Crime Topic 8 - Globalisation, Green Crime & State Crime Flashcards
What is GLOBALISATION?
The increasing interconnectedness of societies, where events in one locality are shaped by events in others.
Who defined globalisation as ‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of life’?
HELD
List three causes of globalisation.
- Spread of ICT
- Influence of global mass media
- Cheap air travel
What is the GLOBALISATION OF CRIME?
The interconnectedness of crime across national borders, leading to transnational organised crime.
According to CASTELLS, what is the estimated worth of the global crime economy?
£1 trillion per year
Name two forms of transnational organised crime.
- Arms trafficking
- Drug trade
What is the SUPPLY side of transnational organised crime linked to?
The globalisation process, generally involving impoverished less developed economies.
What sociologist argues that globalisation has led to greater inequality and rising crime?
TAYLOR
What is MARKETISATION?
The process that promotes individual consumerism, undermining social cohesion.
Fill in the blank: Globalisation has created criminal opportunities for more elite groups, who manipulate the ________ of financial markets.
deregulation
What is the focus of traditional criminologists in defining environmental crime?
An unauthorised act or omission that violates the law.
What is GREEN CRIME?
Crime against the environment.
What is the unique nature of green crime?
It threatens the global eco-system, not just local environments.
What term describes the study of harms in green criminology?
ZEMIOLOGY
What are PRIMARY CRIMES in the context of environmental harm?
Crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources.
List two types of PRIMARY CRIMES according to SOUTH.
- Crimes of air pollution
- Crimes of deforestation
What are SECONDARY CRIMES as defined by SOUTH?
Crimes that arise out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters.
What does ECOCENTRIC HARM emphasize?
The interdependence of humans and their environment, acknowledging that environmental harm also hurts humans.
What is the term used to describe the criminal organizations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe after the fall of communism?
McMAFIA
What is the consequence of the deregulation of the economy in post-communist Russia?
The rise of oligarchs and the Russian Mafia.
What does the term ‘RISK CONSCIOUSNESS’ refer to in the context of globalisation?
The perception that risk is global rather than tied to specific places.
How do ROTHE and FRIEDRICHS view the role of international financial organizations in globalisation?
They consider them to play a role in ‘crimes of globalisation’.
What example does ROTHE use to illustrate the impact of IMF and World Bank policies?
The economic conditions leading to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
What is the criticism of TAYLOR’S theory regarding crime and globalisation?
It does not adequately explain why not all poor people commit crime.
What is the role of the media in shaping perceptions of risk according to the text?
The media distorts dangers and creates moral panics.
Fill in the blank: The global nature of the drugs trade means it is a ‘crime without a ________’.
frontier
What is the relationship between global warming and the example of Mozambique in 2010?
Global warming caused a grain shortage in Russia, leading to increased bread prices and riots in Mozambique.
What are SECONDARY CRIMES as defined by SOUTH?
Crimes that arise from flouting rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters
Examples include state violence against opposition groups and hazardous waste disposal by organized crime.
What is an example of STATE VIOLENCE AGAINST OPPOSITIONAL GROUPS?
The French secret service blowing up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985
This incident resulted in the death of a crew member and was aimed at preventing protest against nuclear testing.
What is the term used for the illegal disposal of chemical and nuclear waste?
ECO-MAFIAS
These organizations profit from dumping toxic waste illegally, contributing to environmental harm.
What percentage of fish in the ocean reefs is affected by criminal waste disposal?
34%
This statistic highlights the impact of pollution on marine life.
What is ENVIRONMENTAL DISCRIMINATION according to SOUTH?
The phenomenon where poorer groups are worse affected by pollution
For example, black communities in the USA often live near garbage dumps or polluting industries.
What are the strengths of green criminology?
Recognizes the importance of environmental issues and the need to address harms to both humans and non-humans
This discipline seeks to broaden the understanding of crime beyond traditional legal definitions.
What is GREEN & WARD’s definition of state crime?
Illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of state agencies
This includes crimes committed on behalf of states to further their policies.
List the four categories of state crime as defined by McGLAUGHLIN.
- Political crimes
- Crimes by the police or security forces
- Economic crimes
- Social and cultural crimes
What is the MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE in relation to state crime?
The power of the state to inflict massive harm while concealing its crimes or escaping punishment
This allows the state to commit crimes on a vast scale.
What is the significance of the principle of national sovereignty?
It gives states supreme authority within their own boundaries, complicating international intervention
This principle makes it difficult for organizations like the UN to address state crimes.
What was the outcome of the CHILCOT report regarding the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war?
Concluded that the UK joined the invasion before exhausting peaceful options for disarmament
It criticized the justifications for military action as inadequate.
Define genocide according to international law.
Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group
This definition is crucial in understanding state-sponsored violence.
What were the key features identified by KELMAN AND HAMILTON that produce CRIMES OF OBEDIENCE?
- Authorisation
- Routinisation
- Dehumanisation
What is the SPIRAL OF DENIAL as outlined by Cohen?
A mechanism used by states to deal with allegations of human rights abuses
It includes three stages: denial of occurrence, minimization, and justification.
What does the term ZEMIOLOGY refer to?
The study of harms, whether they break the law or not
This perspective broadens the understanding of state wrongdoing beyond legal definitions.
What are NATURAL RIGHTS?
Rights viewed as inherent to all human beings, such as the right to life and liberty
These rights exist simply by virtue of being human.
What is the main argument of SCHWENDINGERS regarding crime?
Crime should be defined in terms of the violation of human rights rather than just breaking legal rules
This perspective shifts focus from legal definitions to moral and ethical considerations.
What is the role of the SOCIOLOGIST according to the SCHWENDINGERS?
To defend human rights and challenge state laws when they violate those rights
This approach is known as TRANSGRESSIVE CRIMINOLOGY.
What does the term ‘authoritarian personality’ refer to?
A personality type characterized by a willingness to obey orders without question
This concept is linked to individuals who participate in state crimes.
What are CRIMES OF OBEDIENCE?
Crimes that require conformity and obedience to a higher authority
These crimes often involve moral disengagement from the harm caused.
What is the criticism Cohen has regarding the definitions of human rights?
There is little agreement on what constitutes a human right
This vagueness complicates the application of human rights standards.
What is the significance of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster?
It involved state-facilitated crime due to government failure to regulate the industry
This disaster had major health, environmental, and economic impacts.
What is the definition of state-corporate crime?
State-initiated, directed, or approved corporate crime
This includes incidents like the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.
What are the three stages identified by Cohen in the process of denial?
- It didn’t happen
- If it did happen it is not what it seems
- It is justified
What is NEUTRALISATION THEORY?
An examination of the way that states deny or justify their crimes, including torture and massacres.
What does the DENIAL OF THE VICTIM involve?
“They exaggerate; they are terrorists, look at what they do to each other.”
What is meant by DENIAL OF INJURY?
“We are the real victims not them.”
What does DENIAL OF RESPONSIBILITY refer to?
“I was only obeying my orders” (death camp guards).
What is CONDEMING THE CONDEMNERS?
“Everyone is picking on us” (anti-Semitism).
What does APPEAL TO HIGHER LOYALTY signify?
Self-righteous justification, “it’s a free world.”
According to Cohen, why are these techniques employed?
Not to deny the event but to impose a different construction of the event from what might appear.
Provide an example of how the USA justified its coercive interrogation practices.
The USA claimed these techniques were not torture because they merely induced stress and were not psychologically or physically damaging.
What does Cohen see the USA’s justification of coercive interrogation practices as an example of?
A neutralisation technique aimed at normalising torture.
