Can Environmental Crime Be Neutralized?
This paper looks at whether environmental crime can be presented in a way that neutralizes its criminal aspects, as is frequently done with white-collar crime. There is a large body of literature that analyses the excuses, justifications, or trivializing language used by natural or legal persons involved in economic criminality. White-collar crimes, however, are generally non-violent. Can environmental crimes, which often involve violence, also be the subject of such neutralizing discourse? To investigate this we analyzed statements and communications from representatives of Trafigura, a Dutch multinational commodity trading company that was implicated in the dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), an act that killed more than ten 69 people and injured thousands. We conclude that those involved in environmental crimes use the neutralizing techniques invoked in discussions of white-collar crimes. Environmental crimes tend to be interpreted by offenders as economic, rather than violent, crimes, making it easier for offenders to adopt the methods of neutralization used for white-collar crimes when discussing the social, economic, and political context in which environmental harms occur.