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The Criminal Conduct of Radical Environmental and Animal Rights Groups: a Rational Choice Perspective

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The Criminal Conduct of Radical Environmental and Animal Rights Groups: a Rational Choice Perspective ABSTRACT Title of Document: THE CRIMINAL CONDUCT OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS: A RATIONAL CHOICE PERSPECTIVE Jennifer Varriale Carson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Professor Gary LaFree, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice In this dissertation, I examine whether members of radical environmental and animal rights groups are deterred by legal sanctions, morality, both, or neither. From a rational choice framework, I hypothesize that members of these groups weigh costs and benefits and act based on expected utility. I measure an increase in costs through three federal sentencing acts targeted at reducing the criminal behavior of these groups and hypothesize that this legislation decreased the total, serious, and ideologically-specific activity of extremists. I also contend that two terrorist events, the nearly fatal tree-spiking of George Alexander and the assassination of Hyram Kitchen, also increased the costs of criminal conduct for members of radical eco- groups. I evaluate interviews with twenty-five activists and analyze a database of 1056 incidents through both time-series and series hazard modeling. The interviews yield support for the rational choice perspective, particularly in regards to micro-level considerations of legal sanctions and morality. My quantitative findings indicate that the legislation was influential, albeit varying in direction by the method employed. Specifically, the time-series models yield significant increases in the frequency of criminal conduct after the legislation, while the series hazard analyses demonstrate a decrease in the hazard of an attack. I also find that the two major terrorist events did not significantly impact the criminal conduct of these groups. I conclude that members of radical environmental and animal rights groups are rational actors whom consider the moral evaluation of a given act and are susceptible to an increase in costs as measured through legislative efforts, but not as operationalized as a response to high profile attacks. THE CRIMINAL CONDUCT OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS: A RATIONAL CHOICE PERSPECTIVE ON MORALITY By Jennifer Varriale Carson Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Gary LaFree, Chair Professor Laura Dugan Professor Kurt Finsterbusch Professor Jean McGloin Professor Raymond Paternoster © Copyright by Jennifer Varriale Carson 2010 Dedication To my husband, Chad, for unselfishly giving of yourself for the past six years. Thank you for pushing me forward all the times I felt like going back. For believing in this dream, even when I myself doubted it at times. I am so proud to have both of our names on this as I can think of no better tribute. ii Acknowledgements Support for this research was provided by Grant N00140510629 from the Department of Homeland Security through the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. Any opinions or conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Homeland Security. Thank you to my family and friends for their support over the years; my brother, Dan, for being on the front lines and sharing his wisdom; my sister, Laura, for always listening, my mother, Marie, for paving the way for women in science, the parents I gained through marriage, Terry and Renee, for their perpetual kindness, and all the friends who have given this experience, at the very least, a sense of humor, particularly Jessica Stroop, Michelle Hart, Tina Ford and Jolene LuShine. I would also like to acknowledge the students that gave of their time and energy so that these data could exist, especially Kyle Saud and Katrina Rudyj, whom I know have very bright futures ahead. iii Table of Contents Dedication..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... iii List of Tables................................................................................................................vi List of Figures............................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Conceptualization ..............................17 Eco-terrorism and Ecotage: Misnomers ..................................................................17 Philosophical Underpinnings...................................................................................22 Environmental and Animal Rights Extremist Groups.............................................25 Targets and Tactics..................................................................................................29 Rational Choice and Crime......................................................................................35 Individual Differences in the Perceptual Deterrence...............................................37 Rational Choice and Terrorism................................................................................40 Countermeasures and Radical Environmental and Animal Rights Groups.............47 The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988......................................................................49 The Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992...................................................49 The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2006 ...................................................50 Morality and Terrorism ...........................................................................................52 Summary..................................................................................................................55 Chapter 3: The Current Study......................................................................................57 Data..........................................................................................................................58 Interview Data .........................................................................................................58 Eco-Incidents Database .......................................................................................62 Global Terrorism Database..................................................................................62 Foundation for Biomedical Research ..................................................................63 Supplemental Chronologies.................................................................................65 Analyses and Variables ...........................................................................................69 Question 1: Are those who are motivated by an environmental and/or animal rights ideology sensitive to considerations of legal sanctions and moral evaluations in their cost-benefit analyses? ..........................................................70 Question 2: How effective has recent U.S. federal legislation been in decreasing the criminal conduct of members of radical environmental and animal rights groups?.................................................................................................................71 Question 3: Are members of radical environmental and animal rights groups deterred by an increase in costs as measured by high profile terrorist attacks? ..82 Summary..................................................................................................................85 Legal Sanctions........................................................................................................86 Chapter 5: Legal Sanction Results...............................................................................92 Trends over Time.....................................................................................................92 Time-Series Results.................................................................................................94 Series Hazard Results ..............................................................................................96 Summary..................................................................................................................97 Chapter 6: Terrorist Attack Results............................................................................99 iv Trends over Time.....................................................................................................99 Time-Series Results...............................................................................................100 Series Hazard Results ............................................................................................102 Summary................................................................................................................102 Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions ...................................................................104 Summary of Research Findings.............................................................................106 Discussion..............................................................................................................111 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research.................................................115 Conclusion.............................................................................................................117
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