State crime

What are the different definitions of state crime?

• Domestic law,

• zemiology,

• international law,

• human rights.

What is the domestic law definition of state crime?

Chambliss suggests state crimes are acts defined by law as criminal and commited by state officials in pursuit of the jobs as representative of the state.

What is the zemiology definition of state crime?

Michalowski suggests state crime includes illegal acts but also legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of the illegal acts in terms of the harm that they cause.

What is the international law definition of state crime?

Rothe and Mullins suggest that state crime is an action by or on behalf of a state that violates international law and/or a states own domestic law.

What is the human rights definition of state crime?

Schwendinger suggests state crime should be defined as a violation of people’s basic human rights by the state and their agents.

What are the different types of state crime?

McLaughlin suggests there are 4 types of state crime:

• Political crimes,

• crimes by security, military, or police,

• economic crimes,

• social and cultural crimes.

What are political state crimes?

Actions such as corruption, censorship, and war crimes.

• Political corruption - the misuse of public funds for personal gain or the granting of government contracts in exchange for bribes.

• Political censorship - the distortion, concealment, or falsification of information that citizens receive from news outlets.

• War crimes - illegal wars or crimes committed during wars.

What are state crimes by security, military, or police forces?

Actions such as genocide, torture, imprisonment without trial, and the disappearance of dissidents.

• Genocide - any act committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, eg the Holocaust.

• Torture - inflicting severe pain as punishment or to force them to do or say something, eg waterboarding in Guantanamo Bay.

• Imprisonment without trial - a violation of human rights where someone is detained in a prison without knowledge of why or for how long, eg the US’s indefinite detention of citizens on suspicion of terrorism at Guantanamo Bay.

• Disappearance of dissidents - where individuals who speak up against the government or police suddenly go missing.

What is economic state crime?

Actions that violate health and safety laws, or economic policies that cause harm to the citizenry.

• Violation of health and safety laws - where the government knowingly permit health and safety breaches in public services to reduce costs or maximise profits, eg the Chernobyl nuclear disaster resulted from a lack of proper training.

• Economic policies that cause harm to the citizenry - where the government puts economic policies in place despite having knowledge of the negative consequences.

What are social and cultural state crimes?

Social state crime refers to institutional racism, and cultural state crime involves the destruction of Indigenous and native culture and heritage.

• Institutional racism - where certain groups are specifically targeted by the police force, or procedures implemented by state agencies are institutional racist, eg the ethnocentric curriculum in education is perpetuated by the Department of Education and other government agencies.

• Destruction of Indigenous and native culture and heritage - physical destruction, eg ISIS destruction of churches, shrines, and mosques, or symbolic violence, eg forced assimilation of Indigenous children into institutions that claimed to eradicating Indigenous culture and heritage by indoctrinating children into a more culturally acceptable way of life.

What are the explanations for state crime?

• Integrated theory,

• modernity,

• social conditions.

How does integrated theory explain state crime?

Green and Ward identify 3 key features that interconnect to produce state crime: opportunity, motivation, and failures of control. For example, state crime will occur if the state has the means and method to commit the crime, has the motivation of financial gain, and will face limited or no consequences.

How does modernity explain state crime?

Bauman suggests that modern society allows state crime to take place. For example, division of labour divides responsibility among different individuals. This allows individuals to disassociate themselves from personal responsibility, claiming they were merely fulfilling their assigned duties.

How do social conditions explain state crime?

Kelman and Hamilton suggest state crimes are primarily acts of obedience rather than deviance. 3 key factors enable crimes of obedience: authorisation (legitimisation of state actions by individuals in power), routinisation (normalisation of the actions as a part of everyday life), and dehumanisation (state actors view victims as subhuman or less than human). For example, Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WW2 claimed they were just following orders.