Criminalization of Environmental Harms

Introduction to
criminology and
criminal justice
Running Head: CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE 0
Student’s Name

CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1
Criminology is concerned with crime, its causes, control, and consequences. The motive behind
this subject is the prevention of criminal behavior. Similar to any other aspect this prevention is
equally important in the area of environment where people are pursuing activities that cause
environmental harm. The topic selected for the preparation of this essay is based on green
criminology where the discussion will be made on related aspects to know whether these
environmental harm/damages should be considered as a crime or not. The environment fulfills
the necessities of human life by providing air, food, water, land, and others. This is the reason
that environmental safety is one of the most significant concerns at present and should be
discussed herewith. In the essay, presented hereby different types of social harms would be
discussed along with the meaning of the same. Some statics related to these harms shall also be
presented to strengthen the argument. Lastly, a conclusion will be drawn upon deciding whether
environmental damages should be criminalized.
To start the discussion on the selected topic, first, the meaning of social harm is required to
understand herewith. As the name implies social harm is the one that is related to the society not
similar to the individual harm such as theft, interpersonal violence and so on. Social harm caused
by Corporations and national states (discoversociety.org, 2019). These harms can be related to
education, employment, health, environment or any other social aspects that affect people in
large numbers. To define the same, this is to state that social harm can be defined as an injury to
society. One of the significant types of social harm is environmental harm. Environmental harms
consist of those activities that adversely affect the whole environment. Here this is necessary to
inform that there is a difference between environmental harm and environmental crime.
Environmental harm is more generally known as environmental damages, which is the

CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
deterioration of the environment by way of depletion of natural resources such as soil water and
air, extinction of wildlife and destruction of the ecosystem. In simple words, environmental
harms can be understood as an adverse impact on environmental values. In the presented essay,
different kinds of environmental harms such as pollution caused by the overuse of plastic, the use
of carbon fuels, deforestation and waste disposal will be discussed. These harms will be
discussed in detail along with the related statistics and aspects of criminology.
In regular commercial dealings, businesses pursue many of the activities that affect the
environment in negative ways and are not environmentally sustainable. It is a huge concern as it
affects people at large as well as the whole ecosystem. Some of such environmental harms have
already been categorized as environmental crimes. The topic is known as green criminology that
can be defined as those harms that are against the environment/humanity/non-human animals and
committed either by powerful institutions or by ordinary people. Green criminology is a field
that study, analyze and deal with environmental crime and other significant environmental harms
which frequently being ignored by mainstream criminology (Nurse, 2017). To some of the
environmental harms, there was always been a debate about whether the same should be
criminalized or not. In the subsequent discussion, these harms will be discussed. The first
environmental harm selected for the discussion here is the overuse of plastic that is very general
and exists almost every business. The use of plastic is bad for the environment, as it cannot be
absorbed back. The volume of plastic in the ocean is continuously growing and affecting humans
as well as wildlife. If to discuss the issue at the global level this is to state that the world
produces around 300 million tons of plastic each year and at last, the same used to through into
oceans only. As per the claim made by "Ocean Conservancy", plastic was found in every sea
turtle species. Disposal of plastic can be done in many ways such as incineration, landfilling,