State crime

• state crime - Green & Ward's definition (2005)

  -state crime refers to illegal/deviant activities perpetrated by the state or the complicity of state agencies

  
  

  -state agencies involve police & army etc
• Taliban & Women's rights - state crime relating to Green & Ward's definition

  -lack access to education

  
  

  -lack access to employment

  
  

  -lack freedoms

  
  

  -took their weapons away

  
  

  -is a state crime as it violates human rights
• how many people were killed by the state in the 20th century?

  200 million
• domestic law - Chambliss

  -acts defined by law as criminal and are committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state
• domestic law definition - crime examples

  -PPE scandal: PPE medpro gave faulty PPE equipment during Covid after the company was suggested by a former MP Mone.

  
  

  -Birmingham six: 6 people wrongly accused of bombings. They were tortured by the police until they confessed to a crime they did not commit.

  
  

  -George Floyd: an act of police brutality - was murdered by a police officer.
• domestic law definition - AO3

  -the state will just change the law to make what they have done legal

  
  

  -just because the law is there does not mean that the law is right. Example: it was legal to kill jewish people in nazi Germany

  
  

  -benefits the bourgeoisie

  
  

  -makes it hard to globally identify state crime as laws differ globally

  
  

  -there will be selective law enforcement
• social harm & zemiology

  Michalowski (1985): state crime involves illegal acts but also legally permissible acts that have similar consequences to those of illegal acts

  
  

  -Hillyard (2004): zemiology should replace the study of crime. Zemiology is the study of social harm caused by actions
• social harm & zemiology - crime examples

  -policies that are systematically racist

  
  

  -state-facilitated poverty: prevents people from being able to change social class, keeps some people in inhumane living environments

  
  

  -universal credit system in the UK increased the likelihood of people going into poverty
• social harm & zemiology - AO3

  -prevents states from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow them to misbehave

  
  

  -provides a single standard

  
  

  -is a vague description - how much harm can be caused before it is a crime?

  
  

  -who decides what counts as a crime?
• international law


  -Rothe & Mullins (2008): state crime is an action by/on behalf of a state which violates international law and/or a states own domestic law
• international law - crime example

  -Geneva Conventions: relates to modern warfare & ensures people have rights. Draws distinctions between those who are fighting and those who are not. Should be followed globally.

  
  

  -Strand & Tuman (2012): Japan sought to overturn the ban on whaling via concentrating its foreign aid on impoverished micro-states e.g., 6 small Caribbean islands

  
  

  -war on terror: to justify the illegal war in Iraq they falsified information saying that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when there was no WMD
• international law - AO3

  -is a generalised definition, does no depend on one's own definition

  
  

  -is a social construction designed by the powerful

  
  

  -the definition focuses on war and crime against humanity instead of crimes like corruption

  
  

  -is internationally designed to deal with state crime

  
  

  -hard to enforce
• human rights


  -United National Declaration Of Human Right 1948

  
  

  -Schwerndinger (1975): state crime is defined as a violation of people's basic humans rights by the state & state agents

  
  

  -have natural rights (rights you have just from existing e.g., freedom of speech) & civil rights (e.g., the right to vote/the right to a fair trial)
• human rights - crime example

  -Guantanamo Bay: American prison in Cuba that does not comply with Geneva Convention so people held here do not have human rights. Is for high ranking terrorists.

  -this is in a 'black area' where they do not have to follow legislation so it is technically not a state crime

  -people here do not have their right to a fair trial

  -a low % of the people in here are actually guilty (2%)
• human rights - AO3

  -Risse et al: all states care about their human rights image, this is global & a social norm so helps identify & punish state crime

  
  

  -Cohan - violation of human rights is not self-evidently criminal despite us finding them morally wrong

  
  

  -a very political definition

  
  

  -some people disagree over what is and what is not a human right

  
  

  -hard to enforce
• types of state crime - McLaughlin (2001)

  there are 4 categories of state crime:

  -political crime

  -crime by security & police forces

  -economic crime

  -social & cultural crime
• political crime - political corruption

  -political corruption can happen in various forms but most commonly relate to politicians siphoning public money off to private bank accounts; unfairly granting government contracts in return for bribes; electoral fraud (vote rigging)

  
  

  -example: PPE scandal - company universe transported PPE to government & sold PPE to government. This PPE was faulty, the company was given £800 million in contracts
• political crime - political censorship

  -political censorship happens when the government attempts to conceal/fake/distort/falsify info that citizens receive by suppressing political news that the public might access via news outlets

  
  

  -example: Nazi Germany burning books

  
  

  -example: North Korea & their citizens e.g., preventing them from accessing social media other countries can
• political crime - war crime

  2 types of war crime:

  -illegal war: not classed as self-defence/not declared by the UN

  -crime committed during war

  
  

  -example: illegal war = war of terror - falsified documents that there were weapons on mass destruction present

  
  

  -example: crime committed during war - Abu Ghraib - was turned into a US army detention centre after invasion of Iraq. Mostly women & teens were wrongly held here. These people were tortured & abused whilst held here eg., sexual assault. The US army tortured one prisoner to death.
• political crime categories


  -corruption

  -censorship

  -war crimes
• crimes by security/police forces

  -genocide

  -torture

  -imprisonment without trial

  -disappearance of dissidents
• crimes by security/police forces - genocide

  -any act committed with the intent to destroy/kill a group of people e.g., a minority group

  
  

  -example: Holocaust 1939-1945: mass killing & unfair treatment of Jewish people in concentration camps throughout WWII
• crimes by security/police forces - torture

  -the act of inflicting pain on someone as a punishment/to force them to do or say something

  
  

  -example: Guantanamo Bay - this is a prison in Cuba where people were abused/unfairly treated by the guards
• crimes by security/police forces - imprisonment without trial

  -when someone is detained in a prison/psychiatric facility without knowing why/for how long they will be there

  
  

  -example: Guantanamo Bay - prisoners have been held here for years
• crimes by security/police forces - disappearance of dissidents

  -political dissent is any expression designed to convey dissatisfaction with/in opposition to policies of the government

  
  

  -example: China - people have been banished to do forced labour in camps after they showed disagreement. Other people have been illegally constrained
• economic crimes


  -violation of health & safety laws

  -economic policies which causes harm to citizens
• economic crimes - health & safety law violations

  -the government knowingly allow health & safety breaches in public services to save money and or to create profit

  
  

  -example: Chernobyl nuclear disaster - Russia prioritised speed over safety which led to the nuclear reactor exploding causing mass death
• economic crimes - economic policies which cause harm

  -policies the government know will lead to harm upon citizens of their country

  
  

  -example: UK austerity/benefit cuts in the 90s - caused people harm as they have less money to survive
• social and cultural crime

  -institutional racism

  -destruction of native culture & heritage
• social and cultural crime - institutional racism

  -when the police force target certain groups

  
  

  -example: Stephen Lawrence assumed to be involved in gang violence so his murder was not investigated properly

  
  

  -example: George Floyd murdered by police
• social and cultural crime - destruction of native culture & heritage

  -deliberate & conscious destruction of the culture or heritage of native groups

  
  

  -example: ISIS destruction of churches

  
  

  -example: USA destruction of native Indian sites & lands - taught them to be Christian
• explanations of state crime

  -integrated theory: Green & Ward

  -modernity - Bauman

  -Social conditions - Kelman & Hamilton
• integrated theory - Green & Ward

  -state crime stems from similar circumstances to those of other crimes

  -there is the integration of 3 factors that causes state crime: motivation of offenders e.g., capitalism; opportunity & lack of controls
• modernity - Bauman


  -there are features of modern society that make state crime possible

  -these factors are the division of labour (everyone has responsibility over tasks - no one feels personally responsible for the act); bureaucratisation (normalisation of acts by making it routine/repetitive); instrumental rationality (rational & efficient methods to achieve a goal); science & technology (justifies means & motives of the crime)
• social conditions - Kelman & Hamilton

  -state crimes tend to be crimes of obedience

  -there are 3 factors that produce crimes of obedience: authorisation (acts are approved by people in power); routinisation (the act becomes routine); dehumanisation (victims are portrayed as sub-normal so normal morality cannot be applied)

  -the state has legitimised the action

  
  

  -supported by Adorno & the authoritarian personality
• the seriousness of state crime

  -Michalowski & Kramer: state crime is widespread so has a large scale - there are many victims of state crime. Example: the Holocaust.

  
  

  -the state is the source of law. States have the power to conceal their crime & make them harder to detect. Can also change the law to benefit their deviancy. National Sovereignty makes it hard for international bodies to intervene.
• culture of denial


  states are better at hiding & denying crime

  
  

  -Cohen - spiral of state denial:

  stage 1: 'it didn't happen'

  stage 2: 'if it did happen it is not what you think'

  stage 3: justification of the act

  Example: war on terror

  
  

  -Matza & Sykes - neutralisation theory

  justification of the act through denial of harm; denial of the victims; denial of responsibilities; condemning the condemners & appeal to higher loyalty
• culture of denial - example: Chinese government on Uyghur Muslims:-at first the government said that the camps did not exist-then said that the camps did exist but that they were vocational training camps to prevent extremism-then said that the camps were being used as the people in them were terrorists
• problems when researching state crime

  Cohen:-strategies of denial & justification-reclassification of crime-censorship & power-rely on secondary data typically from the mediaTombs & Whyte:-states can use their power to prevent sociologists from doing researchGreene & Ward:-research on state crime can be difficult, harrowing & dangerous