crime and deviance - media

Question 1

What are sociologists interested in in relation to the media and crime

Answer 1

We live in a media saturated society and the media are obsessed with crime. Crime is a central feature of all media output and it is therefore, our main source of knowledge about crime. What we know, or think we know about crime is heavily influenced by the media’s representation of it. Sociologists are interested in:

1. How the media represent crime, both in fiction and non-fiction – does it portray an accurate picture of crime?
2. Do the media cause crime (through imitation) and a fear of crime?
3. What role do the media play in defining groups as folk devils and amplifying crime?
4. How far do the internet and other forms of communication technology create new opportunities for crime and the surveillance and control of the population?

Question 2

Explain media representations of crime

Answer 2

While the news media show a keen interest in crime – it makes up a large proportion of news coverage - they give a distorted image of crime, criminals and policing. In comparison to the picture of crime gained from the OS:

(a) The media over-represent violent and sexual crime:

(b) The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle class:

(c) Media coverage exaggerates police success:

(d) The media exaggerate the risk of victimization:

(e) Crime is reported as a series of separate events:

(f) The media overplay extraordinary crimes:

Question 3

Explain how the media over-represent violent and sexual crime

Answer 3

The media over-represent violence and sexual crime -For example, Ditton and Duffy (1983) found that 46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes, yet these made up only 3% of all crimes recorded by the police.

One review by Marsh (1991) of studies of news reporting in America found that a violent crime was 36 more likely to be reported that an property crime.

Question 4

Explain how the media portrays criminals and victims as older and more middle class

Answer 4

The media portrays criminals and victims as older and more middle class than those typically found in the criminal justice system. Felson (1998) calls this the ‘age fallacy’

Question 5

Explain how media coverage exaggerates police success

Answer 5

Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases. This is partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in a good light and partly because the media over-represents violent crime which has a higher clear up rate than property crime

Question 6

Explain how the media exaggerate the risk of victimisation

Answer 6

The media exaggerate the risk of victimization especially to women, white people and higher status individuals - BAME and Working class are the victims in reality

Question 7

Explain how crime is reported as a series of separate events

Answer 7

Crime is reported as a series of separate events without structure and without examining underlying causes e.g marginalisation, economic conditions

Question 8

Explain how media overplay extraordinary crimes

Answer 8

The media overplay extraordinary crimes and underplay ordinary crimes - Felson calls this the ‘dramatic fallacy’. Similarly, media images lead us to believe that to commit crime (and to solve it) one needs to be daring and clever - the ‘ingenuity fallacy’

Question 9

Explain the evidence of changes in the type of coverage of crime by news media

Answer 9

There is some evidence of changes in the type of coverage of crime by the new media. For example, Schlesinger and Tumber (1994) found that in the 1960s the focus had been on murders and petty crime were of less interest to the media. The change came about partly because of the abolition of the death penalty for murder and partly because rising crime rates meant that a crime had to be ‘special’ to attract coverage. By the 1990s, reporting had also widened to include drugs, child abuse, terrorism, football hooliganism and mugging

Question 10

Explain the evidence of increasing preoccupation with sex crimes

Answer 10

There is also evidence of increasing preoccupation with sex crimes. For example, Keith Soothill and Sylvia Walby (1991) found that the newspaper reporting of rape cases increased from under a quarter of all cases in 1951 to over a third in 1985.They also note that coverage consistently focuses on identifying a ‘sex fiend’ or ‘beast’, often by use of labels (such as ‘the balaclava rapist’). The resulting distorted picture of rape is one of serial attacks carried out by psychopathic strangers. While these do occur, they are the exception rather than the rule - in the most cases, the perpetrator is known to the victim

Question 11

Explain news value and crime coverage in relation to media

Answer 11

News values and crime coverage: The distorted picture of crime painted by the news media reflects the fact that news is a social construction. That is, news simply does not simply exist ‘out there’ waiting to be gathered in and written up by a journalist – rather it is the outcome of a social process in which some stories are selected and others rejected – it is socially constructed. As COHEN and YOUNG (1973) observe, news is manufactured. News values are the criteria by which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy

Question 12

Explain the key news values influencing the selection of news stories

Answer 12

Key news values influencing the selection of news stories include:
Immediacy - ‘breaking news’

Dramatization - action and excitement

Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals higher-status persons and ‘celebrities’

Simplification - eliminating shades of grey

Novelty or unexpectedness - a new angle

Risk - victim-centred stories about vulnerability and fear

Violence - especially visible and spectacular acts

One reason why the news media give so much coverage to crime is that new focuses on the unusual and extraordinary and this makes deviance newsworthy almost by definition, since it is abnormal definition

Question 13

Explain the evidence of changes in the type of coverage of crime by news media

Answer 13

There is some evidence of changes in the type of coverage of crime by the new media. For example, Schlesinger and Tumber (1994) found that in the 1960s the focus had been on murders and petty crime were of less interest to the media. The change came about partly because of the abolition of the death penalty for murder and partly because rising crime rates meant that a crime had to be ‘special’ to attract coverage. By the 1990s, reporting had also widened to include drugs, child abuse, terrorism, football hooliganism and mugging

Question 14

Explain fictional representations of crime

Answer 14

Fictional representations of crime, criminals and victims: follow what SURETTE (1998) calls ‘the law of opposites’ – the opposite of OS:

• property crime is under-represented while violence drugs and sex crimes are over-represented
• While real-life homicides, mainly result from brawls and domestic disputes, fictional ones are the product of greed and calculation
• Fictional sex crimes are committed by psychopathic strangers, not acquaintances. Fictional villains tend to be higher-status, middle aged white males
• Fictional cops usually get their man.

However, three recent trends are worth noting.

Firstly, the new genre of ‘reality; infotainment shows tends to feature young, non-white ‘underclass’ offenders. Secondly, there is an increasing tendency to show police as corrupt and brutal. Thirdly, victims have become more central, with law enforcers portrayed as their avengers and audiences invited to identify with their suffering

Question 15

Explain the media as a cause of crime

Answer 15

There has long been concern that the media (horror comics, video nasties, rap lyrics, computer games) have a negative effect on attitudes, values and behaviour – especially of those groups thought to be the most susceptible to influence, such as the young, the uneducated and the lower class. There are a variety of ways in which the media might possibly cause crime and deviance including

There are a variety of ways in which the media might possibly cause crime and deviance including:

Imitation: by providing deviant role models, resulting ‘copycat’ behaviour

Arousal: e.g. through viewing violent and sexual imagery

Desensitisation: e.g. through repeated viewing of violence

By transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques

As a target for crime e.g. Theft of TVs

By stimulating desires for unaffordable goods e.g. through advertising

By portraying the police as incompetent

By glamorising offending

Question 16

How does research evidence show the media as a cause of crime

Answer 16

Schamm et al (1961) say in relation to the effects of TV viewing on children: ‘For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For some children under the same conditions, it may be beneficial. For most children, under most conditions, most television is probably neither particularly harmful not particularly beneficial.

However, as Sonia Livingstone (1996) notes despite such conclusions, people continue to be preoccupied with the effects of the media on children because of our desire as a society to regard childhood as a time of uncontaminated innocence in the private sphere

Question 17

Explain fear of crime in relation to the media

Answer 17

Fear of crime: There is concern that because of exaggeration, the public’s impression of crime is distorted and people may have an unrealistic fear of crime. There is research evidence to support the view that there is a link between media use and fear of crime. However, much of the research on media effects ignores the meanings that viewers give to violence.

Question 18

Explain the media, relative deprivation and crime

Answer 18

The media, relative deprivation and crime: Left Realists, LEA and YOUNG (1996) argue that the media have disseminated a standardised image of a materialistic lifestyle, particularly in the areas of popular culture and leisure. For the marginalised, such as the unemployed or those on a low income, this has accentuated their sense of relative deprivation. In this sense, they believe that the media are instrumental in setting the norm and thus promoting crime to achieve it.

Question 19

Explain cultural criminology, the media and crime

Answer 19

Cultural criminology, the media and crime:

Cultural criminology argues that the media turn crime itself into the commodity that people desire. The media encourage people to consume crime, in the form of images of crime. HAYWARD and YOUNG (2012) see late modern society as media-saturated, where we are immersed in the ‘mediascape’ – an ever-expanding tangle of fluid digital images.

In this world, there is a blurring between the image and the reality of crime, so that the two are no longer distinct. For example, gang assaults are not just caught on camera, but staged for the camera and later packaged together in ‘underground fight videos’. Similarly, police car cameras don’t just record police activity - they alter the way the police work, with US police, for example, using reality TV shows like Cops as promo videos

Question 20

Explain the media and the commodification of crime

Answer 20

Media and the commodification of crime: A further feature of late modernity is the emphasis on consumption, excitement and immediacy. In this context, crime and its thrills become commodified. Corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products, especially in the youth market. For example, ‘gangster rap’ and hip hop combine images of street hustler criminality with images of consumerist success and leading hip hop stars parade their luxury cars etc. FENWICK and HAYWARD (2000) argue that crime and deviance have therefore become a style to be consumed. Even counter-cultures are packaged and sold. Corporations use graffiti in a ‘guerrilla marketing’ technique called ‘brandalism’ to sell everything from theme parks, to cars and video games. In some towns, shopping centres, bars and the police compile lists of branded clothing they see as problematic – brands become tools of classification for constructing profiles of potential criminals.

Question 21

Explain global cyber crime

Answer 21

GLOBAL CYBER-CRIME: The arrival of the internet has led to fears of cyber-crime, which THOMAS and LOADER (2000) define as computer-mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit by some and that are conducted through global electronic networks.

WALL (2001) identifies 5 categories of cybercrime:

Cyber-trespass: crossing boundaries into others’ cyber-property. It includes hacking and sabotage such as spreading viruses

Cyber-deception and theft: including identify theft, ‘phishing’ (obtaining identity or bank account details by deception) and violation of intellectual property rights (e.g. software piracy, illegal downloading and file-sharing)

Cyber-pornography - including porn involving minors, opportunities for children to access porn on the Net

Cyber-violence - doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm.

Cyber-violence includes cyber-stalking (e.g. sending unwanted, threatening or offensive emails) and hate crimes against minority groups, as well as bullying by text

Global cyber-crime: Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly, because of the sheer scale of the Internet and the limited resources of the police, and also because its globalised nature which poses problems of jurisdiction (e.g. in which country should someone be prosecuted for an internet offence?). Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it is seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing

Question 22

Explain cyber trespass according to Wall

Answer 22

Cyber-trespass: crossing boundaries into others’ cyber-property. It includes hacking and sabotage such as spreading viruses

Question 23

Explain cyber-deception and theft

Answer 23

Cyber-deception and theft: including identify theft, ‘phishing’ (obtaining identity or bank account details by deception) and violation of intellectual property rights (e.g. software piracy, illegal downloading and file-sharing)

Question 24

Explain cyber pornography (WALL)

Answer 24

Cyber-pornography - including porn involving minors, opportunities for children to access porn on the Net

Question 25

Explain cyber-violence (WALL)

Answer 25

Cyber-violence - doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm.

Cyber-violence includes cyber-stalking (e.g. sending unwanted, threatening or offensive emails) and hate crimes against minority groups, as well as bullying by text

Question 26

Explain global cyber crime (WALL)

Answer 26

Global cyber-crime: Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly, because of the sheer scale of the Internet and the limited resources of the police, and also because its globalised nature which poses problems of jurisdiction (e.g. in which country should someone be prosecuted for an internet offence?). Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it is seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing

Question 27

What is globalisation in relation to crime

Answer 27

Globalisation refers to the increasing interconnectedness of societies, so that what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events and vice versa. The main causes of globalisation include: new information and communication technologies and the influence of global mass media, cheap air travel, the deregulation of financial and other markets and easier movement so that businesses can easily relocate to countries where profits will be greater.

Question 28

What does Held et al argue about globalisation and the global criminal economy

Answer 28

Held et al (1999) suggest there has been a globalisation of crime – an interconnectedness of crime across national borders. Globalisation has created new opportunities for crime, new means of committing crime and new offences. Therefore, the same processes that have brought about the globalisation of legitimate activities have also brought about the spread of transnational organised crime. The global crime economy has both a demand side (for its products and services in the rich West) and a supply side (that provides the source of the drugs, sex workers etc. demanded in the West). Therefore, both the supply and demand side is linked to the globalisation process.

Question 29

How does the global criminal economy take various forms according to CASTELLS

Answer 29

Castells (1998) claims that there is now a new global criminal economy worth over 1 trillion dollars per year. This takes a number of forms including:

• drug trafficking
• people trafficking
• other trafficking offences such as nuclear materials, body parts, endangered species
• smuggling of illegal immigrants
• cybercrime
• international terrorism
• sex tourism
• money laundering
• green crimes
• smuggling of goods

Question 30

Explain drug trafficking in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 30

DRUG TRAFFICKING:

The drug trade was the first illegal sector to maximise profits in a globalised world. Drugs grown in South American countries such as Columbia, and Afghanistan and Pakistan make their way to the UK and the US via well-established routes. Globalisation has made drug trafficking far quicker and easier and detection less likely.

The more people and goods flow in and out of a country, the more chances for drugs to be smuggled in. The potential profits are immense and the human cost devastating. It has been estimated that illegal drug use is responsible for 52,000 American deaths each year.

Question 31

Explain people trafficking in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 31

PEOPLE TRAFFICKING: People trafficking is as old as history, but is made far easier and more profitable by globalisation. In the same way that drugs can be moved around the world, so can people. Adults are trafficked for prostitution, forced labour and the removal of organs.

Children are trafficked for prostitution, illegal adoption, forced marriage, slavery and as soldiers. Traffickers use deception, coercion, fraud and/or abduction.

According to a National Crime Agency and UK Human Trafficking Centre Report (2014), it is estimated that 3000-4000 women are trafficked every year into the UK by organised Eastern European gangs in order to work against their will as constrained sex workers

Question 32

state types of other trafficking offences

Answer 32

• arms/weapons trafficking
• body parts
• endangered species

Question 33

Explain arms/weapons trafficking

Answer 33

ARMS to illegal regimes, terrorist and guerrilla groups, NUCLEAR MATERIALS especially from former communist countries

Question 34

Explain body parts trafficking

Answer 34

BODY PARTS for organ transplants in rich countries – (an estimated 2000 organs are annually taken from condemned or executed criminals in China),

Question 35

Explain endangered species

Answer 35

ENDANGERED SPECIES or their body parts, for example to produce traditional remedies

Question 36

Explain smuggling of illegal immigrants in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 36

SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS:

Criminals such as the Chinese Triads make an estimated $2.5 billion annually from smuggling immigrants into countries illegally. People (along with weapons, drugs etc.) can easily be trafficked via containers which can be interchanged between ships, trains and trucks.

Containerisation refers to the growth of this type of crime. Global gangs may try to bribe port officials to ensure smooth passage of their criminal ‘merchandise’.

Question 37

Explain cybercrime in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 37

CYBERCRIME:

Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world. It covers a wide range of activities including financial cons (online scams to extort money, e.g. phishing), computer hacking, virus attacks, creating websites that promote racial and religious hatred, stalking by email, identity theft, child pornography etc.

Cybercrime has been made possible by the increased reliance on computers in homes and businesses and by the spread of the internet. It has been estimated that a new cybercrime is committed every 10 seconds in the UK alone, and most cybercrimes go undetected and unreported.

Most cybercrime is in the form of hacking, much of it by teenagers doing it for fun rather than to make a profit, but some hackers have broken into banks’ computer systems to steal credit card numbers and account details.

In 2015, Isis claimed to have hacked into the US military and government databases. Identity theft is when criminals find out someone’s personal details and use them to open bank accounts or get credit cards, loans, state benefits and personal documents such as passports.

Question 38

Explain international terrorism in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 38

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: Much terrorism is now based on ideological links made via the internet and other social media, rather than on local territorial links as in the past.

Question 39

Explain sex tourism in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 39

SEX TOURISM: Where Westerns travel to underdeveloped countries for sex, often with young people under the legal age.

Question 40

Explain money laundering in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 40

MONEY LAUNDERING: Gained from the profits of organised crime, estimated at up to $1.5 trillion a year.

Question 41

Explain green crimes in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 41

GREEN CRIMES: Crimes that damage the environment, such as the illegal dumping of toxic waste in underdeveloped countries

Question 42

Explain smuggling of goods in relation to the global criminal economy

Answer 42

SMUGGLING OF GOODS: Legal goods such as alcohol and tobacco are smuggled to evade taxes and stolen goods, such as cars are smuggled and sold in foreign markets.

Question 43

Explain why there are difficulties in investigating global crime

Answer 43

There are difficulties in investigating global crime:

There is disagreement as to how to define global crime

It is difficult to measure the precise extent of global crime

There is no accurate way in which the value or cost of global crime can be estimated

The impact of global crime on local crime rates is difficult to operationalise and therefore observe and measure

Sociologists are over-reliant on secondary sources such as Interpol and Europol which may exaggerate the problem in order to justify extra funding

Primary research into global crime is likely to be dangerous

Question 44

How does globalisation create new insecurities and mentality of risk consciousness

Answer 44

Globalisation creates new global insecurities and produces a new mentality of ‘risk consciousness’. For example, the increased movement of people, as economic migrants seeking work or asylum seekers feeing prosecution have given rise to new anxieties about the risks of crime and disorder and the need to protect borders.

Much of our knowledge about risks comes from the media, which often give an exaggerated view of the dangers we face. In the case of immigration, the media (often fuelled by politicians) creates moral panics. One result of this is the intensification of social control at a national level e.g. the UK has toughened border control fighting against the trend of globalisation and introduced fines for airlines if they bring in undocumented passengers.

Other European countries with land borders have introduced fences, CCTV and thermal imaging devices to prevent illegal crossings.

Question 45

Explain what Beck means by a global risk consciousness

Answer 45

The postmodernist Beck (2000) argues that the risks associated with global crime are the result of new technologies developed by industrial capitalism. The development of cyber of cyber and digital technology has produced a set of risks unique to our age and the main role of governments in late/post modernity is the management of such risks. For example, to prevent terrorists using such technology to bring harm to Western population by using the internet to recruit jihadists or to promote their cause.

Question 46

In relation to globalisation, capitalism and crime, explain how crimes organisation is linked to economic changes

Answer 46

According to Hobbs and Dunningham (2016) the way that crime is organised is linked to economic changes such as increased unemployment, brought about by de-industrialisation and globalisation. Globalisation resulted in the devastation of many manufacturing industries and communities and the removal of trade barriers also means that industries have been badly affected by competition from other nations.

Question 47

What does Taylor argue about global capitalism and crime

Answer 47

One of the key sociologists writing in this area is Taylor (1997). Writing from a socialist perspective, he also looked at how global capitalism allows multinational corporations to move from country to country in the search for profitability. This he claims, has reduced job security and increased unemployment, particularly in the manufacturing sector, which has caused some young working-class males in particular to turn to crime.

In addition, the increase in part-time and temporary jobs encourages the employment of people who are working illegally, especially illegal immigrants and those claiming benefits. It makes it more likely that employers pay low wages and ignore health and safety regulations. Conversely, the wealthy have been able to take advantage of the 24-hour digital global banking system and the existence of offshore global tax havens to avoid paying tax.

Question 48

How do Left realists expand on Hobbs and Dunnigham’s ideas on globalisation, capitalism and crime

Answer 48

These trends combine with what Left Realists refer to as the increasingly materialistic consumerist culture promoted by the global media which portrays success in terms of a lifestyle of consumption. All of these factors create insecurity and widening inequalities that encourage people, particularly the poor to turn to crime. At the same time, globalisation creates criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups. For example, the deregulation of financial markets has created opportunities for insider trading and the movement of funds around the world to avoid taxation.

Furthermore, it has led to new patterns of employment which have increased the use of subcontracting to recruit ‘flexible’ workers, often working illegally or employed for less than the minimum wage or working in breach of health and safety laws or other legislation. While this work highlights the links between global trends in the capitalist economy and changes in the pattern of crime, critics claim it does not adequately explain how the changes make people behave in criminal ways. For example, not all poor people commit crime.

Question 49

Explain globalisation, crime and capitalism in relation to the role of financial organisations

Answer 49

Rothe and Friedrichs (2015) explore the role of international financial organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in what they call ‘crimes of globalisation’. These organisations are dominated by the major capitalist states who impose pro-capitalist, neoliberal economic ‘structural adjustment programmes’ on poor countries as a condition for the loans they provide – requiring them to privatise publicly-owned services, industries and natural resources and cut spending on health, welfare and education. This allows Western corporations to expand into these countries and creates the conditions for crime.

Question 50

Explain Hobbs and Dunningham’s explanation on the effects of globalisation on patterns of criminal organisation

Answer 50

According to Hobbs and Dunningham (2016), the way that crime is organised is linked to economic changes such as increased unemployment, brought about by de-industrialisation and globalisation. Globalisation resulted in the devastation of many manufacturing industries and communities and the removal of trade barriers also means that industries have been badly affected by competition from other nations. Increasingly, it involves individuals with contacts acting as a ‘hub’ around which a loose-knit network forms, composed of other individuals seeking opportunities and often linking legitimate and illegitimate activities. They argue that this contrasts sharply with the large-scale, hierarchical ‘Mafia’ style criminal organisations of the past.

Question 51

what two main trends are rising in relation to the effects of globalisation on criminal organisation

Answer 51

They observed two key patterns:

Glocal organisation
Mcmafia

Question 52

Explain glocal organisation

Answer 52

‘Glocal’ organisation:

This refers to the fact that whilst crimes often operate internationally they are still rooted in a local context, e.g. individuals need local contacts and networks to sell their drugs. Global criminal networks often serve and feed off established criminal networks in western countries. Therefore, crime is increasingly ‘glocal’ in character: it is still locally based but it has global connections.

For example, those addicted to global crime products such as heroin and crack cocaine, are responsible for a great deal of domestic crime. Hobbs and Dunningham argue local prices for drugs and the profits made by British drug dealers depend on their availability, which in turn depends on how efficiently global drug trade gangs can move drugs around the world while avoiding detection.

They claim that changes associated with globalisation have led to changes in patterns of crime, e.g. a shift from the old rigid hierarchical gang structure to lose networks of flexible, opportunistic, entrepreneurial criminals. However, it is not clear whether these patterns are new or that the older structures have disappeared – it may be that the two coexist.

Question 53

Explain Mc mafia

Answer 53

McMafia: Glenny (2008) refers to the organisations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe following the fall of communism as ‘McMafia’.

He traces the origins of transnational organised crime to the fall of communism and the break-up of the Soviet Union after 1989, which coincided with the deregulation of global markets. This led to anyone with access to funds (such as former communist officials and secret service generals) to buy up oil, gas, diamonds or metal for next to nothing.

Selling them abroad for an astronomical profit, these individuals became Russia’s new capitalist class, popularly known as ‘oligarchs’. The collapse of the communist state heralded a period of increasing disorder and so to protect their wealth, they turned to ‘mafias’ that had emerged (these were often alliances between former secret service men and ex-convicts).

Among the most ruthless were the Chechen mafia. Unlike older Italian and American mafias, which were based on ethnic and family ties with a clear-cut hierarchy, the Russian mafias were purely economic organisations formed to pursue self-interest. The Chechen mafia became a brand name sold to protection rackets in other towns and cities. These criminal organisations have been vital to the entry of the new Russian capitalist class in the world economy. These billionaires turned to mafia style criminal organisations to protect their wealth and as a means to move it out of the country and to build criminal links with other criminal organisations in other parts of the world.

Question 54

What does Castells argues in relation to Mcmafia

Answer 54

The Marxist Castells (2010) also observed how the ‘perverse connection’ between global capitalism and crime was apparent in post-communist Russia. He claimed that corruption, speculation, privatisation, money laundering and investment merged as criminals were able to take advantage of the political and economic chaos, as the old communist system collapsed and took control of the economy and most of its business

Question 55

Explain traditional criminology

Answer 55

TRADITIONAL CRIMINOLOGY: has not been concerned with environmental problems which are legal, e.g. legal pollution that causes global warming. SITU and EMMONS (2000) define environmental crime as ‘an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law’ and therefore only offences which damage the environment and break national or international laws would be the focus of analysis. However, an advantage of this approach to criminology is that is has a clearly defined subject matter. However, it is criticised for accepting official definitions of environmental problems and crimes – which are often shaped by powerful groups such as big business – to serve their own interests.

Question 56

Explain environmental criminology

Answer 56

GREEN OR ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMINOLOGY extends the definition of what is seen as criminal beyond conventional law-breaking. This relatively new area of criminology is becoming increasingly relevant as environmental concerns take centre stage in the 21st globalised postmodern world. Much green crime, like climate change can be linked to globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of societies. Today, threats to the eco-system are increasingly global rather than local in nature. For example, atmospheric pollution from industry in one country can turn into acid rain that falls in another, poisoning its watercourses and destroying forests.

Question 57

How does Beck explain green and environmental criminology in relation to post-modernist society

Answer 57

BECK (1992) puts green criminology in the context of major changes in society. He argues that we have entered a risk society. Technological developments have reduced the scarcity of goods so that today we can now provide adequate resources for all (or at least in the developed countries). However, the massive increase in productivity and the technology that sustains it have created new, ‘manufactured risks’ – dangers that we have never faced before, resulting in massive damage to the environment, increasing the risks of ‘human’ made disasters.

The major risks we face today are of our making, rather than natural disasters (such as nuclear accidents and the effects of air pollution on health and the earth’s climate - global warming). BECK describes late modern society as a ‘global risk society’

Question 58

Explain green criminology

Answer 58

GREEN CRIMINOLOGY takes a more radical approach and starts from the notion of harm rather than the criminal law. This field of study is called zemiology, from the Greek word for harm. It sees the actions which harm animal and plant species and the environment as a form of criminal activity whether or not they are illegal.

LYNCH and STRETSKY (2003) and WHITE (2008) see criminology as the study of individuals or entities that harm the physical environment and/or the human and animals within it, even if no law has been broken. Many of the worst environmental harms are not illegal and so the focus of green criminology is much wider than that of traditional criminology. For this reason, green criminology and its zemiological approach, is a form of transgressive criminology as it transgresses the boundaries of traditional criminology, including new issues such as harms.

Question 59

What does White observe in relation to green criminology

Answer 59

However, WHITE and other green and radical criminologists observe that: different countries have different laws, so the same harmful action may be a crime in one country but not in another – therefore, legal definitions do not provide a consistent standard. Furthermore, international law is inadequate and is weakly enforced - there is no global agency that has the power to police green law. By moving away from a legal definition, green criminology provides a global analysis of environmental harm.

Question 60

How do green criminologists take a similar stance to Marxists

Answer 60

In line with this approach, green criminologists take a similar stance to Marxists arguing that powerful interests, especially nation-states and transnational corporations are able to define in their own interests what counts as acceptable and unacceptable environmental harm.

Reflecting this, HALSEY and WHITE (1998) believe that the World Bank, the global capitalist system and capitalist countries all put economic development before environmental well-being. Green crime generally tends to be carried out by companies or individuals with powerful interests, particularly transnational corporations such as oil and chemical companies working with the cooperation of nation states and local wealthy elites.

For example, the US company Union Carbide was allowed to locate a dangerous chemical plant in a residential area of Bhopal, India

Question 61

Explain two views of harm

Answer 61

TWO VIEWS OF HARM: In general nation-states and transnational corporations adopt what WHITE (2008) calls an anthropocentric (human-centred) view of environmental harm which assumes that humans have the right to dominate nature for their own ends. Therefore, economic growth is put before the environment.

This contrasts with an ecocentric view that sees humans and the environment as interdependent - the planet is a single ecosystem in which humans, animals and the environment are interconnected and interdependent. From this view, environmental harm hurts humans too. Supporters of this view, see both humans and the environment as liable to exploitation by global capitalism. In the main, green criminology adopts an ecocentric view as the basing for assessing environmental harm.

Question 62

State the types of green crimes

Answer 62

From a green criminology perspective, SOUTH (2014) classifies green crimes into two types, primary and secondary crimes

Question 63

What is primary green crime

Answer 63

PRIMARY GREEN CRIMES: are crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources. He identifies four main types of primary crime:

• Crimes of air pollution
• Crimes of deforestation
• Crimes of species decline and animal abuse
• Crimes of water pollution

Question 64

Explain crimes of air pollution in relation to primary green crime

Answer 64

Crimes of air pollution: Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year. Carbon emissions are growing at approx. 2% per year, contributing to global warming. Governments, businesses and consumers are essentially the perpetrators of these crimes. WALTERS (2013) notes that twice as many people die now from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago.

Question 65

Explain crimes of deforestation

Answer 65

Crimes of deforestation: Between 1960-1990, one-fifth of the world’s tropical rainforest was destroyed. In the Amazon, forest has been cleared to rear cattle for export and in the Andes, the ‘war on drugs’ has led to pesticide spraying to kill coca and marijuana plants – but has created a new green crime: destroying food crops, contaminating drinking water and causing illness. The criminals are the state and those who profit from deforestation, such as cattle ranchers and logging companies.

Question 66

Explain crimes of species decline and animal abuse

Answer 66

Crimes of species decline and animal abuse: 50 species a day are becoming extinct and 46% of mammal and 11% of bird species are at risk. 70-95% of earth’s species live in the rainforests, which are under threat (see point above). Animals and animal parts are trafficked and old crimes such as dog-fighting and badger-baiting are on the increase.

Question 67

Explain crimes of water pollution

Answer 67

Crimes of water pollution: Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water. Marine pollution threatens 58% of the world’s ocean reefs and 34% of its fish. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused massive harm to marine life and coasts. Criminals include businesses that dump toxic waste and governments that discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas.

Question 68

What is secondary green crime

Answer 68

SECONDARY GREEN CRIMES: are crimes that grow out of the flouting of rules aimed at the prevention or regulation of environmental disasters, e.g. governments who often break their own rules. SOUTH suggests two examples of secondary crimes:

• state violence against oppositional groups
• Hazardous waste and organised crime

Question 69

Explain the secondary crime of state violence against oppositional groups

Answer 69

State violence against oppositional groups: States condemn terrorism, but often commit similar illegal practices. DAY (1991) observes that governments that commit themselves to nuclear weapons or power tend to see anyone who oppose this policy as enemies of the state. For example, in 1985 the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour killing one crew member – it was there to prevent a green crime, French nuclear weapons testing in the south Pacific.

Question 70

Explain the secondary crime of hazardous waste and organised crime

Answer 70

Hazardous waste and organised crime: Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal of toxic waste from the chemical, nuclear and other industries, businesses may seek to dispose of it illegally.

For example, in Italy, ‘eco-mafias’ profit from illegal dumping of such waste. WALTERS (2007) notes that for decades the ocean floor has been used as a radioactive rubbish dump – 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off the Channel Islands as a result of being dumped by UK authorities and corporations in the 1950s.

Significantly, illegal waste dumping has a global character. For example, waste illegally dumped by European companies washes up on the shores thousands of miles and western businesses ship their waste for processing in Third World countries where costs are lower and safety standards are often non-existent since less developed countries may lack the legislation to outlaw it. This illustrates the problems of law enforcement in a globalised world.

SOUTH describes this as environmental discrimination – where poorer groups are worse affected by pollution. In the US, poor black communities often find their housing located next to polluting industries or waste dumps.

Question 71

Explain state crimes in relation to Cohen

Answer 71

COHEN (2001) argues that the scope of criminology should be expanded to include crimes committed by the state and human rights abuses. States and their agents may commit crimes and illegal human rights abuses which contravene the laws of their own countries or binding international agreements. State crime is clearly an area of interest to Marxists as they view it as another example of the crimes of the powerful, (however much of the investigative work is done by journalists).

Question 72

Explain Green and Wards definition of state crime

Answer 72

GREEN and WARD (2005) define state crime as ‘illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of state agencies.’ It includes all forms of crime committed by or on behalf of states and governments in order to further their policies

Question 73

outline and explain the four categories of state crime that McLAUGHLIN identifies

Answer 73

McLAUGHLIN (2001) identifies four categories of state crime:

Political crimes

Crimes by security and police forces:

Economic crimes:

Social and cultural crimes

Question 74

Explain political crimes in relation to McLaughlin

Answer 74

Political crimes e.g. corruption and censorship

Question 75

Explain crimes by security and police forces in relation to McLaughlin

Answer 75

Crimes by security and police forces e.g. torture, inhumane treatment of prisoners, taking of hostages, disappearance of dissidents (protests/critique challenging of government authority), genocide

Question 76

Explain economic crimes in relation to McLaughlin

Answer 76

Economic crimes: e.g. linked to trade and official violations of health and safety rules e.g. Qatar - migrant waves

Question 77

Explain social and cultural crime in relation to McLaughlin

Answer 77

Social and cultural crimes: e.g. discriminatory actions/behaviour - institutional level e.g. china - uyghur

Question 78

What 2 reasons explain why state crime is one of the most serious crimes

Answer 78

• scale of state crime
• the state is source of law

Question 79

Explain the scale of state crime

Answer 79

The scale of state crime: The power of the state enables it to commit extremely large-scale crimes with widespread victimization. For example, in Cambodia between 1975 and 1978 the Khmer Rouge government of Pol Pot is believed to have killed up to two million people, a fifth of the country’s entire population. The state’s monopoly of violence gives it the potential to inflict massive harm, conceal its crimes and evade punishment. Although media attention is often on state crimes committed by Third World dictatorships, democratic states such as Britain and the US have also been guilty of crimes such as the military use of torture in Iraq, Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

The ‘War on Terror’ has highlighted crimes committed by terrorists who are sometimes state sponsored, but also by national governments themselves. The USA has been accused of human rights abuses including torture and other such abuses have been reported in many countries including China, Iran and Burma. War crimes committed by the state include directing attacks against civilians, torture or the inhuman treatment of prisoners, taking hostages, using civilians as shields, using child soldiers and settlement of an occupied territory.

Question 80

How does Chambliss and Mclaughlin explain state crime

Answer 80

CHAMBLISS (1989) studies the crimes of the state from a Marxist perspective and found the US state was involved in money-laundering, arms smuggling and state-sponsored assassinations.

McLAUGHLIN (2001) studied state crime from a Weberian perspective arguing that because the state claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of force, it can claim the right to use force whenever it is seen as in the public interest. However, there is often no consensus about what constitutes the public interest. For example, under international law, in all cases other than self-defence, war can only be declared by the UN Security Council. On this basis, many see the actions by the British and the US governments in Iraq and Afghanistan as illegal while the US and the UK governments see them as legitimate.

KRAMER and MICHALOWSKI (2005) argue that to justify their invasion of Iraq in 2003 as self-defence, the US and UK knowingly made the false claim that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Question 81

Explain state as a source of law

Answer 81

The state is the source of law: It is the state’s role to define what is criminal and manage the criminal justice system. State crime undermines the system of justice as its power to make the law also means that it can avoid defining its own harmful actions as criminal. For example, the British and US governments legitimise their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. State crimes are often covered up and rarely result in prosecutions because the state has the power to decide what offences are prosecuted. The principle of national sovereignty – that states are the supreme authority within their own borders – makes it difficult for external authorities such as the United Nations to intervene.

Question 82

How does Chambliss emphasise the role of domestic law in relation to definitions of state crime

Answer 82

Domestic law:
CHAMBLISS (1989) defines state crime as ‘acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state’. However, using a state’s own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the fact that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions. Furthermore, they can make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts.

Question 83

How does social harms and zemiology define state crime

Answer 83

Social harms and zemiology:
This recognises that much of the harm done by states is not against the law. MICHALOWSKI (1985) therefore defines state crime as including not just illegal acts, but also ‘legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of illegal acts’ in the harm they cause.

Reflecting this, HILLYARD et al (2004) argue that we should take a much broader view of state wrongdoing by focusing on zemiology – the study of harms, whether or not they are against the law, e.g. state facilitated poverty. This approach prevents states from ruling themselves ‘out of court’ by making laws that allow them to misbehave. It also creates a single standard that can be applied to different states, however critics argue that a ‘harms’ approach is potentially too vague.

Question 84

Explain labelling and societal reaction define state crime

Answer 84

Labelling and societal reaction:
Labelling theory argues that whether an act constitutes a crime depends on whether the social audience for that act defines it as a crime. The audience may witness the act either directly or indirectly, for example through the media. This definition recognises that state crime is socially constructed and what people regard as state crime can vary over time and between cultures or groups.

However, this definition is even vaguer than the ‘social harms’ definition: who is the relevant audience or what happens if different audiences reach different verdicts? It also ignores the fact that audiences’ definitions may be manipulated by ruling class ideology, for example, the media may persuade the public to see a war as legitimate rather than criminal.

Question 85

Explain international law in relation to defining state crime

Answer 85

International law:
Some sociologists base their definition of state crime on international law – that is, law created through treaties and agreements between states, such as Geneva and Hague Conventions on war crimes.

For example, ROTHE and MULLINS (2008) define a state crime as any action by or on behalf of a state that violates international law and/or a state’s own domestic law. An advantage of this definition is that it uses globally agreed definitions of state crime and international law is intentionally designed to deal with state crime, unlike most domestic law. However, international law is a social construction involving the use of power and it neglects state crimes such as corruption, focusing more on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Question 86

Explain human rights crime in relation to defining state crime

Answer 86

Human Rights crimes:
One particular approach to the study of state crime is through the notion of human rights. Whilst there is no single definition of what constitutes human rights, most agree that it includes: (a) Natural rights: that people are regarded as having simply by existing, such as rights to life, liberty, free speech etc. and (b) Civil rights: such as the right to vote, to privacy, to a fair trial or to an education. Therefore, a right is an entitlement to something; as such it acts as a protection against the power of the state over an individual.

Question 87

How does human right crime be defined by critical criminologists

Answer 87

Critical criminologists such as SCHWENDINGER and SCHWENDINGER (1970) argue that we should define crime in terms of the violation of basic human rights rather than the breaking of legal rules. Therefore, states that deny individuals’ human rights must be regarded as criminal – states that practise imperialism, racism, sexism or economic exploitation are committing crimes because they are denying people their basic rights. Therefore, this approach is an example of transgressive criminology, since it goes beyond the traditional boundaries of criminology, as defined by the criminal law.

Question 88

How does the human rights perspective define human right crime

Answer 88

From a human rights perspective, the state can be seen as a perpetrator of crime and not simply the authority that defines and punishes crime. In this view, the definition of crime is inevitably political. For example, in the 1930s, the Nazi state attacked the human rights of Jews and other German citizens in a perfectly legal manner by simply passing laws that persecuted them. Therefore they believe that accepting only a legal definition of crime (i.e. what the state says is a crime) means we would become subservient to the state that makes the law. For them, the role of the sociologist, is to defend human rights, if necessary against the state and its laws.

Question 89

Why does Cohen criticise their view on state crime / human rights crime

Answer 89

As stated above, the SCHWENDINGER’S view is an example of transgressive criminology, as it oversteps the traditional boundaries of criminology defined by criminal law. However, COHEN (2001) criticises their view arguing that some acts such as economic exploitation, whilst morally unacceptable are not self-evidently criminal. Furthermore, other critics point out that is a lack of agreement on what counts as human rights, e.g. freedom from poverty? There are also disagreements about what counts as a human right. While most would include life and liberty, some would not include freedom from hunger. However, GREEN and WARD (2012) counter this with the view that liberty is not much use if people are malnourished to exercise it.

Question 90

Explain the culture of denial

Answer 90

Although COHEN criticises the SCHWENDINGER’S, he accepts that the issue of human rights and state crime as increasingly central to political debate and criminology. He is particularly interested in the ways in which states conceal and legitimate their human rights crimes. He argues that while dictatorships generally deny committing human rights abuses, democratic states have to legitimate their actions in more complex ways. In doing so, their justifications follow a three-stage ‘spiral of state denial’:

Question 91

Explain the three stages of spiral of state denial

Answer 91

Stage 1: “it doesn’t/didn’t happen” - the state may claim that there hasn’t been a human rights violation/massacre. However, human rights organisations/victims/media has shown something happened

stage 2: “If it did happen, it is something else” - Here the state would claim that it is not what it looks like e.g. self defence (deny it)

stage 3: “Even if it is what you say it is, it’s ‘justified’” - to protect national security or fight the war on terror

Question 92

What neutralisation techniques are used by the stage to justify their actions

Answer 92

COHEN examines the ways in which states and their officials deny or justify their crimes. Drawing on the ideas of SYKES and MATZA (1957), who identify five neutralisation techniques employed by delinquents to justify their actions, COHEN argues that states use the same techniques when they attempt to justify human rights violations:

Denial of Victim: “It’s exaggerated, they are terrorists, they are use to violence, look what they do to each other”

Denial of Injury: The state will claim that they are real victims or claim they started it/launched the first missile etc

Denial of Responsibility: “I was only obeying orders, I was doing my duty” - where agencies of the state argue that they are not the perpetrators just following orders”

Condemning the Condemners: “The whole world is picking on us, it is worse elsewhere” - states condemn and criticise the condemners e.g. USA criticise Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia criticises the US

Appeal to a higher loyalty: self-righteous justification / they appeal to a higher cause e.g the nation state, their religion, the free-world

These techniques do not seek to deny that the event has taken place, rather ‘they seek to negotiate or impose a different construction of the event from what might appear to be the case’.

Question 93

Explain the authoritarian personality in explaining state crime and human rights abuses

Answer 93

The Authoritarian Personality:
Adorno et al (1950) identify an ‘authoritarian personality’ that includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question. They argue that at the time of WW2, many Germans had authoritarian personality types due to the punitive, disciplinarian socialisation patterns that were common at the time. It also often thought that people who carry out torture and genocide must be psychopaths. However, research suggests that there is little psychological difference between them and ‘normal’ people

Question 94

Explain crimes of obedience in explaining state crime and human rights abuses

Answer 94

Crimes of Obedience:
Crime is usually defined as deviance form social norms. However, state crimes are crimes of conformity, since they require obedience to a higher authority – conformity to the state. Research suggests that many people are prepared to obey authority even when this involves harming others. Sociologists argue that such actions are part of a role into which people are socialised.

KELMAN and HAMILTON (1989) provide insights into the social conditions of such crimes where atrocities become acceptable or even required. From their study of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where a platoon of US soldiers killed 400 civilians, they identify three general features that enable crimes of obedience to be committed

Question 95

What three general features does Kelman and Hamilton identify that enable crimes of obedience to be committed

Answer 95

KELMAN and HAMILTON (1989) provide insights into the social conditions of such crimes where atrocities become acceptable or even required. From their study of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where a platoon of US soldiers killed 400 civilians, they identify three general features that enable crimes of obedience to be committed:

Authorisation - acts are ordered and approved by those in authority - the norm is to obey authority/have a duty to obey

Routinisation - once committed, there is a strong pressure to turn the act into routine - if it becomes routine, individuals can perform the act in a detached manner

Dehumanisation - if the enemy is portrayed as sub-human e.g a monster, animal or evil. The usual principles of reality cease to apply

Question 96

Explain modernity in relation to state crime and human rights abuse

Answer 96

Modernity: Unlike many commentators who interpreted the Nazi Holocaust as a breakdown in modern civilisation and a reversion to pre-modern barbarism,

BAUMAN (1989) takes the opposite vie claiming that it was key features of modernity that made it possible:

A division of labour: each person was responsible for one small task so no one person felt fully responsible / personally responsible for the atrocity or genocide

Bureaucratisation: killing was normalised by making it repetitive rule governed and routine - just a job

Instrumental rationality: where rational efficient methods are used to achieve goals - to achieve genocide e.g. concentration camps

Science and technology: From the trains transporting to the death camps to the individuals turning on the gas to kill them - technology and scientific advancement were harnessed/used efficiently

For BAUMAN, the Holocaust was the result not of a breakdown of civilisation, but of the very existence of modern rational-bureaucratic civilisation; a modern industrialised mass production ‘factory’ system, where the product was mass murder.

Question 97

Evaluation of domestic law

Answer 97

Using a states own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the reality that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions.

They can make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts e.g., the German Nazi state passed a law permitting it to compulsory sterilise the disabled.

Question 98

Evaluation of social harms and zemiology

Answer 98

• This definition prevents states from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow them to misbehave
• It creates a single standard that can be applied to different states
• Critics argue, that a harms definition is vague and makes the field of study too wide; what level of harm must occur before an act is defined as a crime? Who decides what counts as harm? It replaces the states arbitrary definition of crime with the sociologists equally arbitrary definition.

Question 99

Evaluation of labelling and societal reaction

Answer 99

this definition can be considered even vaguer than the previous one as different audiences may reach different verdicts about an act.- it ignores the fact that audiences definitions can be manipulated, e.g. the media could persuade the public to see a war as legitimate rather than criminal

Question 100

Evaluation of international law

Answer 100

it uses a globally agreed definition.

• international law has the advantage of being intentionally designed to deal with state crime, unlike most domestic law.
• it does not depend on the sociologists own definition of harm or who the social audience is.

However, international law is still socially constructed reflecting power.- international law focuses largely on war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than crimes such as corruption.

Question 101

Evaluation of state crime and human rights

Answer 101

• domestic law of states to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the fact that states have the power to make law
• so avoid discriminating against their own actions
• states can still make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts
• social harm and zemiology approach is too vague
• labelling theory ignores the fact that audiences definitions of state crime may be manipulated by RC ideology e.g. Media
• International law is a social construction as it involves the use of power and it neglects state crimes
• Green and Ward would criticise the argument on human rights crime as liberty or civil rights cannot be used if people are malnourished to exercise it
• not all genocides occur through a highly organised division of labour that allows participants to distance themselves e.g Rwandan genocide

Question 102

Example the example of state crime and human right abuses in Guantanamo Bay

Answer 102

The Guardian Article 1: ‘FBI files detail Guantánamo torture tactics’: Mark Tran, Wednesday 3 January 2007

Captives at Guantánamo Bay were chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor for 18 hours or more, urinating and defecating on themselves, an FBI report has revealed. The accounts of mistreatment were contained in FBI documents as part of a lawsuit involving the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties group. In the 2004 inquiry, the FBI asked nearly 500 employees who had served at Guantánamo Bay to report possible mistreatment by law enforcement or military personnel. Twenty-six incidents were reported, some of which had emerged in earlier document releases.

Besides being shackled to the floor, detainees were subjected to extremes of temperature. One witness said he saw a barefoot detainee shaking with cold because the air conditioning had bought the temperature close to freezing. On another occasion, the air conditioning was off in an unventilated room, making the temperature over 38C (100F) and a detainee lay almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been pulling out his hair throughout the night.

In October 2002, one interrogator squatted over a copy of the Qur’an during intensive questioning of a Muslim prisoner, who was “incensed” by the tactic, according to an FBI agent. On another occasion, an agent was asked by a “civilian contractor” to come and see something. “There was an unknown bearded longhaired detainee gagged with duct tape that had covered much of his head,” the FBI document said. When the FBI officer asked if the detainee had spit at interrogators, the “contractor laughingly replied that he’d had been chanting the Qur’an non-stop. No answer how they planned to remove the duct tape,” the report said.

After an erroneous report of Qur’an abuse prompted deadly protests overseas in 2005, the US military conducted an investigation that confirmed five incidents of intentional and unintentional mishandling of the book at the detention facility. It acknowledged that soldiers and interrogators had kicked the Qur’an, had stood on it and, in one case, inadvertently sprayed urine on a copy. An FBI agent called W also heard that female interrogators would sometimes wet their hands and touch detainees’ faces in order to disrupt their prayers. Such actions would make some Muslims consider themselves unclean so they would stop praying.

The detention of terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay has been strongly criticised by human rights groups. In a rebuff for the Bush administration, the US Supreme Court last year rejected its claims that detainees at the facility were not entitled to the protection under the Geneva Convention.

Question 103

Example the example of state crime and human right abuses in the Syrian regime

Answer 103

The Guardian Article 2: ‘Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN’: Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont, Friday 24 February 2012
The UN has accused the Syrian regime of “crimes against humanity” – including the use of snipers against small children – and has drawn up a list of senior officials who should face investigation, reportedly including President Bashar al-Assad. The UN report was delivered as two journalists injured in the attack that killed Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Rémi Ochlik issued dramatic appeals to be evacuated from the besieged city of Homs, where they are trapped. Western officials urged Damascus to give immediate humanitarian access to trapped civilian populations in Homs and elsewhere, including the evacuation of the western journalists, but said the lack of a security council mandate meant they were powerless to provide assistance without the regime’s permission.

The UN report found evidence that “army snipers and Shabbiha gunmen [from pro-Assad militias] posted at strategic points terrorised the population, targeting and killing small children, women and other unarmed civilians. Fragmentation mortar bombs were also fired into densely populated neighbourhoods.” It said: “Security agencies continued to systematically arrest wounded patients in state hospitals and to interrogate them, often using torture, about their supposed participation in opposition demonstrations or armed activities.”
The list of Syrian regime officials claimed to be involved in the crackdown will remain sealed until the alleged crimes can be investigated by an international human rights court. Such an investigation has so far been blocked by Russian and Chinese UN Security Council vetoes of concerted international action against the Damascus regime. The UN inquiry said it found “a reliable body of evidence” implicating “commanding officers and officials at the highest levels of government” in the commission of “crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations”. Although no names were released, Assad was reported to be top of the list. The report also says rebel groups, known collectively as the Free Syrian Army, have committed torture and extra-judicial executions, but argues those violations are in no way “comparable in scale and organisation” to the abuses being carried out by the Assad regime, which have led to thousands of deaths. “I am appalled by the evidence that young children are being targeted by snipers, and that security forces continue to arrest and torture wounded patients in state hospitals,” said Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East. “I am also very concerned at evidence of abuses by the Free Syrian Army, though the report makes clear these are on a far smaller scale than the widespread and systematic violations by the Syrian authorities.

I call on all Syrians to respect human rights standards, end the violence immediately and ensure neutral and impartial access for humanitarian organisations to deliver desperately needed supplies and medical care.”
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby on Thursday yesterday appointed Ban’s predecessor Kofi Annan as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

Question 104

Explain the example of state and human rights crime in China

Answer 104

The outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, has said that China had committed “serious human rights violations” against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province which may amount to crimes against humanity.

Bachelet’s damning report was published with only 11 minutes to go before her term came to an end at midnight Geneva time. Publication was delayed by the eleventh-hour delivery of an official Chinese response that contained names and pictures of individuals that had to be blacked out by the UN commissioner’s office for privacy and safety reasons.

The Chinese government, which attempted until the last moment to stop the publication of the report, rejected it as an anti-China smear, while Uyghur human rights groups hailed it as a turning point in the international response to the programme of mass incarceration.

The 45-page report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded: “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

Beijing, which attempted until the last moment to stop the publication of the report, said in an official response that it was “based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces” and that it “wantonly smears and slanders” China and interfered in the country’s internal affairs.

Human rights organisations welcomed Bachelet’s report. Omer Kanat, the executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project pressure group said it was “a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis”.

“Despite the Chinese government’s strenuous denials, the UN has now officially recognized that horrific crimes are occurring,” Kanat said.

Over the past five years, China swept an estimated million Uyghurs and other minority groups into internment camps which it termed training centres. Some of the centres have since been closed but there are still thought to be hundreds of thousands still incarcerated. In several hundred cases families had no idea about the fate of relatives who had been detained.

Out of 26 former inmates interviewed by UN investigators, two-thirds “reported having been subjected to treatment that would amount to torture and/or other forms of ill-treatment”.

The abuses described included beatings with electric batons while being strapped in a “tiger chair” (to which inmates are strapped by their hands and feet), extended solitary confinement, as well as what appeared to be a form of waterboarding, “being subjected to interrogation with water being poured in their faces”.

The US and some other countries have said the mass incarceration of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, the destruction of mosques and communities and forced abortion and sterilisation, amount to genocide. The UN report does not mention genocide but says allegations of torture, including force medical procedures, as well as sexual violence were all “credible”.

It said that the authorities had deemed violations of the three-child official limit on family size to be an indicator of “extremism”, leading to internment.

“Several women interviewed by OHCHR raised allegations of forced birth control, in particular forced IUD [intrauterine device] placements and possible forced sterilisations with respect to Uyghur and ethnic Kazakh women. Some women spoke of the risk of harsh punishments including “internment” or “imprisonment” for violations of the family planning policy,” the report said.