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The Ecological Distribution of Community Advantage and Disadvantage: Power Structures, Political Economy, Communities, and Green-State Crime and Justice

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Abstract

Certain forms of criminology such as social disorganization theory examine how community characteristics influence crime. That approach, however glosses over the fact that the distribution of community advantages and disadvantages (CAD) has structural origins, and that the distribution of CAD is also an indicator of the kinds of social, economic and ecological injustice communities face. Building on observations recently made by Moloney and Chambliss concerning the integration of state and green criminological research, this article explores the structural origins of CAD, how taking a political economic view of CAD relates to the distribution of crime and injustice in communities, and how a CAD approach promotes the integration of state crime, radical criminological and green criminological research.

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Lynch, M.J. The Ecological Distribution of Community Advantage and Disadvantage: Power Structures, Political Economy, Communities, and Green-State Crime and Justice. Crit Crim 24, 247–262 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-016-9313-z

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