CITES, wild plants, and opportunities for crime

The illegal trade in endangered plants damages both the environment and local communities by threatening and destroying numerous species and important natural resources. There is very little research which systematically addresses this issue by identifying specific opportunities for crime. This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study which brings together criminological and conservation science expertise to identify criminal opportunities in the illegal wild plant trade and suggest strategies in order to prevent and mitigate the problem. Methodologically, the study adapts a crime proofing of legislation approach to the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is based on documentary and interview data. Situational crime prevention is used as a framework to provide points for effective intervention

Seeing the person, not just the number: Needs-based rehabilitation of offenders in South African prisons

South Africa has one of the highest crime and recidivism rates in the world. Although widely accepted that crime is a complex and multi-nodal social phenomenon, it is indubitably causally linked to South Africa’s historical and current socio-political circumstances, poverty and unemployment, as well as the ineffective rehabilitation and treatment of offenders. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offenders are often apportioned the blame for reoffending and written off as incorrigible, without any real reflection on the efficiency and/or relevance of the prison programmes to which they were subjected to begin with. Accurate and relevant assessment of criminogenic risk factors is not only connected to the major outcomes of meta-analyses, but forms the foundation for treatment-planning and decision-making pertaining to risk and safety, and ultimately abstinence from aberrant behaviour. This article critically addresses the issue of South African needs-based offender rehabilitation in a systemic and diagnostic manner by aligning theory with relevant case scenarios in order to expose the essence of the therapeutic challenges in the South African custodial environment

Wildlife crime : The problems of enforcement

Environmental and wildlife crime appear recently to be benefitting from an increasing profile amongst those agencies tasked with their control, as well as receiving growing criminological attention. Despite this, those with responsibilities in this area report that it remains marginalised, receiving limited resources and suffering from a lack of political impetus to push such problems higher up the agenda. This is particularly so for those agencies, such as the police, that may be seen to have many more pressing objectives. This discussion paper considers the problems of relying on an enforcement approach to controlling such offences, taking, as an example, those activities that may be termed ‘wildlife crime’, focusing on the situation in England and Wales. Firstly, the legislative framework that criminalises harm or exploitation of wildlife is presented, alongside the main enforcement methods used. Next, the problems facing an enforcement approach are critically considered, the key issues being: under-resourcing and marginalisation, the large ‘dark figure’ of wildlife crime, the possibility of corruption, the lack of seriousness with which such crimes are viewed, and the lack of deterrent effect. Finally, responses to the problems of enforcement are presented, categorised as either methods to improve enforcement or, as the author advocates, methods which are alternatives to enforcement (such as adopting a crime prevention approach). The paper concludes with suggestions for future research in this field