Globalisation - state crime

• State crimes are activities which break laws by or on behalf of the government, they are crimes of the powerful.
• McLaughlin (how to define state crimes) identified types of state crime:

  • By the police force like torture
  • Economic like violations of safety and health laws
  • Social or cultural crimes like institutional racism
  • Political like censorship
• 5 ways that state crime can be defined as:

  • Defined by social harm and zemiology
  • Defined by labelling and societal reaction
  • Defined by the breaking of international law and a states own laws
  • Defined by the violation of human rights
  • State crime can be defined as breaking domestic laws
• State crime can be defined by the breaking of domestic law. Chamblis defined state crime as 'acts which are defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials' like Nazi Germany. So the government and powerful bodies commit crimes that would otherwise by illegal but they fail to adhere to their own rules.
• State crimes can cause social harm, most harm done by the state is not illegal. State crime can marginalise groups, have psychological impacts on people and cause economic issues like exploitation. Michalowski argued that state crime is not only illegal acts but legal ones which cause harm.
• Zemiology focuses on the study of social harms and injuries, emphasizing the broader societal impacts of various actions and policies.
• State crime can be defined as revolving around labelling and societal reaction. State crime is socially constructed meaning the understanding of state crime varies from culture to culture. The idea of this crime is influenced by the viewpoints, interpretations, and responses of society and its institutions, it is only criminal if people think it is. If people react to the crime and protest etc. then the crime may be punished, otherwise it may go unnoticed and unsanctioned.
• State crime can be defined as the breaking of international law and the state's own laws. A state can break its own laws such as with torture, but it can also break international obligations such as with treaties and social norms. War and genocide are examples of this because the state would be infringing upon the lives of people in other countries as well as their own. Rothe and Mullins thought that it is actions which violates international law and a state's own domestic law.
• State crime can be defined as the violation of human rights. It includes the violation of natural (humans having the right to exist like having free speech) and civil (to vote, privacy and education) rights. Torture, repression of freedom of expression and violations of indigenous rights are examples of this.
• Examples in history of state crimes:

  • Irael's illegal use of phosphorus during an attack on Gaza
  • Iraq and Afghanistan wars where there were abductions, and the invasions were 'justified' using self-defense.
  • Rwanda genocide (80,000 deaths in 100 days)
  • The Balkans war and ethnic cleansing
  • Nazi Germany (mass genocide and ethnic cleansing)
• Main five reasons why state crime occurs:

  • The culture of denial
  • Social conditions
  • Neutralization
  • Modernity
  • The authoritarian personality
• Cohen explains how a culture of denial can cause state crime. He says that democratic states have to justify their crime. He claimed that there are three stages to this: denial, claiming it 'isn't what it looks like' and attempting to justify it.
• Adorno (authoritarian personality) claimed that there is a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question. Authoritarian personalities will often use power to scare people, marginalise groups, be hostile and resist change by sticking to traditional ideas.
• Modernity is the increase of technology, advancements and science in society.
• State crime can be caused by modernity due to advancements like globalisation and industrialisation, this goes hand in hand with the increase of technology, shifts in social norms and economic inequalities. Bauman argued state crimes can be put down to clever division of labour. These crimes cannot be put down to just one person. The crime is normalized as it is made repetitive and like a routine. Efficient methods are used to commit the crime.
• Neutralisation can cause state crime because powerful groups and the government use denial along with being seeming loyal to a higher level in order to construct the event so they are left blameless for the crime. They can deny responsibility, injury and they can shift the blame onto the victims.
• Social conditions can cause state crime. Keiman and Hamilton studied 'crimes of obedience' and claimed that there are certain things that produce state crimes. People of authority control normal people, the crime is turned into routine. The enemy is portrayed as less than human. Social inequalities leads to state crime because these groups are 'easy targets' and powerful groups can maintain this structure of society. Conflict in society leads to state crime, the government can the 'reinforcement' of rules and laws in order to act violently. War crimes and extrajudicial killings may occur
• State crime is so serious because:

  • It is widespread, which shows the power that the state has and how many people can become victims to it.
  • So many victims
  • So many linked issues such as with human rights, political instability and economic impacts (services, corruption, funds and trades)
  • The state is the source of law so they can avoid making laws that their own actions would fall under.
• Human rights can be defined as the right of humans to be entitled to fair and just treatment
• Sociologists who talked about human rights: Greene and Ward, The Schwendingers
• Greene and Ward (human rights) argued that:

  • human rights involve social and economic rights and civil/political rights like freedom of speech.
  • State crime is more than just 'breaking the law' because the state can violate many people's human rights.
  • when judging whether something is a violation of human rights we should use a variety of societal views, states and types of victims
• The Schwendingers (human rights) argued that we should define state crime as a violation of people's human rights, states that practice racism, sexism, homophobia etc are committing crimes. If we accept that crimes are simply what the state says they are, we lose power. Sociologists have a duty to expose state crimes that violate human rights
• Sociological arguments that question the human rights definition of state crime:

  • ideas of human rights are socially constructed, they vary from society to society
  • places have bias ideas of what violations of human rights are, prioritising white men etc.