Environmental crimes and illegal waste trade : a study of the perception of the seriousness of crimes related to slow violence and ecomafie in the province of Brescia, Italy

Abstract

This Master Thesis project in International Environmental Studies, Noragric, NMBU, focuses on environmental crimes related to the illegal waste cycle in Northern Italy. The research aims to study the perceptions of the public about the slow violence processes caused by environmental crimes of the illegal waste trade, and how the public’s perceptions are affected whenever the offenders are part of organized crime groups, the ecomafie. The study will discuss the concept of slow violence elaborated by Nixon (2011) according to the data collected and compared to theoretical sources. The project combines primary data, gathered through an online survey of the population of the province of Brescia (Italy) with secondary sources. The research is supported by the description of the legislative framework about environmental crimes, especially focused on waste trade and the development of the normative that address activities led by mafia-types organizations. With the goal of giving an exhaustive understanding of the phenomenon of ecomafie, the research will describe the main characteristics of the criminal activities and their modus operandi.