Award Date

May 2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Criminal Justice

First Committee Member

Emily Troshynki

Second Committee Member

Melissa Rorie

Third Committee Member

Terance Miethe

Fourth Committee Member

Robert Futrell

Number of Pages

122

Abstract

In the post-9/11 era, the USA PATRIOT Act provided law enforcement agencies broad powers to investigate citizens believed to be potential or perceived domestic terrorist threats. Preceded by the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA) of 1992, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) of 2006 delivered to these same agencies laws under which animal rights (AR) activists could be charged as domestic terrorists. Considered to be potential domestic terrorist threats under the Green Scare era, AR activists became prioritized as state-sponsored surveillance subjects.

This thesis seeks to determine the extent of surveillance on AR activists as well as its impact in regard to the progression of this social movement through the use of qualitative methods. It also questions whether the Green Scare still has relevance today. The researcher conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with 11 activists in the states of Nevada, Oregon, and Colorado. The researcher found that the majority of the sample in the study had experienced different indicators of surveillance. Many activists expressed the view that surveillance was an inevitable part of being an activist. Despite their exposure to surveillance, it does not appear that state-sponsored surveillance has stifled the willingness of activists to participate in the AR movement.

Keywords

Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA); Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA); Animal Rights Activists; Eco-terrorism; Surveillance; USA PATRIOT Act

Disciplines

Criminology | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Sociology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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