CRIME AND DEVIANCE: State Crimes and Human Rights Flashcards
How do Green & Ward (2004) define state crimes?
Deviant or illegal activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of, state agencies to further state policies
What categories does Ross (2000) outline to define and discuss state crimes?
Omission: governments/agencies failing to act to prevent crime
Commission: governments/agencies acting criminally themselves
Direct: government acting criminally
Indirect: state agencies acting criminally
Within-state: crimes against your own citizens
Between-state: crimes against citizens of other states
Why is it so hard to define state crime?
States all have their own laws; whilst something might be universally harmful to someone, there’s often disagreement about what should be defined as criminal
Why is it hard to research state crime?
- Governments hide or reject incriminating information
- Significant resistance when trying to research state crimes in the UK. Researchers turned away or threatened with loss of funding or imprisonment
- Even worse in countries with non-liberal governments
What do transgressive sociologists say about state crime?
Green & Ward (2012) suggest defining state crime as any act that violates human rights, getting around arguments of laws in individual states.
What do sociologists mean by Human Rights?
A set of guidelines for treating people, outlined by the UN in 1948 in their “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
What are some examples of state crimes highlighted against human rights?
- Torture/illegal punishment of citizens
- Corruption
- Assassination
- War crimes
- Genocide
- State-sponsored terrorism
What is Green & Ward’s ‘Integrated Theory’ as an explanation for state crime?
State crimes can happen for similar reasons as other crimes; opportunity, lack of control and rational choice
What did GReen and Ward’s ‘Crimes of Obedience Model’ say about state crime?
Authorisation: states can give permission for criminal behaviour with loose or unjust laws
Dehumanisation: states can promote policies that promote one group over others, leading members to believe they have rights over others
Routinisation: violent state agencies make crimes seem ‘normal’ by removing the excitement and danger from them
