Social Harms and Zemiology

• Much of the harm done by states is not illegal
• Michalowski 1985: state crime definition includes not just illegal acts but also ‘legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of illegal acts’ 
• Hillyard et al 2004: we should take a wider view of state wrongdoing, replace criminology with zemiology - the study of harms. For example, this would widen the scope of investigation to state-facilitated poverty. This prevents states from ruling themselves ‘out of court’ by making laws allowing deviance. 
• BUT…

  1. Very vague definition 
  2. Who decides the definition