Repainting the thin green line: the enforcement of UK wildlife law

Green criminology applies a broad green perspective to environmental harms, ecological justice, and the study of environmental laws and criminality. Within the green perspective, many NGOs argue for stronger wildlife laws and a more punitive regime, yet the reality is that UK wildlife laws are broadly sufficient, given their purpose as conservation rather than criminal justice legislation. This paper critically evaluates debates on the need for a more punitive wildlife enforcement regime. First, its analysis of the wildlife law enforcement regime in the UK reveals that in practice enforcement rather than legislative deficiencies are the problem. As a result, calls for tougher laws and sentencing are unlikely to be effective without corresponding improvements in the enforcement regime. Secondly it argues that NGOs operating within the wildlife crime arena consider wildlife crime primarily from an environmental, conservation, or animal rights perspective, rather than considering criminological theory, explanations of crime and ideology. This paper argues that while there is scope to review UK wildlife law, inherent failures in the existing enforcement regime and policy perspectives that underpin it need to be addressed before effective wildlife law enforcement can be achieved.