STATE CRIMES

Learning Objectives: To understand what is meant by state crimes To be aware of examples of state crimes To appreciate why state crimes are so serious To investigate human rights as an illustration of state crime

What are state crimes? State crime is …. ‘illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of, state agencies’ (Green & Ward, 2005) state organised crime Chambliss

State crimes are committed by, or on behalf of states and governments in order to further their policies Genocide War crimes Torture Imprisonment without trial Assassination

Research

McLaughlin – 4 categories of state crime 1.Political crimes – corruption/censorship 2.Crimes by security/police forces – genocide, torture, disappearance of dissidents 3.Economic crimes – official violations of health & safety laws 4. Social & Cultural crimes – institutional racism

State crime is so serious because… 1. The Scale of State crime Power of the state makes large-scale crime possible. “Great power and great crimes are inseparable.” (Michalowski & Kramer, 2006) State monopoly on violence = potential to cause major harm. Able to hide crimes and escape punishment. Media focuses on state crimes in 3 rd world countries – but avoids reporting on such crimes in UK and USA. It is hard for foreign countries to intervene, ie) UN, because of state sovereignty and national boundaries. Many countries ignore international conventions. Racial discrimination, genocide and war crimes are all common place.

Cambodia Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed up to 2 million people. -pot.htm rights/seasia/doc/camintro.html

2. The state is the source of law State’s role is to define what is criminal. They manage the criminal justice process and prosecute offenders. State crime can undermine the system of justice…’above the law’. It’s power to make the law means that it can avoid its own harmful actions being defined as criminal. It can also use the criminal justice system to control and persecute it’s enemies.

Nazi Germany

Human Rights & State Crime One way of exploring state crime is through looking at human rights. Human rights are: Natural rights – these are what people are regarded as having simply by virtue of existing, ie) rights to life, liberty and free speech Civil rights – these are rights, like the right to vote, privacy, liberty and education

The violation of basic human rights summarise how states can violate human rights. (include arguments from Schwendlingers and Cohen) The Culture of denial Using the internet/books– summarise what Cohen argues about the spiral of denial and ‘neutralisation theory’.

The social conditions of state crime Some sociologists argue that torture etc are part of a role that people are socialised into. They look at the conditions that make such behaviour acceptable. Some, like Kelman & Hamilton have focused on ‘crimes of obedience’. Some see this in relation to Nazis following orders during the Final Solution, or in cases like the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war where 400 civilians were killed by US soldiers.

Kelman & Hamilton (1989) – features that produce crimes of obedience Authorisation – this is when acts are ordered or approved of by those in higher authority. This is where moral principals are replaced by a duty to obey. Routinisation – the crime becomes routine – a common practice that can be done in a clinical, detatched manner. Dehumanisation – this is where the ‘enemy of the state’ is portrayed as sub-human. Not to be treated as normal! Here the usual principles of morality do not apply.

Bauman (1989) – Modernity and the Holocaust Modern society creates a situation where these crimes can occur on a massive scale Bauman explores the holocaust – sees this as a result of modernity..and not barbaric Science and technology made the holocaust happen as it enabled people to act in a bureacratic/systematic way. They dehumanised their victims and routinised their murder as an administrative activity (akin to Weber on the rationalisation process)

Israel – Gaza Strip

US forces in Iraq

Globalisation & Crime task Using your notes…summarise what we have explored. Focus on: What is globalisation? Global crimes State Crime Human rights violations Where possible, note: -Examples -Studies/viewpoints