Red state, blue state, green state: analysing the geography of federal environmental crime prosecutions within and across the U.S. states

Abstract

While green criminologists note that environmental crimes are taken less seriously than street crimes by law enforcement and the criminal justice system, the diffuse structure of the environmental regulatory regime in the United States and lack of governmental databases makes empirical assessment of environmental crimes and enforcement efforts particularly difficult. This article builds on a need in the green criminological literature to empirically assess the distribution and prosecution of environmental crimes in the United States, by focusing on the underserved area of the U.S. states. Using content analysis of 972 federal environmental crime prosecutions 2001–2011, this article explores the nature and geography of these crimes and subsequent prosecutions within and across the U.S. states. Our findings show a wide distribution of crimes and prosecutions occurring across the states, with Clean Air and Clean Water violations being particularly prevalent. We also find a weak trend between prosecutions and both the amount of pollution and number of environmental groups per state, but the small number of cases and limitations of the data make drawing firm conclusions difficult. These findings show an increased need to build databases to understand the prevalence of environmental crimes and the prosecution of those offenses in the U.S. states.