Green Crime on the Reservation: A Quantitative Analysis of U.S. Indian Reservations 2010-2015

• In Event: Empirical Analyses of Green/Environmental Crimes

Abstract

Green criminal activity is spatially clustered throughout the United States. Many of these clusters of green criminal offenses occur on and around Native American reservations. The following study integrates geospatial analysis and a series of in-depth case-studies to examine environmentally oriented crimes in reservation territories. Violations of The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), and Toxin Release Inventory are considered. Offenses were geocoded from the United States EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database. Findings suggest that many reservations, as well as areas within a two-mile radius, are highly targeted for green criminal activity by external private actors. Of the 366 violations occurring between 2011 and 2015, the clear majority of these violations revolve around issues of illegal waste dumping and toxin disposal. In a few outlier cases, violations were found to have been committed by local community members. The study concludes with a consideration of environmental inequalities, power, and criminality within the context of the on-going Standing Rock protests.

Authors

• Tameka Gaye Samuels-Jones, University of Florida

• Ryan Thomson, University of Florida

• Johanna Espin, University of Florida