Of Theory and Meaning in Green Criminology

Abstract

In this article, I focus on green criminology’s relationship with theory with the aim of describing some of its animating features and offering some suggestions for green criminology’s further emergence. In so doing, I examine green criminology’s intra-disciplinary theoretical engagement and the notion of applying different meanings and interpretations to established theory. Following this, I explore green criminology’s interface with theories and ideas outside criminology – what I refer to as green criminology’s extra-disciplinary theoretical engagement. I conclude by suggesting that green criminology has shed light on the etiology of environmental crime and harm (including climate change), and that it will continue to illuminate not only how and why environmental crime and harm occurs, but also the meaning of such crime and harm.