DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY
Seminar:
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME, Law and Justice:
A Green Approach to Criminology
CCJ 4993-01
SUMMER 2011
SYLLABUS
Meeting Time: M-W-F, 3:30-5:50
Room: CPR 127
Instructor:Michael J. Lynch, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Criminology
Associated Faculty, School of Global Sustainability
Office Location: SOC
Office Hours: By appointment
Phone: 974-8148
E-mail:
In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule. It’s the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard site for each class for course specific communication, and the main USF, College, and department websites, emails, and MoBull messages for important general information.
Course Description and objectives:
Specific required readings are listed on this syllabus under the course outline.
This course introduces students to three areas of relevance to the study of environmental crime.
The first is the definition and measurement of environmental crime. Criminologists often discuss the measurement of crime in very limited ways, and only with respect to the measurement of street offenses. The majority of criminal offenses that occur in the US, however, are made up of non-street crimes, and include offenses that fit more broadly into categories we call corporate or white collar crime, governmental and state crimes, and environmental or green crimes. These crimes cause must more extensive financial losses than street crimes, and result in many more deaths and injuries that street crimes. In order to demonstrate this fact, it is necessary to become familiar with using methods of measuring environmental crime.
Second, when criminologists discuss law they typically restrict their discussion to criminal laws that relate only to street crimes. They are a wide variety of laws that define non-street crimes such as corporate/white collar, governmental, state and environmental/green crimes. In order to be able to discuss the relevance of green crimes, criminologists must also become familiar with the laws that define these behaviors as crimes and how those laws are enforced.
Third, this course reviews the kinds of behaviors that fall under the heading of green or environmental crimes.
Green criminology has become a world-wide movement within criminology since its introduction in 1990. The relevance of green criminology expands as humans continue to harm and destroy the natural environment and hence the planet on which we live and seek solutions to these problems in ways that include legal responses and the expansion of social control.
In some ways, you will get a unique view on the issue of green criminology in this course since I am the founder of the green criminological movement and have been working in this area since 1990 and on the relationship between criminology and environmental issues for more than 25 years. My perspective on this combination of criminology and the environment is fairly unique and incorporates my training an interest not only in criminology, but radical economics (e.g., I am a member of the Union of Radical Political Economists), environmental politics and movements, environmental toxicology and chemistry (e.g., I am the only criminologist in the world who has been accepted as a member of The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry), and the use of sound scientific principles to manage contemporary social problems (e.g., I am a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists). In order to move this kind of project forward, it is also necessary to maintain ties with active environmental groups to keep abreast of news, to become in letter writing campaigns to influence political decision making and to support environmental groups that protect human and environmental health (e.g., I am a member of Waterkeepers, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy).
Student Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, students will be able to: define environmental and green crimes; identify laws and databases used to define and measure environmental/green crimes; and provide relevant examples of green crimes.
Required Texts:
Burns, Ronald G., Michael J. Lynch and Paul B. Stretesky. 2008. Environmental Crime, Law and Justice. New York: LFB Scholarly.
Additional Readings:
Listed under course outline and available by clicking on the appropriate links.
Class Expectations:
1. Attendance. Students are required to attend class. Attendance is taken and counts as part of the grade in this course.
2.Absences due to Religious Observances:
Students are expected to notify their instructors at the beginning of each academic term if they intend to be absent for a class or announced examination. Students absent for religious reasons, as noticed to the instructor at the beginning of each academic term, will be given reasonable opportunities to make up any work missed. For further information, please refer to:
3.Incompletes (I). May be granted after consultation with the instructor of this course
4. Extra Credit. There is no provision for extra credit.
- If you need to be absent due to medical reasons (yours or your immediate family's) on a test day or a day that an assignment is due, please provide a physician's note and notify me prior to class.
- Participation. Students are expected to participate in this course. Participation means that the students makes and active contribution to class. Simply attending class is not an active contribution. To make an active contribution, students may answer discussion questions or raise questions in class, or generate discussions on the class discussion board. Assessment of participation contributions are based on relevance, the quality of the contribution and frequency of contribution.
Course Requirements:
Exams: Two take home examination.
Quizzes: Applicable if students are not keeping up with reading and are averaged into the examination total.
Group Discussions: In class and web-based discussion is also available to earn participation points
Assignments: Students have to complete one written assignment described below. They have the choice of one of four options.
Your grade will be based on the following:
Assignment/Test / Percent of GradeMidterm / 25%
Final / 25%
Participation / 10%
Attendance / 10%
Project
Paper/Written Assignments / 30%
The following is the grading scale to be used:This course employs a standard +/- grading scale:
A+ 96+; A 93-95; A- 90-92; B+ 87-89; B 84-86; B – 80-83; C+ 77-79; C 74-76; C – 70-73; D+ 67-69; D 64-66; D – 60-63; F 59 and below
COURSE SCHEDULE
The course schedule is attached to the end of this syllabus.
CLASS POLICIES:
Students with Disabilities:
Students with disabilities are responsible for registering with Students with Disabilities Services in order to receive academic accommodations. SDS encourages students to notify instructors of accommodation requests at least five business days prior to needing the accommodation. A letter from SDS must accompany this request.
- See Student Responsibilities –
- See Faculty Responsibilities—
Academic Dishonesty:
Any form of cheating on examinations or plagiarism on assigned papers constitutes unacceptable deceit and dishonesty. Disruption of the classroom or teaching environment is also unacceptable. The University of South Florida has very specific policies and procedures regarding academic dishonesty or disruption of academic process.
If you have any questions, please refer to the University’s Undergraduate Academic Dishonesty policy at
- Procedures for Alleged Academic Dishonesty or Disruption:
- Student Academic Grievance Procedures --
Use of plagiarism tracking software:
The University of South Florida has an account with an automated plagiarism detection service which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to submit assignments to this detection system. Assignments are compared automatically with a huge database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student's paper was plagiarized.
Written Assignments and Term Paper Requirements
Option 1: Current events journal version A. This is the simplest project you can do, and as a result, the highest score you can receive on this project is an 80.
(A)To complete this project you need to collect 15 news articles on environmental issues.
(B)These articles may be cut from newspapers, magazines or be printed from the internet.
(C)To the front of each article you will staple a 3 x 5 card with your name and the complete reference for the article ) (e.g. “ToxinsThreatenLocalSchool,” Jim Allenby, New York Times, 2007, March 27, page A-4).
(D)Articles should be placed in a plain manila folder.
(E) Projects will be judged on relevance of articles and neatness of presentation.
(F)You may, if you choose, prepare this as a power point presentation.
OPTION 2: Current Events Journal, Version B.
This option has a maximum grade of 88.
(A)Follow directions A-D as in option 1.
(B)To the front of these articles you will attach a paper summarizing and explaining the relevance and importance of your articles and how they are connected.
Option 3: A research term paper on any topic relevant to this course. Specifics
concerning the term paper requirements can be found under “ASSIGNMENTS.”
The maximum grade for a term paper is 100%.
Option 4: Geographic area analysis. This project requires that you use the
databases we will examine in this course to create an environmental profile of a local area such as a city or county. The profile should (1) examine the level and types of pollution in the area, (2) the effects of pollution on local populations, (3) major polluters in the area, (4) the number of hazardous waste sites, (5) government efforts to remedy the problems, and (6) any infamous cases in the area. You can select ANY location in the US for this project. This assignment may include materials such as diagrams, pictures or other relevant graphics. The maximum grade for this project option is 100%.
Note that simply printing offthe materials from a website is NOT a sufficient effort to produce a geographic area analysis. Doing so will not earn a passing grade.
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Course Schedule
Below is the schedule for this course along with readings. The readings should be done by the scheduled class date. The exception to this is the first two or three classes where everyone is getting on track.
The schedule that follows is for a 3 hour per session meeting.
Readings in GREENare from the assigned book.
Readings in BLUEare hot-linked to outside materials and will be found under the ASSIGNMENT TAB under the BLUE READING NUMBER.
MAY
16INTRODUCTION
Why Should Criminologists Study Environmental Harms and Crimes?
PREFACE and Pages 1-4
18Defining and Indentifying Environmental Crime
What is an environmental crime?
How much environmental crime is there?
How harmful are environmental crimes?
Comparing the extent of street and environmental crime victimization.
PAGES 5-24
Green Criminology
What is Green Criminology?
READING # 1
(Needs Updating)
20The Pervasiveness of Environmental Pollution
How Polluted am I?
READING # 2
Body Burdens: Toxic People
Pollution Levels in Newborns
The Effects of Chemical Pollution on Child Development
The Effects of Environmental Pollution on Human Behavior
Endocrine disruptors…..
Lead….
READING # 3
What are Endocrine Disruptors?
Endocrine Disruption and Behavior
Lead and Violent Crime
Lead Pollution and Crime
Lead Pollution and Homicide
Childhood Lead Exposure Linked to Adult Criminality
23The World’s Biggest Crime – Global Warming
READING # 4
THESE READING ARE DATED AND NEED UPDATING
25The Bush Administration’s History of Anti-Environmental Rulings and
Crimes
READINGS # 5
Crimes Against Nature, Robert Kennedy JR.
Annual Bush Administration Environmental Record
Bush Aide Reveals Anti-Environmental Strategy
VP Cheney Tries to Delete Public Global Warming Testimony
Bush Administration Rewrite Coal Pollution Law
White House Undermines California Air Pollution Regulations
27Regulating Automobiles
There are a number of ways in which automobiles are regulated. One reason they
are regulated today is that they are a significant source of pollution, global
warming and America’s intense need for oil.
READING # 6
Corporate Average Fuel Economy Regulations and Data Link
Financial and Health Costs of Oil Subsidies, US
International Fossil Fuel Subsidies
California Sues EPA over Air Emissions Standards
Diesel Fuels, Death and Illness, US
30 MEMORIAL DAY
JUNE
1Old King Coal
READING # 7
Environmental Impact Coal Pollution
Coal Pollution Deaths in US
No Such Thing as Clean Coal
02/29/AR2008022903390.html
COAL POLLUTION IN CHINA
Coal’s Link to Mercury Pollution
3MIDTERM
Learning About Environmental Crime Databases;
How to access and use:
Right to Know Network (RTKNET)
(CLICK HERE for RTKNET ---- > )
TEXTBOOK Pages 168-176
Scorecard
(CLICK HERE FOR SCORECARD -----
TEXTBOOK Pages 176-177
EPA Databases, including Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) (CLICK HERE for EPA’s ECHO ------
TEXTBOOK Pages 161-168
Other Environmentally useful resources:
Google Earth (if you want to download Google Earth, a free program, go
to:
6Introduction to Environmental law and Regulation
Regulatory versus Criminal Law
Intent and Environmental crime
The purpose of environmental law (compliance and deterrence)
Regulatory Strategies (Fee, taxes, subsidies, off sets requirements)
TEXTBOOKPages 97-109
8Federal Environmental Laws (Note: we may not get through all of these
Laws and Acts in their entirety, and I may move the order around a bit).
Three main types of environmental law and regulation: air; water; hazardous
waste.
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 1969; 42 USC, Sec. 4321-
4347)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_55.html
Air Pollution Laws
The Clean Air Act (CAA; 1963/1970)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_85.html
and Pages 110-112
The Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act (MVPCA) or the
National Emission Standards Act (NESA; 1965)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00007521----000-.html
10Water Pollution Laws
Water Quality Act (1948)
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1956) (1972)
Drinking Water Act (1972)
Ocean Dumping Act (1972)
Clean Water Act (CWA) (1977)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode33/usc_sup_01_33_10_26.html
Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_6A_20_XII.html
13Solid, Hazardous and Toxic Waste Laws
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (1976)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_82.html
Comprehensive Environmental Response and Liability Act(CERCLA)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_103.html
Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act
(EPCRA)
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_116.html
Environmental Quality Improvement Act (EQIA) and the Office
Of Environmental Quality
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_56.html
Pollution Prevention Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_133.html
The Solar Energy Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_71_20_I.html
Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_78.html
National Energy Conservation Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_91.html
Wind Energy Systems Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_100.html
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology
Competitiveness Act
www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_125.html
15The History and Task of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
TEXTBOOK Chapter 4
EPA Enforcement Practices – The Numbers, Trends and their
Meaning.
READING EIGHT. These readings need updating. They are really tables such as: Annual EPA Enforcement Summaries.
17Catch-up day – WE may be behind at this point, and we’ll see what we need to
Schedule when here on the 15th.
20Environmental Theories
TEXTBOOK Chapter 2
The History of Environmental Movements in the US
TEXTBOOK Chapter 3
22Environmental Justice
What is Environmental Justice? Principles of Environmental Justice; The EPA and Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice Case Studies and Analysis
Socioeconomic and Racial Disparities Related to Air Toxins;
Disparities in Enforcing the Law;
Environmental Hazards and School Segregation, HillsboroughCounty;
Unequal Justice in Massachusetts
24LAST DAY
Environmental Harm Case Studies
Case Study: LoveCanal – the Event thatStarted a National Movement
READING 9
The EPA Summary
The LoveCanal Story, and the Long History of LoveCanal
EPA Sues Hooker Chemical over LoveCanal
Settlement of the LoveCanal Case
Long Term Follow up of Health Effects of Love Canal
Case Study: Libby Montana – An EntireTown is Polluted by
Asbestos Mining
READING 10
Overview of the Libby Site
The Scope of Exposure
EPA Announces Health Emergence in Libby
The History of Exposure in Libby
Libby, Montana, An Asbestos Legacy (Video)
The Clean up (Video)
The Clean up (Video, 2)
The Legal Case Against WR Grace
WR Grace Acquitted in Libby Case (Video)
Case Study 3: The Bhopal Disaster – Union Carbine Kills Thousands in
Bhopal, India
READING 11
The Bhopal Disaster: A Description
Understanding the Effects: Pictorial Representations (Disturbing)
Video on the Disaster (Disturbing)
An Interview with a Bhopal Survivor
Bhopal’s Effects 25 Years Later
US Supreme Court Reopens Bhopal Case
Court Rules Union Carbide Not Liable
New Trial Sought (August, 2012)
International Campaign For Justice, Bhopal (Website)