, and may be the second most profitable illicit market after drug trafficking. It has significant negative impacts on species, ecosystems, and biodiversity. After habitat loss, wildlife trafficking is the leading cause of extinction. It is also a threat to food industries and human health with its connection to disease transmission. The patterns of wildlife trafficking vary throughout the world and nations approach the prevention of it differently. The differences that exist raise the question as to why the levels differ between nations that appear to be similar. This is the case with the Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, which are demographically similar with a significant shared cultural history. Yet New Zealand has high levels of wildlife trafficking, Australia low levels and the UK somewhere in between. This research uses the trade database from the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna ...

The study identifies a range of corrupt practices, ranging from bribery of border officials, poachers painting marks on their fishing boats to show police officials they had paid bribes to avoid inspection, the abuse of scientific fishing permits as a cover to legalise catch of wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, and even “black washing” - the misdeclaration of legally farmed caviar as “wild-sourced” because of the higher price that attracts. The authors describe the latter as “a unique corrupt practice for wildlife crimes, and possibly unique to the caviar industry.” Corruption is a severe threat to wildlife conservation globally: the study recommends adoption of a “top-down and bottom-up approach” to address corruption within wildlife crime given the large differences between commodity types. For example, smuggling caviar uses different mechanisms to smuggling timber due to the scale of the commodity and different shipment modus operandi used. Among the solutions put forward for dea...

The illegal wildlife trade is a prevalent crime that has not been explored by mainstream criminology, which ignores environmental harms that remain legal. The emerging field of green criminology considers harms, but mostly in a speciesist manner. Using two case studies of wildlife trafficking in Russia Far East (fur and falcon), this research moves beyond these limits. This is accomplished by adopting an ecocentric stance that recognizes the intrinsic value of all species and their right to humane treatment and a life free from suffering. Additionally, this book presents three structural harms that are problematic in regards to wildlife trafficking; danger to the environment; cruelty to animals; and threat to national and human security through the connection to corruption, transnational crime, organized criminal networks, and terrorism. By exploring who is involved, how it occurs, and where it takes place, distinct typologies are created that provide a basis for further examination...

Organised crime groups’ involvement in illicit markets is a common focus of law enforcement and governments. Drug, weapon, human and wildlife trafficking (and others) are all illegal activities with link to organised crime. This paper explores the overlooked illicit market of puppies. We detail the state of knowledge about the organisation of the UK puppy trade, which includes irresponsible and illegal breeding of puppies throughout Europe and their often-illegal movement into the UK. In 2017, we conducted an analysis of hundreds of online advertisements in Scotland, 12 expert interviews, a stakeholder survey of 53 participants, and 40 focus groups across Great Britain. Our data suggest an organised illicit market running in parallel to the legal trade. We speculate as to whether at some point along the supply chain organised crime groups are responsible for the suffering and death of the puppies and the economic and emotional damage to ‘consumers’. Online monitoring and physical sc...

National security is a continuing topic of concern and part of that is the growing understanding of the connection to global crime. Often though only traditional national security issues, which are conceptualized around state sovereignty and military capability are addressed, and when exploring the criminal nexus only traditional or mainstream crimes, such as drug and weapons trafficking are analyzed. This article departs from this in two ways. First, it centers on the illegal wildlife trade, which consists of both animals and plants, and is an often overlooked green crime outside of mainstream criminological studies. Second, it argues that the illegal wildlife trade is not only a threat to national security, but also threatens other equally important non-traditional aspects of security. This article demonstrates that non-traditional security concerns and the marginalized crime of wildlife trafficking should be the focus of more research and government focus as it poses significant ...

Animal Traffic: Lively Capital in the Global Exotic Pet Trade is a unique contribution to the existing robust studies about the legal and illegal wildlife trade. The uniqueness stems from Collard’s theoretical framework as well as her fieldwork. I will discuss each of these in turn before talking about how these strengths could have been used more broadly. In regard to the theoretical framework, Collard grounds some of her thoughtful analysis in feminist political economy. This leads her to insightful musings about the socio-ecological reproduction of non-human animals. In essence, what are the social/cultural and environmental consequences for individual non-human animals, their communities and ecosystems, when these animals are—to use Collard’s term— enclosed. Furthermore, Collard proposes that both commodity and animal fetishism are partly responsible for animals being objects of the global exotic pet trade. They are in demand because they are individual, controllable and encount...

Introduction Diane Solomon Westerhuis, Reece Walters and Tanya Wyatt PART I: CONCEPTS, PERSPECTIVES AND DIMENSIONS 1. The Conceptual Contours of Green Criminology Rob White 2. Environmental Victimization and Conflict Resolution: A Case Study of E-waste Lieselot Bisschop and Gudrun Vande Walle PART II: RIGHTS AND WRONGS 3. Resource Wealth, Power, Crime and Conflict Avi Brisman and Nigel South 4. Animal Trafficking and Trade: Animal Abuse and Species Injustice Ragnhild Sollund 5. Crime and the Commodification of Carbon Reece Walters and Peter Martin 6.The Local Context of Transnational Wildlife Trafficking: the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre Tanya Wyatt PART III: POLICING, REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT 7. Shoot Horses Don't They? Policing Wildlife, Perspectives on Criminality in Wildlife Crime Angus Nurse 8. Environmental Regulation in Chemical Corporations: Preliminary Results of a Case Study Research Environmental Regulation in Chemical Corporations: Preliminary Results of a Case...

The first chapter sets the scene as to how this collection of essays was brought about. It also provides background information about the state of knowledge of the environment in general and green crime in particular in Mexico. The 14 authors featured in this volume participated in an intensive short-course on green criminology, and this introductory chapter summarizes their overriding concerns (and those in Mexico in general). It outlines four common themes running through the chapters: environmental justice, crimes of the powerful, corruption, and resistance and activism.

This chapter examines the notion that human violence has its origins in the violence evident in our evolutionary history. The prevailing wisdom is that wildlife are themselves violent and when humans act violently they are behaving like ‘animals’. The exploration covers examples of violence by wildlife, including murder by chimpanzees, and rape by elephants. In contrast, the chapter also provides examples of altruism in wildlife, which counters the notion of human compassion as one of the exceptional characteristics setting us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. The chapter aims to further challenge anthropocentric legislation by exemplifying common characteristics between wildlife and humans and in so doing set the scene for further chapters’ exploration of the legal personhood of wildlife.

Wildlife trade—both legal and illegal—is an activity that is currently the focus of global attention. Concerns over the loss of biodiversity, partly stemming from overexploitation, and the corona virus pandemic, likely originating from wildlife trade, are urgent matters. These concerns though centre on people. Only sometimes does the discussion focus on the wildlife traded and their welfare. In this article, we make the case as to why welfare is an important component of any discussion or policy about wildlife trade, not only for the interests of the wildlife, but also for the sake of humans. We detail the harm in the trade as well as the current welfare provisions, particularly in relation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which guide global transport and trade. There are a number of ways that the current approach to wildlife welfare could be improved, and we propose ways forward in this regard.

This chapter explores the abuse inflicted upon wildlife smuggled to fill the demand for the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), and the abuse that is inherent in the legal wildlife trade. It begins with an overview of the extent of both trades, focusing on the key regions of the world where these occur. The next section identifies the routine abuse, suffering and death experienced by animal victims within these trades. The authors argue that being captured, smuggled, possibly dying, or living a life in pain and/or confinement are all forms of animal abuse. Consequently, there is not a single case of wildlife trade where an animal does not suffer in some fashion. The chapter then explores the motivations for engaging in the wildlife trade, using two criminological theories to help explain offender’s behaviour in the illegal trade. This is followed by an evaluation of current responses to illegal wildlife trade, with a particular focus on the official UK response. The current response is limited, partly due to existing loopholes in regulations and limitations in the political, enforcement and judicial responses but also, and perhaps more importantly, by our inability to reduce demand and prevent the killing/capture in the first place.

Whilst drug trafficking has been a concern for several decades, wildlife trafficking has only fairly recently garnered international attention. Often media coverage of wildlife trafficking links it to the illegal trade of drugs. This article analyses wildlife and drug trafficking connections of various kinds. The purpose is to reveal the overlaps and synergies of wildlife and drug trafficking, providing concrete examples of where these markets co-exist as well as intertwine based on literature and original fieldwork. It explores the question of ‘Why in some cases, an illicit market remains focused on a single commodity, whilst in others it accommodates a combination of illicit commodities?’ This study identifies different types of wildlife-drugs linkages, including combined contraband, camouflage, multiple trade lines, shared smuggling routes and transportation methods, barter trade, and laundering drug money. The article shows that illicit markets are complex and the examples of ac...