Introduction
This essay critically examines the Waste Lands Ordinance of 1897, enacted in colonial Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) under British rule, and applies it to the concept of victim-offender overlap within the framework of environmental victimisation. The Ordinance allowed the colonial government to claim ownership of uncultivated or ‘waste’ lands, often displacing indigenous communities and causing ecological harm (Meyer, 2000). By drawing on green criminology, which addresses environmental crimes and harms (Lynch, 1990), and zemiology, the study of social harms beyond traditional crime definitions (Hillyard et al., 2004), this analysis explores how such legal mechanisms perpetuated victimisation. Critical victimology and criminology perspectives will provide additional support, highlighting power imbalances and structural inequalities (Walklate, 2012). The essay will discuss supporting evidence, counter-arguments, strengths, and limitations, arguing that the Ordinance exemplifies how environmental policies can blur lines between victims and offenders. Key points include the Ordinance’s role in land dispossession, its environmental impacts, and the resulting overlap where victimised groups were criminalised for resistance. This approach underscores the relevance of interdisciplinary criminological lenses to historical and ongoing environmental harms.
Green Criminology Perspective on the Waste Lands Ordinance and Environmental Victimisation
Green criminology offers a lens to analyse the Waste Lands Ordinance as a form of state-sanctioned environmental harm, where legal frameworks facilitate ecological degradation and victimisation. Originating in the works of Lynch (1990), green criminology critiques harms against the environment that may not be criminalised but cause significant damage, such as deforestation and loss of biodiversity. In the case of the 1897 Ordinance, colonial authorities classified vast tracts of land as ‘waste’ if uncultivated, enabling their appropriation for plantations like tea and rubber, which led to widespread deforestation and soil erosion (Bandarage, 1997). This process victimised indigenous Sinhalese and Tamil communities by depriving them of ancestral lands essential for subsistence farming and cultural practices, constituting environmental victimisation through habitat destruction.
Applying this to victim-offender overlap, green criminology highlights how victims of such harms may become offenders in response. For instance, displaced communities often resisted by encroaching on claimed lands or engaging in sabotage, which colonial laws criminalised as trespass or rebellion (Meyer, 2000). Evidence from historical records shows that enforcement of the Ordinance led to increased prosecutions of locals for ‘illegal’ land use, blurring the victim-offender dichotomy (Rogers, 1987). A strength of this perspective is its emphasis on ecological justice, revealing how capitalist expansion, underpinned by colonial ordinances, prioritises profit over environmental sustainability. However, a limitation is its occasional oversight of human agency; counter-arguments suggest that not all resistance was criminalised, as some communities negotiated land rights through petitions, indicating a more nuanced overlap (Bandarage, 1997). Nonetheless, green criminology effectively demonstrates how the Ordinance institutionalised environmental victimisation, supporting the argument that state policies can generate cycles of harm and criminalisation.
Zemiology Perspective: Social Harms and Victim-Offender Dynamics
Zemiology extends beyond crime to encompass broader social harms, providing a complementary framework for analysing the Waste Lands Ordinance (Hillyard et al., 2004). This perspective argues that harms like poverty, displacement, and cultural erosion should be studied irrespective of legal definitions, focusing on their structural origins. The Ordinance exemplifies zemiological harm by legitimising the seizure of lands, which displaced thousands and exacerbated poverty among rural populations, often leading to famine and migration (Obeyesekere, 1967). In terms of environmental victimisation, the transformation of ‘waste’ lands into monoculture plantations caused long-term harms such as water scarcity and loss of biodiversity, affecting entire ecosystems and human communities dependent on them.
Linking this to victim-offender overlap, zemiology illuminates how victims of these harms were reframed as offenders. Dispossessed individuals, facing starvation, might resort to theft or unrest, which were then policed as crimes, reinforcing colonial power structures (Hillyard et al., 2004). Supporting evidence includes archival data from Ceylon, where Ordinance-related evictions correlated with spikes in petty crimes among affected groups (Rogers, 1987). A key strength of zemiology is its holistic view, capturing harms ignored by traditional criminology, such as intergenerational trauma from land loss. However, critics argue it lacks specificity, potentially diluting focus on actionable crimes (a counter-argument raised by Tombs and Whyte, 2015, who note zemiology’s broad scope can hinder policy interventions). Despite this limitation, zemiology strengthens the analysis by showing how the Ordinance’s harms created overlapping victim-offender roles, where environmental victimisation bred social deviance as a survival mechanism.
Critical Victimology and Criminology: Supporting Insights into Power and Overlap
Critical victimology and criminology provide essential support by examining how victimisation is shaped by power dynamics, often marginalising certain groups (Walklate, 2012). Critical victimology critiques positivist approaches that ignore structural factors, instead emphasising how victims are constructed through social and legal processes. In the context of the Waste Lands Ordinance, indigenous peoples were victimised not only environmentally but also through denial of land rights, positioning them as ‘undeserving’ victims under colonial narratives that portrayed them as unproductive (Meyer, 2000). Critical criminology, building on Marxist influences, views such ordinances as tools of class and imperial domination, criminalising resistance to maintain control (Quinney, 1977).
Integrating these with victim-offender overlap, evidence shows that environmentally victimised groups, like Ceylonese villagers, were often prosecuted for offences stemming from their victimisation, such as poaching on seized lands (Bandarage, 1997). For example, historical cases document how evictees turned to banditry, illustrating overlap where victimhood precipitates offending (Rogers, 1987). Strengths include the perspectives’ ability to highlight inequalities, supported by arguments that colonial laws perpetuated cycles of harm. However, limitations arise in overemphasising structure over agency; counter-arguments suggest some individuals adapted without offending, challenging deterministic views (Walklate, 2012). Overall, these lenses enrich the analysis, evidencing how environmental victimisation under the Ordinance fostered overlapping roles through systemic injustice.
Strengths, Limitations, and Arguments in Applying These Perspectives
The integrated application of green criminology, zemiology, and critical victimology to the Waste Lands Ordinance reveals notable strengths and limitations. A primary strength is the multifaceted understanding of victim-offender overlap in environmental victimisation: green criminology addresses ecological dimensions, zemiology broadens to social harms, and critical approaches unveil power imbalances, collectively supported by historical evidence (Lynch, 1990; Hillyard et al., 2004; Walklate, 2012). This synergy argues effectively that the Ordinance not only caused direct environmental harm but also indirect criminalisation, with examples like increased prosecutions post-1897 (Rogers, 1987).
Counter-arguments, however, highlight limitations. Critics contend that these perspectives may romanticise victims, ignoring instances where overlap involves mutual harm, such as intra-community conflicts over remaining lands (Tombs and Whyte, 2015). Additionally, the historical focus limits applicability to contemporary issues, though parallels exist in modern land grabs (Bandarage, 1997). Despite these, the frameworks’ strengths outweigh limitations, offering robust tools for analysing how ordinances like this perpetuate environmental victimisation and overlap.
Conclusion
In summary, applying the Waste Lands Ordinance to victim-offender overlap through green criminology, zemiology, and critical victimology reveals its role in institutionalising environmental victimisation, where displaced communities became both victims and offenders. Evidence from colonial Ceylon supports this, while counter-arguments underscore analytical limitations. The implications are profound for contemporary criminology, urging recognition of historical harms in addressing ongoing environmental injustices. This analysis demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary perspectives in unpacking complex victimisation dynamics, though further research on modern equivalents could enhance understanding.
References
- Bandarage, A. (1997) Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Political-Economic Analysis. Zed Books.
- Hillyard, P., Pantazis, C., Tombs, S. and Gordon, D. (eds.) (2004) Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously. Pluto Press.
- Lynch, M. J. (1990) ‘The Greening of Criminology: A Perspective on the 1990s’, Critical Criminologist, 2(3), pp. 1-4.
- Meyer, E. (2000) ‘Land, Law and Economic Change in Sri Lanka’, Modern Asian Studies, 34(2), pp. 389-420.
- Obeyesekere, G. (1967) Land Tenure in Village Ceylon: A Sociological and Historical Study. Cambridge University Press.
- Quinney, R. (1977) Class, State, and Crime: On the Theory and Practice of Criminal Justice. Longman.
- Rogers, J. D. (1987) Crime, Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka. Curzon Press.
- Tombs, S. and Whyte, D. (2015) The Corporate Criminal: Why Corporations Must Be Abolished. Routledge.
- Walklate, S. (2012) ‘Critical Victimology’, in S. Walklate (ed.) Handbook of Victims and Victimology. Routledge, pp. 14-29.
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