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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Alison HutchinsonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The concept of crime within traditional criminological scholarship has tended to centre on human or state victims. This anthropocentric focus facilitates speciesism within criminal law, where the recognition of, and responses to, environmental and wildlife victims are diminished. In contrast, and building on the foundations of critical criminology, green criminology is less confined by the strict definitions of crime found in orthodox criminology. The emergence of nonspeciesist perspectives within green criminology offer a means to expand the concept of crime and justice to recognise the numerous harms committed toward wildlife and environmental victims. It is well documented that marine species are under numerous and increasing pressures – from climate change, acidification of oceans, and the intensification of extractive ocean industries. Species who are also regarded as food resources face additional pressures from human exploitation as markets expand and demand grows. Very few of these pressures are actively criminalised. While fishing, mining, and polluting activities, and the disturbance and trade of protected species may be prohibited in certain situations, many detrimental practices toward marine species remain normative, condoned, and encouraged (e.g., fishing, shipping, and mining activities which involve the killing, displacement, or disruption of marine species). It is within this landscape that this essay examines current practices surrounding the criminalisation of acts toward marine wildlife and extends an invitation to expand upon definitions of crime, to recognise the legal yet harmful behaviours that continue to victimise, exploit, kill, and potentially drive marine species to extinction.
Author(s): Hutchinson A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Year: 2023
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 18/10/2023
Acceptance date: 05/05/2023
Date deposited: 19/10/2023
Publisher: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.772
DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.772
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/en7j-4n20
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