Green Constructions of Victimhood and Harm

• In Event: Wildlife and Green Criminology: Deconstructing Core Concepts

Abstract

One of the main differences of green criminological perspectives to that of mainstream and conventional criminological discourses is the expanded definitions of victimhood and harm. This paper details the pervasive anthropocentric (human-focused) construction of victimhood and harm, which dictates most societies’ relationships to other species and the environment. This includes exploration of how humans and states are viewed as the victims of green crimes whilst the injury to wildlife and the environment is ignored, how some species are victims when others are not and/or how green crimes are seen as victimless. It goes on to relate how green criminology challenges these dynamics through ecological and species justice approaches to the construction of harm. Then, the paper will argue why criminology and society have the moral obligation to deconstruct and reconstruct the definitions of victim and harm. This is grounded in human, environmental and species rights, which champion freedom from suffering and injury for all life.

Author

• Tanya Wyatt, Northumbria University