Week 12: Revising State Crime Dr. Cathy Gormley-Heenan School of Policy Studies

Before the Exam Check the exam timetable carefully. When/where is your exam? Assemble your stuff (pens/tissues etc) Try to avoid stressful situations Set multiple alarms Get some rest Aim to be there early Find somewhere to wait before the exam Double check that you have nothing incriminating on your person.

In the exam – at the start Check you have the right paper. Wait to be told to start. Do the ‘admin’ first – id number/desk/module code. Check instructions – 3 questions/3 hours. Equal marks mean equal time – divide your time wisely! Make your choice carefully about which questions to answer. Start with a GOOD question!!!!

Answering essay questions Read the questions even more carefully. Plan your answer (but don’t spend much time on this as you wont be awarded marks for the plan but rather for the essay itself). The introduction is CRUCIAL. “This essay will argues that….”. Keep your sentences short, simple and to the point.

Towards the end… If you have finished, resist the temptation to leave! Reread your 3 essays. Make corrections and adjustments where necessary. Firm up your conclusions. Make sure answers NOT to be included are scored out.

What goes wrong (usually)… You ran out of time. You didn’t know enough to write 3 solid answers. You weren’t practised enough at writing essay type answers under pressure. You learned the ‘wrong things’. Your questions didn’t ‘come up’. You gave up and simply left. Your script was barely legible.

Getting It Right for State Crime 3 essays in 3 hours (choice of 11 questions) 55 minutes per essay, 5 minutes to review each one at the end. Start at 1st question at 2pm, 2nd question at 2.55pm, 3rd question at 3.50 pm, finish 3rd question at 4.45pm. Reread and correct your work between 4.45 and 5pm. It WILL take you almost an hour to answer each question adequately.

Topic week 1 – General question Conventional criminology; critical criminology; crimes of the powerful; crimes of the powerless; emphasis in literature on which? Why?

Topics week 2 – Conceptual question Consider state crime using the narrow legalistic framework and the broader moral framework and the continuum between the two. Which one allows you a greater level of understanding?

Topic week 3 – State torture Defining state terrorism; explaining internal terrorism; explaining external terrorism or ‘international political violence’; case studies of ‘internal terrorism’ against a country’s own citizens; how do states get away with acts of ‘internal state terrorism’?

Topic week 4 – War and Aggression War Crimes; international criminal law; international humanitarian law; case study. Which one? We looked at Iraq in the coursework so… ? THIS IS THE ONLY QUESTION WHICH ASKS ABOUT A SPECIFIC CSE STUDY… Do states ever have the right to interfere in the affairs of another?

Topic week 5 - Torture A very simple topic – is it justified or not? Multiple examples of torture used… Why might someone argue that torture is necessary? Why might someone else argue that any information given while being tortured is invalid?

Topic week 6 - Genocide Know the conventions. 1948 Genocide Convention. What are the key points? What are the case studies most often cited to help contextualise the genocide conventions?

Topic week 7 - Corruption Government corruption – what does it look like? How prevalent is it? Is it more common in strong states? Is it more common in weak states? Is it preventable?

Topic week 9 – State-Corporate Crime Harms committed by corportaions. What do they look like? Are they crimes at all? Does the state ever legitimise and sanction such activities? Why? Examples…..

Topic week 10 – Not on police specifically Techniques of neutralization. How are these techniques used to legitimise various state crimes, including police crimes? Examples of techniques of neutralization from case study of your choice.

Topic week 11 – Controlling state crime The ICC Effective or not, in theory? Effective or not, in practice? Knowledge of current and forthcoming ICC cases.

I expect to see… Full answers (not a couple of pages); Introductions and conclusions; International criminal/humanitarian law and key conventions referred to; Key authors referred to; Key readings highlighted in the Whyte reader; No scribbles, multicoloured pens, elaborate spider diagrams, illegible writing or nonsense!!!!! Think about this as you answer EACH question.

Good luck – you’ll be great!!!!