State Crime Flashcards
What is the definition of state crime
Includes all types of crime committed by or on behalf of states and governments in order to further their policies
What is the scale of state crime
State has enormous power (they control the police/ military) and public trust which gives them the potential to inflict harm on a large scale
Why is the state being the source of law a problem with state crime
The government can change or make laws to avoid their actions being defined as criminal
Which sociologist came up with the 5 categories of state crime
McLoughlin
What are the 5 categories of crime according to McLoughlin and explain them
Political crimes - corruption/censorship
Crimes by security and police forces: Genocide/torture/war crimes
Economic crimes: violations of health and safety laws
Social and cultural crime: institutional racism
State-corporate crime: crimes done by the cooperation of business and the state
What is meant by state initiated for state-corporate crime
State direct or approve corporate crime
What is meant by state facilitated for state-corporate crime
State fail to regulate and control corporate behaviour
Which perspective say state crime is the worst crime
Marxists
What is an example of state crime involving new compulsory veiling laws to oppress women and wear the death penalty is permitted for peaceful protests against it
Amnesty International - Iran
How has the state broken laws in Russia in relation to the war with Ukraine
Ukraine has said Russia violated the Geneva convention and done things illegally - over 30,000 war crimes
They have seen military attacking civilians and infrastructure that they live in which is not allowed
Which type of state crime has occurred to do with the Russian and Ukraine war
Crimes by security and police forces
Political state crime (Russia are censoring the war)
How has state crimes been committed within Iranian Protests 2022
22 year old women arrested for not covering her hair and later died of a heart attack
Protester say it is police brutality
Authorities reacted with even more brutality to protesters
234 people killed - 29 children by security forces
BBC banned from reporting in Iran
Which type of state crimes have been committed by Iran in response to the protesters
Security and police forces (genocide/torture)
Political due to censorship of the BBC
which type of state crime was committed during the Deep water Oil Rig disaster
Economic crimes (violation of health and safety laws)
State-corporate - did cost cutting but state should have been aware if they were regulating - state facilitated
How has state crime been committed in North Korea (media)
State control everything including the media - spy on the public by using surveillance
Can be sent to prison for viewing content from international sights
People have to go over seas to make phone calls internationally
Which type of state crime has been committed by North Korea (media)
Political crime (censorship/ corruption)
Crimes by security and police forces (genocide/torture)
What happened in the case of Stephen Lawrence and why was it a state crime
He was killed by a gang of white boys
The police failed to investigate and prosecute properly and the Macpherson report stated that the police were institutionally racist and this affected hw they handled the investigation
Which type of state crime has been committed in the case of Stephen Lawrence
Social and cultural crime (institutional racism)
How many different definitions are there of state crime
5
What are the 5 different definitons of state crime (names)
Domestic law
Social harm
Labelling and Social reaction
International law
Human rights
What is meant by Domestic law as a definitin of state crime
State crime is when the law is broken
What are two strengths of the Domestic law definition of state crime
Simple and easy to follow
Objective - easy to see if law is broken and to enforce it
What are two negatives of the Domestic law definition of state crime
Overly simplified and government can use it to justify there actions - avoid criminalisation
e.g North Korea - legal to censor international content
Hard to enforce in globalised world - countries have different laws
What is the Social harm definition of state crime
State crimes do nt have to be illegal but are defined based on whether they cause social harms
What is the definition of zemiology
The study of harms
What are two strengths of the Social harm definiton of state crimes
Focuses on protecting people from harm
States cannot ‘delabel’ their own behaviours as unharmful - preventing them from concealing their crimes
What are two negatives of the Social definition of state crime
Harm is subjective and not as clear cut for a definition - who is to decide the definition
Hard to enforce e.g FGM beliefs are accepted in certain areas and deemed harmful in others
What is the Labelling and social reactions defintion of state crime
An act is a crime if the audience define it as one, sociologists should not impose theor own definitions. What people view as a state crime can vary depending over time/place/culture
What are two positives of the Labelling and social reactions definition of state crime
Allows for the law to stay up to date with changing social norms and morals
Recognises the social construction of crime and prevents sociologists from imposing a definition
What are three negatives of the Labelling and social reactions definition of state crime
Hard to enforce if people have different opinions
Who defines it?
Audiences definiton may be manipulated by media and those in power - marxists woud agree
What is the International law definiton of a state crime
State crime is wen something violates international law such as treaties between countries
What is one strength of the International law definition of state crime
Uses global agreed definitions of crime rather than personal definitions of harm - applied to crimes committed globally
What are two negatives of the International law definition of state crime
Law is socially constructed and made by those in power to benefit themselves
Only tends to focus on war crime and ignore other state crimes such as corruption
What is the Human rights definitin of state crime
State crimes are those that violate basic human rights. This incldes natural rights (that people have through existing - the right to life) and civil rights (right to vote etc)
What is one positive of the Human rihts definitio of state crime
Human rights have become a norm - holds states to account and encourages conformity as failure to do so can result in shame
What are two negatives of the Human rights definition of state crime
Some crimes do not violate human right - economic
Lack of consensus - not all countries agree on human rights
What is one example of a state crime almost being allowed through domestic law creation
The Rwanda Policy:
2018 incident - Rwandan police opend fire on protesting refugees killing at least 11, ECHR ruled it unlawful but government tried to pass a law to bypass this
What does Adorno say about the fact that state crimes cannot happen without normally law abiding citizens
The authoritarian personality:
Willingness to obey orders of superiors without question
Personality was very common in Nazi Germany because socialisation pattens of time which involves disciplinarian punitive measures
Hierarchy: -may trust them
- or fearful of punishment
Which study is useful to explain Adronos Authoritarian personality and why
Milgrams study - shows we are willing to inflict harm because an authority figure says so
What is meant by ‘Crimes of obediance’
State crime requires obediance to a higher authority
Happens through re-socialisation
What is meant by Authorisation
Citezens are persuaded their duty to obey authority replaces moral principles
What is meant by Routinisation
Abuse becomes a normal part of a days work - to premote detatchment
WHat is meant by Dehumanisation
‘enermy’ portrayed as sub-human so moral principles do not apply - done through propoganda
What does Bauman argue about the Holocaust and modernity
Conditions of a modern society madeit easier for the Holocaust to happen
What is meant by DIBS
These are the things that made the holocaust easier to occur due to a modern society:
Division of labour
Intrumental rationality
Bureaucratisation
Science and technology
What is meant by Division of labour
Each person is responsible for one small task, so no one felt personally responsible
What is meant by Instrumental rationality
Effecient methods are used to reach a goal, regardless of what it is
What is meant by Bureaucratisation
State normalises killing by making it a routine, repetitive approved job
What is meant by Science and Technology
we have conditions to make killing people easier - railways to transport people to concentration camps
What is an evaluation for a modern society (DIBS) making the holocaust easier to occur
These aspects did make it easier but it was the racist Nazi Germany ideology people were socialised into in order to carry it out which had the biggest impact
What is an example of the power of authority causing a state crime to occur
My Lai Massacre - mass killing of unarmed Vietnamese civilians and soldiers followed order from superiors to kill
What is Cohens Culture of Denial
How the state respons when state crime is revealed:
Gov have to hide crimes to due increase in organisations that hold state accountable
3 stages
What are the three stages of the ‘spiral of state denial - Cohen Culture of Denial
1) Denial of everything and claim nothing is happening but Human rights organisations and Vs show it did
2) State re-label it as something else than human rights abuse
3) Justifying what happened ‘for a greater cause’
Why is it dangerous to justify state crime
May make other people think it is acceptable
In globalised world - shame from other countries
What are Techniques of Neutralisation
The state make actions seem fine for the situation but not in the normal circumstances
What are the 5 Techniques of Neutralisation
Denial of victim - deny the enermy is a V
Denial of injury - ‘we are the real Vs not them’
Denial of responsibility - ‘ I am only obeying orders’
Condeming the condemners - accusing the accusers of being hypocrits or worse
Appeal to higher loyality - self-righteous justification claiming to serve a higher cause
