ABSTRACT
Green criminologists identify, analyze, and denounce abuses against humans, non-humans, and ecosystems. Embracing a harm perspective, the legal definition of whether these abuses are crimes is less important than the detrimental impact these human actions and dynamics have on the environment. Some scholars working from a place of privilege (in terms of class, gender, race, and nationality) consider that not using the law as the reference for what falls within the scope of criminology is an affront to science. Yet, settler legal systems impose systems of social control that sustain harmful colonial orders and human disregard for nature. I argue that green criminology’s willingness to challenge the pre-eminence of illegality gives it decolonizing potential. Green criminology plays a central role in decolonizing because colonialism began with – and still runs through – human interactions with nature.
