This dissertation presents five chapters, inclusive of three manuscripts styled as draft publications, to advance the contested paradigm of green criminology—or the study of crimes and harms that involve the natural world, non-human species, and the human communities that depend on them—and to support the emerging professional practice of non-governmental wildlife trade reduction. Two of the presented manuscripts meet the requirements for submission to scientific journals in criminology,... Show moreThis dissertation presents five chapters, inclusive of three manuscripts styled as draft publications, to advance the contested paradigm of green criminology—or the study of crimes and harms that involve the natural world, non-human species, and the human communities that depend on them—and to support the emerging professional practice of non-governmental wildlife trade reduction. Two of the presented manuscripts meet the requirements for submission to scientific journals in criminology, while another is a long-form text modeled on contemporary non-governmental ‘wildlife trade assessment’ reports. The specific wildlife trade under study is a harmful trade in pet wildlife occurring in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider world. This trade was particularly under-studied prior to this dissertation research project and broader initiative. The dissertation is action-oriented in that it seeks to support the green criminology paradigm's empirical, theoretical, and technical development. The resulting manuscript-style chapters have been designed using a best-practice ‘Open Standards’ planning approach now popular in wildlife trade reduction projects. The underlying research activities were also action-oriented in that they were and continue to be conducted in partnership with local activists and scientists as part of a non-governmental project to reduce the harmful trade in pet wildlife trade in Trinidad and Tobago (see www.nurturenaturett.org). The underlying research included focus group discussions with wild animal keepers (n=75), key informant interviews (n=172) with seven stakeholder groups, more than two years of participant observation of physical sites and social media, a national household survey on animal keeping (n=2004), and a taxonomic legal inventory of wildlife laws in Trinidad and Tobago and its trade partners. The first chapter, “Introduction,” provides essential background information on the dissertation research, encompassing project, and implementing researcher. In this way, the chapter describes the developmental context of this dissertation thesis and the strategies employed to produce the dissertation chapters. The second chapter, “The illegal keeping of pet wildlife in Trinidad and Tobago: Diversity, prevalence, populations, and harms,” is designed for submission to a criminological journal on global crime issues and provides insights into the nature of an illegal wildlife trade in a Caribbean country. The third chapter, “‘We all know it’s inhumane’: The awareness and justification of green crimes and harms among Trinidadian songbird keepers,” is designed for submission to a criminological journal on social deviance and provides insights for the development of Neutralization Theory to reduce green crimes and harms. The fourth chapter, “An assessment of the harmful trade in songbirds in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider world,” is designed as a gray-literature ‘wildlife trade assessment’ to educate and empower activists, donors, and policymakers in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider world. A final chapter, “Conclusion and Reflections,” considers the researcher’s experience in relation to action, green criminology, project-based intervention, and science-based activism. The researcher’s concluding reflections include the identification of several next steps to advance green criminology for the continuing and future reduction of harmful wildlife trades and other green crimes and harms. Show less
