This study explores how the Canadian and Alberta governments downplay environmental harm in the Alberta Tar Sands, therein justifying its ongoing expansion and defining it as unnecessary to intervene through the law. In particular, this study draws on the concepts of hegemony, social harm and deep ecology to problematize how climate change has become the governments’ main environmental concern in the tar sands, despite the existence of other, equally troubling issues, and how carbon capture and storage (CCS) has become the states’ main climate change strategy, despite the largely untested nature of this technique. A critical discourse analysis of two government taskforce documents concerning CCS technology revealed that neoliberal and globalization discourses were used to narrowly conceptualize environmental harm, thereby privileging Canada’s trade relations and economic strength over the environment’s health. Relatedly, discourses of scientism were used to conceptualize climate change as a technical problem and CCS as the “preferred” solution.

Numerous medical and environmental toxicology studies have established a link between lead (Pb) exposure, crime, and delinquency. In human environments, lead pollution- like crime- is unequally distributed, creating lead hot spots. In spite of this, studies of crime hotspots have routinely focused on traditional sociological predictors of crime, leaving environmental predictors of crime like lead and other neurotoxins relatively unaddressed. This study attends to this gap in the literature by asking a very straightforward research question: Is there a relationship between hotspots of lead and hotspots of crime? Furthermore, what is the nature and extent of this relationship? Lastly, is the distribution of lead across communities relative to race, class, and/or ethnicity? To explore these issues, a series of thirteen research hypotheses are derived based on findings from previous lead and crime studies. To test these research hypotheses, data was collected from the city of Chicago's Community Areas (n = 77) in Cook County, Illinois. Information from a range of secondary sources including the U.S. Census, Environmental Protection Agency, Chicago Police Department, and City of Chicago are merged and analyzed. Cross sectional and longitudinal assessments are conducted, and results from a series of negative binomial regressions, fixed effects negative binomial regressions, and correlations are presented. Findings suggest the association between lead and crime appeared particularly robust with respect to rates of violent index crime, but less so for rates of property index crime. Contrary to what prior research suggests, the association between lead and crime appears stronger for rates of arrests for adult index crimes than rates of arrests for juvenile index crime arrests. This study concludes by discussing theory and policy implications alongside recommendations for future study.

In this paper, we determine whether illegal hunting should be construed as a crime of dissent. Using the Nordic countries as a case study where protest-driven, illegal hunting of protected wolves is on the rise, we reconsider the crime using principles of civil disobedience. We invoke the conditions of intentionality, nonevasion, dialogic effort, non-violence and appeal to parameters of reasonable disagreement about justice and situate the Nordic illegal hunting phenomenon at a nexus between conscientious objection, assisted disobedience and everyday resistance. This examination leads us to contend that the crime has heretofore received an inadequate response limited to punishment and deterrence. This contention finds support in the worsening predicaments of illegal hunting following harsh sanctions and stigmatization. Although hunters publicize injustices through their crimes, we find that killing wolves as a means to deliberative ends disqualifies hunters’ dissent as legitimate disobedience, creating an obligation of deliberative uptake on the part of society. Nonetheless, in a critical contribution to the field of criminal justice, we argue that it is instead the conditions of deliberative suboptimality experienced by hunters that create this obligation of uptake. Hence, in order to fulfill this obligation, we contend that the burden falls on regulatory agencies to better articulate the justifications for the policies that coerce hunters. We also advocate creating novel institutions to provide hunters with effective opportunities for contesting wildlife conservation directives.

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of soring in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry. Although a limited amount of research has focused on the practice, this is the first known study to utilize a criminological lens to better understand the perceptions and motivations of its use. The study relies upon data collected from Tennessee Walking Horse trainers, event attendees, and Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs), which are analyzed via a mixed-methods approach. Agnew’s (1998) theory on the causes of animal abuse serves as the theoretical framework for this analysis. Results provide a moderate amount of support for the theory’s extension to the problem. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed, as is a framework by which future researchers can continue to advance knowledge regarding soring in the industry.

Our drive to achieve economic development and growth is driving our planet to an unprecedented level of ecological destruction. The structural forces of capitalism together with a culture of consumerism is pushing the environment to its limits causing climate change, pollution and threatening the wellbeing of humanity and the ecosystem. This thesis seeks to reach a better understanding of harms and crimes committed against the eco-system. This will be achieved by applying a theoretical framework that incorporates criminology theories and theories from other disciplines on the famous case of BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The paper shows that it is necessary to explore theories outside of traditional criminology to demonstrate how the root cause of environmental crime is inherently linked to capitalism.

Depuis 2010, le gouvernement canadien a créé une loi qui exige 5% de biocarburant dans l’essence, et ce, dans un contexte d’insécurité alimentaire dont souffrent les plus défavorisés. Cette thèse fait l’analyse critique du discours des organisations privées qui ont promu les biocarburants dans ce contexte. Comment en sont-ils arrivés à fabriquer la normalité de l’usage des biocarburants? Cette dernière se produit par la mise en valeur de nouveaux emplois dans l’industrie, la promotion d’une économie rurale vigoureuse, la présentation de l’État comme facilitateur des marchés ainsi que l’accent mis sur les impacts environnementaux favorables des biocarburants. La normalisation s’explique aussi par la dénaturation des grains et la radicalisation du rôle du fermier afin que ceux-ci concordent avec l’idéologie (néo)libérale. Il importe que la criminologie critique, se positionne au sein d’une zémiologie, dont les objets d’études portent sur les torts sociaux émanant des structures et l’organisation inégalitaire de nos sociétés.

International Criminal Law as an Instrument of Environmental Protection The aim of this thesis is to explore the potential of the international criminal law as an instrument for solving global environmental problems, which would enable better implementation of international environmental legal norms. The first chapter provides an outline of core ideas and concepts, which originate from the understanding of the international criminal law as an ultima ratio instrument for safeguarding the international security and the health of humankind, i.e. the identical values that have been seriously threatened by the global environmental crisis at the beginning of the 21st century. The second chapter elaborates on the international environmental protection in times of peace, with emphasis on the non-existence of effective responsibility mechanisms, which would oblige states and private entities to adhere to general international environmental norms. For the most severe cases of failure to adhere to said norms, the future use of the international criminal law is being proposed. The third chapter comments on the international protection of the environment at times of war and armed conflicts, which is, contrary to times of peace, at least partly embedded in the existing norms of the international criminal law;...

Depuis 2010, le gouvernement canadien a créé une loi qui exige 5% de biocarburant dans l’essence, et ce, dans un contexte d’insécurité alimentaire dont souffrent les plus défavorisés. Cette thèse fait l’analyse critique du discours des organisations privées qui ont promu les biocarburants dans ce contexte. Comment en sont-ils arrivés à fabriquer la normalité de l’usage des biocarburants? Cette dernière se produit par la mise en valeur de nouveaux emplois dans l’industrie, la promotion d’une économie rurale vigoureuse, la présentation de l’État comme facilitateur des marchés ainsi que l’accent mis sur les impacts environnementaux favorables des biocarburants. La normalisation s’explique aussi par la dénaturation des grains et la radicalisation du rôle du fermier afin que ceux-ci concordent avec l’idéologie (néo)libérale. Il importe que la criminologie critique, se positionne au sein d’une zémiologie, dont les objets d’études portent sur les torts sociaux émanant des structures et l’organisation inégalitaire de nos sociétés.

Depuis 2010, le gouvernement canadien a créé une loi qui exige 5% de biocarburant dans l’essence, et ce, dans un contexte d’insécurité alimentaire dont souffrent les plus défavorisés. Cette thèse fait l’analyse critique du discours des organisations privées qui ont promu les biocarburants dans ce contexte. Comment en sont-ils arrivés à fabriquer la normalité de l’usage des biocarburants? Cette dernière se produit par la mise en valeur de nouveaux emplois dans l’industrie, la promotion d’une économie rurale vigoureuse, la présentation de l’État comme facilitateur des marchés ainsi que l’accent mis sur les impacts environnementaux favorables des biocarburants. La normalisation s’explique aussi par la dénaturation des grains et la radicalisation du rôle du fermier afin que ceux-ci concordent avec l’idéologie (néo)libérale. Il importe que la criminologie critique, se positionne au sein d’une zémiologie, dont les objets d’études portent sur les torts sociaux émanant des structures et l’organisation inégalitaire de nos sociétés.

Notre étude aborde les représentations autochtones des transgressions liées à l’environnement et celles de la justice environnementale au Canada à travers l’analyse de documentaires réalisés par des Autochtones et produits par Wapikoni mobile. Grâce à l’utilisation d’une méthodologie qualitative, nous visons à mettre les points de vue autochtones au premier plan de notre étude et ainsi présenter les expériences de transgressions et d’injustices environnementales telles qu’elles sont vécues et représentées par les réalisateurs et par les intervenants qui sont intégrés dans les documentaires. L’étude des documentaires nous donne aussi un accès privilégié aux représentations de la nature et du territoire, ainsi qu’aux rapports avec les Allochtones et l’État canadien. Les résultats de notre analyse des documentaires viennent souligner la place fondamentale de la nature et du territoire dans les représentations autochtones, et exposent la gravité extrême des atteintes à l’environnement pour ces communautés. Les documentaires indiquent que les injustices et les transgressions environnementales ont des conséquences incommensurables pour les peuples autochtones. Notre analyse révèle aussi la place de l’État canadien, la structure coloniale et les valeurs capitalistes dans ces actes. Ces éléments sont mis en lumière à travers les représentations autochtones d’une responsabilité accrue des acteurs gouvernementaux et organisationnels accompagnée de rapports antagonistes avec les Allochtones, qui engendrent plusieurs réactions autochtones aux injustices et aux transgressions. Finalement, notre analyse dégage des documentaires un lot de revendications essentielles afin de parvenir à une justice environnementale autochtone. / Our study addresses Indigenous representations of environmental transgressions and environmental justice in Canada through the analysis of Indigenous documentary short-films produced by Wapikoni Mobile. Through the use of qualitative methodology, we aim to bring Indigenous perspectives to the forefront of our study and thus present the experiences of environmental transgressions and injustices as represented by the documentary filmmakers, as well as their participants. The study of documentaries also gives us privileged access to representations of nature and land, as well as to relations with non-Natives and the Canadian state. The results of our analysis highlight the fundamental place of nature and land in Indigenous representations present in the short-films, and expose the extreme severity of environmental damage to these Indigenous communities. The documentaries indicate that environmental injustices and transgressions have immeasurable consequences for Indigenous peoples. Our analysis also reveals the place of the Canadian state, the colonial structure and capitalist values in these acts. These elements are highlighted through Indigenous representations of increased responsibility by state and corporate actors accompanied by antagonistic relationships with Non-Indigenous people, which generate multiple Indigenous reactions to injustices and transgressions. Finally, our analysis identifies from these documentaries a set of claims essential to achieving Indigenous environmental justice.