School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemMoving towards Ecological Regulation: The Role of Criminalisation(Routledge - Taylor & Francis, 2017)Contemporary society faces multiple and interacting environmental challenges that require transformational change in the conduct of business. We take one of these challenges, the need to combat anthropogenic climate change, to interrogate what is required in transforming business regulation towards what we term ‘ecological regulation’. This transition requires us to grapple with how business regulation is currently framed and how change will effect such regulation. Regulation is largely premised both on the benefits of economic competition and for the control of particular harms to take place in an discrete case-by-case manner. Current moral and legal strategies used by activists in attempting to engender a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by business interact with current forms of regulation in distinct ways. The former involves activists staking a moral case for criminalisation of ecological damage through naming and shaming strategies. This may shift the moral boundaries of acceptable business behaviour. The latter is achieved by ‘bracing’ greenhouse gas reduction with existing business regulation that can bring some legal accountability to bear. We show how these strategies begin to reframe regulatory regimes as well as what ecological regulation might look like if full legal authority in enshrining a respect for ecological limits were added the contemporary framing of business regulation.
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ItemRegulation and risk(ANU Press, 2017)
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ItemYou’re a Criminologist? What Can You Offer Us? Interrogating Criminological Expertise in the Context of White Collar Crime(Routledge, 2020)Public criminology in relation to white collar crime began with E. H. Sutherland’s coining of the term to draw attention to the criminal nature of corporate activity and the need for greater use of criminal penalties against white collar criminals. Understanding the power of and limitations to criminalization remain central to our expertise. The complexity of this work has made a public criminology of white collar crime more challenging. For some, greater attention should be paid to crime prevention—or regulation—prior to (or instead of) criminalization. Yet, both criminalization and crime prevention demand expertise that extends beyond the traditional criminological canon to ensure that a specific law when enforced can be effective in reducing white collar crime. Without this, acting lawfully is entirely compatible with continuing harm. Indeed, acting lawfully can engender further damage by white collar individuals and corporations. Laws, as recent analyses of white collar crime show, are contradictory. Because of this, greater attention needs to be given to the context within which criminalization is demanded. Knowledge of place is a critical corollary to understanding when either or both criminalization and regulation are an effective strategy or when they deflect attention away from the need for broader structural reforms.
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ItemIntroduction(ROUTLEDGE, 2020)BACKGROUND: One important way to transform food systems for human and planetary health would be to reduce the production and consumption of animals for food. The over-production and over-consumption of meat and dairy products is resource-intensive, energy-dense and creates public health and food equity risks, including the creation of superbugs and antimicrobial resistance, contamination and pollution of land and waterways, and injustice to animals and humans who work in the sector. Yet the continuing and expanding use of animals is entrenched in food systems. One policy response frequently suggested by parties from all sectors (industry, government and civil society) is voluntary or mandatory labelling reforms to educate consumers about the healthiness and sustainability of food products, and thus reduce demand. This paper evaluates the pitfalls and potentials of labelling as an incremental regulatory governance stepping-stone to transformative food system change. METHODS: We use empirical data from a study of the regulatory politics of animal welfare and environmental claims on Australian products together with an ecological regulation conceptual approach to critically evaluate the potential of labelling as a regulatory mechanism. RESULTS: We show that labelling is generally ineffective as a pathway to transformative food system change for three reasons: it does not do enough to redistribute power away from dominant actors to those harmed by the food system; it is vulnerable to greenwashing and reductionism; and it leads to market segmentation rather than collective political action. CONCLUSION: We suggest the need for regulatory governance that is ecological by design. Labelling can only be effective when connected to a broader suite of measures to reduce overall production and consumption of meat. We conclude with some recommendations as to how public health advocates and policy entrepreneurs might strategically use and contest labelling and certification schemes to build support for transformative food system change and to avoid the regressive consequences of labelling.
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ItemContextualising the Business Responsibility to Respect: How Much Is Lost in Translation?(Brill | Nijhoff, 2012-01-01)
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ItemThe importance of being ambiguous: Theorising white-collar crime(Routledge-Cavendish, 2007-02-22)