Global Warming and Criminological Theory and Practice

Addressing potential climate-related crimes has implications for law reform, policy development within criminal justice agencies, and contemporary environmental management practices. The aim of this chapter is to elaborate on what criminology offers conceptually (e.g., concepts such as ecocide, general strain theory, state-corporate crime) and practically (e.g., situational crime prevention, environmental law enforcement) in relation to global warming and its consequences (that include old crimes such as trafficking and assaults and new crimes such as water theft and carbon emission scheme fraud). These issues, in turn, can be framed and responded to by suitable policy and intervention strategies—but only if the political will is there.