Uniting Green Criminology and Earth Jurisprudence

113 Pages·2020·1.806 MB·English

by  Jack Lampkin

Uniting Green Criminology

and Earth Jurisprudence
A s planet Earth continues to absorb unprecedented levels of anthropogenically
induced environmental and climatic change, two similar academic schools
of thought have emerged in recent years, both making sustained efforts to
explain how and why this state of affairs has evolved.
These two disciplines are known as green criminology and earth
jurisprudence . Whilst these areas of study can be seen as sub-disciplines
of their parent subjects, law and criminology, this book proposes that much
can be achieved by authors uniting and collaborating on their academic
work. By doing this, it is argued that green criminology stands to benefit
from a discipline that places mother nature at the heart of lawmaking and
therefore providing a solution to the environmental harms identified by
green criminologists.
Furthermore, earth jurisprudence will profit from utilising the breadth
of academic work produced within the green criminology academic arena.
Therefore, this book seeks to unite green criminology and earth jurisprudence
in an effort to find solutions to the extraordinary environmental problems
that the world now faces.
Dr. Jack Lampkin is a Lecturer in Policing at Teesside University. He
obtained his PhD in 2018 from the University of Lincoln’s Law School and
has several academic publications in the field of green criminology.
‘Combining the insights of green criminology and earth jurisprudence, this
energising and thought-provoking book offers an invitation to think hard
and act fast – a vital task for the times. It provides an intellectual gateway
to understanding and responding to the environmental crises threatening
our planet, thereby offering conceptual direction to struggles past, present
and future. ’
Professor Rob White, University of Tasmania, Australia
Uniting Green Criminology

and Earth Jurisprudence
Jack Lampkin
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Jack Lampkin
The right of Jack Lampkin to be identified as of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
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any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-61306-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-10513-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Bethany

Contents

List of tables viii
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xii
1 Introduction to issues of global environmental harm 1
2 Historical and theoretical foundations of a ‘green’
criminology 13
3 Historical and theoretical foundations of an earth
jurisprudence 29
4 Uniting green criminology and earth jurisprudence 49
5 Earth jurisprudence in practice: success stories 65
6 Concluding thoughts 77
References 82
Index 96
Tables

2.1 The Spectrum of Green Criminological Research 23
2.2 Debates Surrounding the Limitations of Green
Criminology 25
3.1 Principles of Earth Jurisprudence 31
3.2 Six Major Criticisms of Earth Jurisprudence 40
4.1 The Benefits of Uniting Green Criminology and Earth
Jurisprudence 62
Foreword
The Earth faces environmental crises from many angles. Climate change
and the chaos it will bring are already upon us and will worsen in the coming
years. Pollution from plastics and from pesticides, fertilisers, insecticides,
and so forth plagues the oceans and the soil. Our fellow non-human
inhabitants are dying and being killed at an unprecedented rate. And further
billions of non-humans live in abhorrent conditions and endure pain-filled,
short lives. At the same time, a tiny proportion of humanity is richer in
terms of wealth and material possessions than ever before. Corporations,
too, have reached immense levels of wealth and power. Even ‘everyday’
people in the West and North consume at environmentally damaging levels.
At the heart of this environmental devastation are societies centred on the
(individual) human. Urgent changes and improvements are needed for both
the planet and all those who live on it.
In step green criminology and earth jurisprudence. These radical, critical
subfields of criminology and law challenge the human centeredness –
anthropocentrism – of most of the world. And although they both emerged
in the 1990s and champion quite similar beliefs, nearly no synthesis of the
two environmentally minded subfields has been attempted. Thus, U niting
Green Criminology and Earth Jurisprudence is an exciting and valuable
undertaking.
The book opens by setting the stage on the state of the environment.
In particular, Jack focuses on deforestation, biodiversity loss, non-human
animal use and abuse for food, and plastic pollution. All of these areas
provide rich examples of harms that are mostly legal, and the examples
highlight that the legal system supports and perpetuates environmental
devastation. The fact that environmental harm and legality are often
inextricably intertwined provides a solid foundation for why green
criminology and earth jurisprudence should be united.
Jack then goes on to detail the historical and theoretical foundations
of, first, green criminology and then earth jurisprudence. These chapters