Environmental and Wildlife Crime in Sweden from 2000 to 2017

• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1043986220927123
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986220927123

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2020, Vol. 36(3) 403 –427

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986220927123

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Article

Environmental and

Wildlife Crime in

Sweden from 2000 to 2017

Richard Stassen1 and Vania Ceccato1

Abstract

This study combines police records with newspaper articles (media archives) to

report the nature and trends of environmental and wildlife crime (EWC) in Sweden

from 2000 to 2017. Geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial statistical

techniques are used to implement a temporal and spatial analysis of EWC in Swedish

municipalities, which are split into three types: urban, accessible rural, and remote

rural. Findings show that following the 2006 legal reform that increased possibilities

for prosecuting EWC, the number of both police-recorded cases and newspaper

articles increased and eventually stabilized. They also show that although the

majority of EWCs are minor crimes, particularly in urban municipalities, many of the

more serious crimes show chronic temporal and spatial patterns in more rural and

remote areas. The persistence of certain serious crimes over time is interpreted

as an indication that the costs of breaking environmental law are low relative to

economic gains. Then, drawing from criminological theory, the article finishes by

discussing implications to research and policy.

Keywords

environmental damage, green criminology, GIS, cluster analysis, media, Scandinavia

Introduction

Environment and wildlife crime (EWC) constitutes a broad category of offenses

with no strict definition. For the purpose of this study, EWC is defined as those

offenses formally criminalized in Sweden’s penal code, varying in scope and sever-

ity from minor instances of littering and waste burning, to severe cases of poaching

1Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm,

Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Vania Ceccato, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, School of Architecture and the Built

Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 10A, Stockholm 10044, Sweden.

Email: vania.ceccato@abe.kth.se

927123CCJXXX10.1177/1043986220927123Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeStassen and Ceccato

research-article2020

404 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 36(3)

and industrial chemical spills (Appendix 1). On average, the Swedish police record

around 5,000 EWCs each year (or about 50 per 100,000 inhabitants), whereas

national newspapers print around 200 articles about offenses. In Sweden, as well as

more broadly, research on the nature and trends of EWC has been a neglected area

(Lynch et al., 2013; White, 2008). Lynch et al. (2017), for instance, have argued that

a lack of quantitative methodology in green criminology has limited the generaliz-

ability of many studies, and restricted the potential for dialogue with more orthodox

criminological research.

One possible explanation for this paucity of quantitative analyses could be the

lack of reliable official data. EWC is by its nature difficult to detect because it often

occurs “out of plain sight.” For example, research in Sweden has found that EWC

tends to be reported close to roadways, where it is more likely to be detected by

people engaged in routine activities (Ceccato & Uittenbogaard, 2013). Official

records thus tend to miss the true magnitude of EWC because detection often

depends on citizen reporting and routine inspections, neither of which are likely to

detect crimes that occur in more remote areas (but see Ferrara, 2012, for a look at

newer aerial surveillance technologies that could be applied to EWC detection).

Official police records of EWC may, therefore, be more reflective of the practices

and policies that facilitate detection of EWC, rather than reflecting the true pattern

of these crimes. In light of this, qualitative methods such as case studies may be

appealing, offering holistic views of specific crimes when data sets capturing the

full scope of EWC may be unavailable. An alternative is to supplement quantitative

data sets with qualitative elements—although this does not overcome the limita-

tions in official EWC records, it can offer insight into the nature of EWC, which

can inform interpretations of quantitative data.

The aim of this study is to report the nature and trends of EWC in Sweden from

2000 to 2017. This study builds on previous research of EWC in Sweden, in particular

Ceccato and Uittenbogaard (2013), and combines two data sets—one quantitative and

one qualitative—each providing complementary perspectives on the nature of Swedish

EWC. To achieve this, police crime records are analyzed for spatial–temporal trends,

and geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial cluster techniques are used to

create maps of high and low concentrations of EWC, over time. This high-level analy-

sis is then supplemented by a media analysis of print newspaper archives, which pro-

vides deeper insight into the specificities of EWC in these areas, and allows inferences

into the causes of chronic EWC hot spots.

EWC in the Swedish context is interesting for several reasons. Sweden and other

Scandinavian countries have a long tradition of dealing with environmental issues, and

of serving as models for other countries worldwide, which makes them an interesting

case from an international perspective. Moreover, theories and examples from North

America and the United Kingdom dominate the international literature on crimes

against nature and wildlife (e.g., Adler & Lord, 1991; Cochran et al., 2018; Lynch

et al., 2020; Pendleton, 1997; Thomson et al., 2020; Wellsmith, 2011; White, 2013).

Finally, spatial–temporal analyses of EWC are rare, and so the results we present are

of immediate relevance to Swedish policy makers.