Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, School of Criminal Justice, and Environment Science and Policy Program
Conservation criminology synergizes the fields of criminology and criminal justice, conservation and natural resource management, and risk and decision-analysis to examine environmental crimes, harms and/or risks. MSU offers a Masters-level certificate in Conservation Criminology consisting of three online courses. Visit the website to learn more about enrolling in courses as well as research and engagement in conservation criminology.
Animal Investigators by
Inside the Clark R. Bavin U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory lies a rarely seen world, a CSI for wildlife, where a walk-in freezer contains carcasses and animal parts awaiting necropsies (animal autopsies); shelves and drawers hold pills, rugs, carvings, and countless other products made from parts of endangered animals; and a dedicated group of forensic scientists is responsible for victims from thirty thousand animal species. Accomplished environmental journalist Laurel A. Neme goes behind the scenes at the wildlife forensics lab -- the only crime lab of its kind -- to reveal how its forensic scientists and the agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to investigate wildlife crimes, protect endangered species, and stem illegal wildlife trafficking, the third largest illegal trade in the world. In three fascinating cases -- headless walrus washed up on the shores of Alaska, black bears killed for the healing powers of their gallbladders, and gorgeous feathered headdresses secretly shipped to the United States from the Amazon -- Neme traces the USFWS's daring undercover investigations and how the scientists' innovative forensic techniques provide conclusive evidence of a crime. Throughout, she underscores the staggering international scope of the supply and demand for wildlife and animal parts. Filled with the suspense and thrilling detail of a crime novel yet driven by the all-too-real drama of a small band of scientists and investigators battling a lucrative, high-stakes underground industry, Animal Investigators is an engrossing account of crime and cutting-edge science.
Crimes Against Nature by
This comprehensive analysis of garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging highlights the difficulty in balancing human interests and environmental responsibility. * Provides a comprehensive overview of environmental damage worldwide from illicit industries * Includes coverage of key environmental regulations, including the Basel Convention, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the Lacey Act * Presents a chronology of the development of illegal industries and the advent of legislation intended to fight these exploitative businesses * Includes seven tables relevant to garbage trafficking, wildlife trafficking, and illegal fishing * A bibliography and endnotes with each chapter document the sources used
Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics by
Soils have important roles to play in criminal and environmental forensic science. Since the initial concept of using soil in forensic investigations was mooted by Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories prior to real-world applications, this branch of forensic science has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. New techniques in chemical, physical, biological, ecological and spatial analysis, coupled with informatics, are being applied to reducing areas of search by investigators, site identification, site comparison and measurement for the eventual use as evidence in court. Soils can provide intelligence, in assisting the determination of the provenance of samples from artifacts, victims or suspects, enabling their linkage to locations or other evidence. They also modulate change in surface or buried cadavers and hence affect the ability to estimate post-mortem or post-burial intervals, and locate clandestine graves. This interdisciplinary volume explores the conceptual and practical interplay of soil and geoforensics across the scientific, investigative and legal fields. Supported by reviews, case-studies from across the world, and reports of original research, it demonstrates the increasing convergence of a wide range of knowledge. It covers conceptual issues, evidence (from recovery to use in court), geoforensics, taphonomy, as well as leading-edge technologies. The application of the resultant soil forensics toolbox is leading to significant advances in improving crime detection, and environmental and national security.
Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics by
Soils have important roles to play in criminal and environmental forensic science. Since the initial concept of using soil in forensic investigations was mooted by Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes stories prior to real-world applications, this branch of forensic science has become increasingly sophisticated and broad. New techniques in chemical, physical, biological, ecological and spatial analysis, coupled with informatics, are being applied to reducing areas of search by investigators, site identification, site comparison and measurement for the eventual use as evidence in court. Soils can provide intelligence, in assisting the determination of the provenance of samples from artifacts, victims or suspects, enabling their linkage to locations or other evidence. They also modulate change in surface or buried cadavers and hence affect the ability to estimate post-mortem or post-burial intervals, and locate clandestine graves. This interdisciplinary volume explores the conceptual and practical interplay of soil and geoforensics across the scientific, investigative and legal fields. Supported by reviews, case-studies from across the world, and reports of original research, it demonstrates the increasing convergence of a wide range of knowledge. It covers conceptual issues, evidence (from recovery to use in court), geoforensics, taphonomy, as well as leading-edge technologies. The application of the resultant soil forensics toolbox is leading to significant advances in improving crime detection, and environmental and national security.
The Cyanide Canary by
In this true story of a horrific environmental crime, written by an EPA Special Agent, a brave young man suffers severe brain damage after being pulled from a poison-saturated 25,000-gallon storage tank. of photos.
Environmental Crime by
Environmental crime is a topic of growing international importance. This book provides a general introduction and overview of this issue by presenting key articles and source material in the emerging area of green or environmental criminology. The focus for the collection is environmental crime, itself an ambiguous concept, and one that has been defined in the broadest terms to include environmental harms of many different kinds. The articles and extracts reprinted in thisReaderspan a wide range of concerns - from issues of pollution, illegal disposal of waste and logging, through to prosecution of specific environmental offences and crime prevention as this pertains to trade in endangered species. The book includes articles and extracts that challenge existing conceptualisations of environmental crime and human rights, as well as those that provide insight into what the 'greening' of research and scholarship means for criminology as a field. The Reader draws upon work from many different sources, and from many different disciplines and perspectives. The Reader is divided into three main sections: conceptualising environmental crime; dynamics of environmental crime and environmental law enforcement. It is the most inclusive and up-to-date collection of its kind and will be an essential resource for students, academics, policy-makers, environmental managers, police, magistrates and others with a general interest in environmental issues.
Environmental Crime by
"Environmental Crime: A Sourcebook provides ideas, tools, and data to investigate environmental offenses. Burns and Lynch urge readers to recognize the availability of a wide array of data regarding environmental offenses and provide bibliographic tools to locate this data. They also provide data sets and examples of data available from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies charged with enforcing environmental laws. Specific sections describe EPA resources, accessing and downloading EPA and other environmental law compliance and violation data, methods of compiling EPA data, actual environmental crime data sets, and research that can be performed using these data. Written in a non-technical manner, the book is designed to provide readers from all backgrounds with an understanding of environmental crime and the avenues by which it can be recognized and researched."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Environmental Crime by
This interdisciplinary text explores the enforcement of environmental protection legislation. Fifteen chapters discuss the definition of environmental crime, a history of the U.S. environmental movement, economics and politics, a social understanding of the natural sciences, federal legislation, an
Environmental Crime by
After defining environmental crime and discussing the extent of the environmental crisis, this book explores the causes, investigation, prosecution and prevention of all types of environmental crime.
Environmental Crime and Criminality by
The 11 articles in this volume represent the cutting edge issues in the theory and practice of environmental criminal enforcement on the federal and state levels. The authors review EPA criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement; prosecutorial challenges and public protection; toxic dumping in
Environmental Crime Crisis by
This report focuses on the far-reaching consequences of the environmental crime phenomenon we face today. The situation has worsened to the extent that illegal trade in beyond strictly environmental impacts - by seriously undermining economies and livelihoods, good governance, and the rule of law. Even the security and safety of countries and communities is affected: the report highlights how wildlife and forest crime, including charcoal, provides potentially significant threats such as finance to militias and terrorist groups. Already recognised as a grave issue in DRC and Somalia by the UN Security Council, the assessment reveals that the scale and role of wildlife and forest crime in threat finance calls for much wider policy attention, well beyond thiose regions.
Introduction to Environmental Forensics by
Environmental forensics is a relatively new specialty that seeks to answer questions about environmental contamination: (1) Whose contamination is it? (2) When did it occur? (3) How did it occur? (4) What are the consequences and extent of liability? This practical book outlines the advantages and disadvantages of various techniques that can be used to answer these questions and allocate responsibility. Introduction to Environmental Forensics provides the first complete, scientific review of this emerging field and helps readers unravel the complexities of environmental pollution cases. It outlines techniques for identifying the source of a contaminant release, when the release occurred, and the extent of human exposure. Written by leading experts in environmental investigations, the text provides detailed information on chemical "fingerprinting" techniques applicable to ground water, soils, sediments, and air, plus an in-depth look at petroleum hydrocarbons. Introduction to Environmental Forensics gives the environmental scientist, engineer, and attorney a complete toolbox for conducting forensic investigations. It demonstrates the range of scientific analyses that are available to answer questions of environmental liability and support a legal argument, and provides several examples and case studies to illustrate how these methods are applied. The book's multidisciplinary approach will also appeal to practitioners, including chemists, hydrogeologists, soil scientists, statisticians, and air modelers.
The Limits of Law by
This book examines the systematic constraints on US law enforcement agencies' efforts to regulate business behaviour. It looks specifically at the postwar development of laws regulating water pollution and at the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to enforce them. The discussion traces the factors leading to legal change and analyses the ways in which the impacts of environmental laws vary from their stated purposes and goals, even under relatively favourable conditions for their enforcement. It shows how legal processes and social relations mutually constrain and shape one another as the state struggles to manage often contradictory responsibilities, in this case to encourage both economic growth and environmental welfare.
Nature Crime by
In this impressively researched, alarming book, Rosaleen Duffy investigates the world of nature conservation, arguing that the West’s attitude to endangered wildlife is shallow, self-contradictory, and ultimately very damaging. Analyzing the workings of the black-market wildlife industry, Duffy points out that illegal trading is often the direct result of Western consumer desires, from coltan for cellular phones to exotic meats sold in London street markets. She looks at the role of ecotourism, showing how Western travelers contribute—often unwittingly—to the destruction of natural environments. Most strikingly, she argues that the imperatives of Western-style conservation often result in serious injustice to local people, who are branded as “problems” and subject to severe restrictions on their way of life and even extrajudicial killings.
Toxic Loopholes by
The EPA was established to enforce the environmental laws Congress enacted during the 1970s. Yet today lethal toxins still permeate our environment, causing widespread illness and even death. Toxic Loopholes investigates these laws, and the agency charged with their enforcement, to explain why they have failed to arrest the nation's rising environmental crime wave and clean up the country's land, air and water. This book illustrates how weak laws, legal loopholes and regulatory negligence harm everyday people struggling to clean up their communities. It demonstrates that our current system of environmental protection pacifies the public with a false sense of security, dampens environmental activism, and erects legal barricades and bureaucratic barriers to shield powerful polluters from the wrath of their victims. After examining the corrosive economic and political forces undermining environmental law making and enforcement, the final chapters assess the potential for real improvement and the possibility of building cooperative international agreements to confront the rising tide of ecological perils threatening the entire planet.
The Trade in Wildlife by
This volume provides a critical assessment of how the trade in wildlife is regulated and how those regulations are enforced. Through analysis of case studies and comparisons with the trade in other illegal goods, the book shows what must be done if conservation efforts are to be supported by trade regulations, and not undermined.
Dumping in Dixie by
To be poor, working-class, or a person of color in the United States often means bearing a disproportionate share of the country's environmental problems. Starting with the premise that all Americans have a basic right to live in a healthy environment,Dumping in Dixie chronicles the efforts of five African American communities, empowered by the civil rights movement, to link environmentalism with issues of social justice. In the third edition, Bullard speaks to us from the front lines of the environmental justice movement about new developments in environmental racism, different organizing strategies, and success stories in the struggle for environmental equity.
Environmental Justice Reader by
From the First National People of Color Congress on Environmental Leadership to WTO street protests of the new millennium, environmental justice activists have challenged the mainstream movement by linking social inequalities to the uneven distribution of environmental dangers. Grassroots movements in poor communities and communities of color strive to protect neighborhoods and worksites from environmental degradation and struggle to gain equal access to the natural resources that sustain their cultures. This book examines environmental justice in its social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions in both local and global contexts, with special attention paid to intersections of race, gender, and class inequality. The first book to link political studies, literary analysis, and teaching strategies, it offers a multivocal approach that combines perspectives from organizations such as the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice and the International Indigenous Treaty Council with the insights of such notable scholars as Devon Peña, Giovanna Di Chiro, and Valerie Kuletz, and also includes a range of newer voices in the field. This collection approaches environmental justice concerns from diverse geographical, ethnic, and disciplinary perspectives, always viewing environmental issues as integral to problems of social inequality and oppression. It offers new case studies of native Alaskans' protests over radiation poisoning; Hispanos' struggles to protect their land and water rights; Pacific Islanders' resistance to nuclear weapons testing and nuclear waste stora≥ and the efforts of women employees of maquiladoras to obtain safer living and working environments along the U.S.-Mexican border. The selections also include cultural analyses of environmental justice arts, such as community art and greening projects in inner-city Baltimore, and literary analyses of writers such as Jimmy Santiago Baca, Linda Hogan, Barbara Neely, Nez Perce orators, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Karen Yamashita--artists who address issues such as toxicity and cancer, lead poisoning of urban African American communities, and Native American struggles to remove dams and save salmon. The book closes with a section of essays that offer models to teachers hoping to incorporate these issues and texts into their classrooms. By combining this array of perspectives, this book makes the field of environmental justice more accessible to scholars, students, and concerned readers. CONTENTS Introduction: Environmental Justice Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy / Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein Environmental Justice: A Roundtable Discussion with Simon Ortiz, Teresa Leal, Devon Peña, and Terrell Dixon / Joni Adamson and Rachel Stein Politics 1. Testimonies from Doris Bradshaw, Sterling Gologergen, Edgar Mouton, Alberto Saldamando, and Paul Smith / Mei Mei Evans 2. Throwing Rocks at the Sun: An Interview with Teresa Leal / Joni Adamson 3. Endangered Landscapes and Disappearing Peoples? Identity, Place, and Community in Ecological Politics / Devon G. Peña 4. Who Hears Their Cry? African American Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in Memphis, Tennessee / Andrea Simpson 5. Radiation, Tobacco, and Illness in Point Hope, Alaska: Approaches to the "Facts" in Contaminated Communities / Nelta Edwards 6. The Movement for Environmental Justice in the Pacific Islands / Valerie Kuletz Poetics 7. Toward an Environmental Justice Ecocriticism / T. V. Reed 8. From Environmental Justice Literature to the Literature of Environmental Justice / Julie Sze 9. "Nature" and Environmental Justice / Mei Mei Evans 10. Activism as Affirmation: Gender and Environmental Justice in Linda Hogan's Solar Storms and Barbara Neely's Blanche Cleans Up / Rachel Stein 11. Some Live More Downstream than Others: Cancer, Gender, and Environmental Justice/ Jim Tarter 12. Struggle in Ogoniland: Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Cultural Politics of Environmental Justice/ Susan Comfort 13. Toward a Symbiosis of Ecology and Justice: Water and Land Conflicts in Frank Waters, John Nichols, and Jimmy Santiago Baca/ Tom Lynch 14. Saving the Salmon, Saving the People: Environmental Justice and Columbia River Tribal Literatures/ Janis Johnson 15.Sustaining the "Urban Forest" and Creating Landscapes of Hope: An Interview with Cinder Hypki and Bryant "Spoon" Smith/ Giovanna Di Chiro Pedagogy 16. Teaching for Transformation: Lessons from Environmental Justice/ Robert Figueroa 17. Notes on Cross-Border Environmental Justice Education/ Soenke Zehle 18. Changing the Nature of Environmental Studies: Teaching Environmental Justice to "Maintstream" Students/ Steve Chase 19. Teaching Literature of Environmnetal Justice in an Advanced Gender Studies Course/ Jia-Yi Cheng-Levine
From the Ground Up by
When Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order on Environmental Justice in 1994, the phenomenon of environmental racism--the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards, particularly toxic waste dumps and polluting factories, on people of color and low-income communities--gained unprecedented recognition. Behind the President's signature, however, lies a remarkable tale of grassroots activism and political mobilization. Today, thousands of activists in hundreds of locales are fighting for their children, their communities, their quality of life, and their health. From the Ground Up critically examines one of the fastest growing social movements in the United States, the movement for environmental justice. Tracing the movement's roots, Luke Cole and Sheila Foster combine long-time activism with powerful storytelling to provide gripping case studies of communities across the U.S--towns like Kettleman City, California; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Dilkon, Arizona--and their struggles against corporate polluters. The authors effectively use social, economic and legal analysis to illustrate the historical and contemporary causes for environmental racism. Environmental justice struggles, they demonstrate, transform individuals, communities, institutions and even the nation as a whole.
