State & Human Rights

• What are state crimes?

  Crimes committed by powerful individuals or groups on behalf of states to further their policies.
• Who identified various state crimes?

  McLaughlin (2012)
• What are the categories of state crimes identified by McLaughlin?

  • Political crimes (e.g., corruption and censorship)
  • Crimes by security and police forces (e.g., genocide and torture)
  • Economic crimes (e.g., violation of health and safety laws and wage laws)
• How does the power of the state affect the scale of state crime?

  The power of the state enables it to commit crimes on a large scale with widespread victimization.
• What was the estimated number of people killed by the Khmer Rouge government between 1975 and 1978?

  Up to two million people.
• According to Green & Ward (2012), how many people have been murdered by governments in the 20th Century?

  262 million people.
• What allows the state to conceal crimes or escape punishment?


  The power of the state allows it to conceal crimes or escape punishment.
• What example is given of state crime involving military use of torture?

  Britain and the U.S. in Iraq.
• Why is it difficult to estimate the full extent of state crimes?

  State crimes are often hidden and complex, leading to very few 'hard' facts.
• What is genocide defined as?

  Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
• What happened in Rwanda in 1994?

  800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in one hundred days.
• Who initially carried out the killings during the Rwandan genocide?

  The Hutu military initially carried out the killings.
• What is state-corporate crime?

  When states initiate, direct, or approve of corporate crimes.
• What disaster is cited as an example of state-initiated corporate crime?

  The Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986.
• What is state-facilitated corporate crime?

  When states fail to regulate and control corporate behavior, making crime easier.
• What example is given of state-facilitated corporate crime?

  The BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010.
• What must happen for wars to be considered legal?

  Wars must be sanctioned by the UN Security Council.
• Why are the USA-led wars against Afghanistan and Iraq considered illegal by some?

  They made a false claim that the war was self-defense due to weapons of mass destruction.
• What was found during the inquiry into Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq?

  9 USA soldiers were guilty of sadistic criminal abuses.
• What do some argue about the bombing of civilians in conflicts like Iraq and Syria?

  It should be seen as war crimes.
• What are the problems with defining state crimes?

  • The state is the source of law, allowing it to avoid defining harmful actions as criminal.
  • Legal definitions can be manipulated by the state.
  • Social harms and zemiology complicate the definition of crime.
• What is the issue with the U.S. definition of 'enhanced interrogation techniques'?

  It is a euphemism for actions many would define as torture.
• What did Nazi Germany do regarding laws and state crimes?

  Nazi Germany created laws permitting the persecution of Jews and sterilization of disabled people.
• What do Hillyard et al. (2004) suggest should replace the study of crimes?

  They suggest replacing it with the study of zemiology (harms).
• What is a criticism of the harms definition proposed by Hillyard et al.?

  It is vague and makes the field of study too wide.
• What does labeling theory argue about state crime?

  State crime is socially constructed and varies according to the audience observing it.
• What is a problem with the labeling theory approach to state crime?

  It is unclear who the relevant audience is to decide if a state crime has been committed.
• What do some sociologists base the definition of state crime on?

  International law.
• What is an advantage of defining state crime based on international law?

  It uses globally agreed definitions rather than subjective sociologist definitions.
• What is a criticism of international law as a definition of state crime?

  It largely focuses on war crimes and crimes against humanity, not state corruption.
• What do Schwendinger and Schwendinger (1975) argue about state crimes?

  State crime should be seen as acts that deny individuals human rights.
• What is a problem with Schwendinger and Schwendinger's definition of state crime?


  It offers a subjective view of crime.
• What does Cohen (2001) argue about genocide and torture?

  They are clearly crimes, but economic exploitation is not clearly criminal.
• What is a disagreement regarding human rights mentioned in the study material?

  Whether freedom from hunger is a human right.
• What are the social conditions that contribute to state crimes according to Kelman and Hamilton (1989)?

  1. Authorisation: Obeying orders from authority.
  2. Routinisation: Committing acts seen as routine.
  3. Dehumanisation: Presenting enemies as sub-human.
• What is the 'authoritarian personality' as identified by Adorno et al.?


  A personality type willing to follow orders from authority figures without question.
• How do sociologists view state crimes in terms of socialization?

  Individuals who commit state crimes adopt roles they have been socialized into.
• What do Green & Ward (2012) claim about the social conditions for committing atrocities?

  Individuals often need to be re-socialized and exposed to propaganda about the 'enemy'.
• What are 'enclaves of barbarism' as mentioned in the study material?

  Areas where torture is practiced, segregated from outside society.
• What do Bauman (1989) argue about the Holocaust?

  It was due to key features of modernity, not a breakdown of civilization.