Human rights and state crime

Question 1

What is a state crime?

Answer 1

Green and Ward define it as illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by state agencies to further social policies. This could include torture, illegal treatment, imprisonment of citizens, corrupt policing, assassination.

Question 2

Transgressive approach: state crime as a violation of human rights

Answer 2

Sociologists have adopted this approach: going outside usual boundaries to define crime as simply law-breaking, but also take into account state organisational deviance.

Question 3

Examples of state crimes

Answer 3

1. Torture and illegal treatment or punishment of citizens: UK found guilty in 70’s of using white noise to torture IRA suspects.
2. Corruption
3. War crimes
4. Genocide: Hitlers regime killed 6 million Jews
5. Assassination

Question 4

Explanation for state crimes

Answer 4

• Integrated theory: Similar circumstances to other crimes, like motivation, opportunity and failure of control
• Crimes of obedience model: Emphasizes conformity to rules

Question 5

Crimes of obedience model

Answer 5

1. Authorization
2. Dehumanization
3. Routinization
   Example: Holocaust and genocide of Jews

Question 6

Techniques of neutralization

Answer 6

States deny they have committed breaches by labelling them as something else or excusing them as a justifiable mistake.

Question 7

Why it’s difficult to research

Answer 7

• Governments adopt strategies of denial
• Carried out by powerful people who control info
  = Dark figure of crime