State Crime
Problems with defining state crime
Crime is a social construct and therefore varies from state to state.
Many state crimes are legal in that nation, at the time they are committed.
Definitions of State Crime
Green and Ward (2005) define state crime as ‘illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or
with the complicity of, state agencies.’
However other Sociologists have put forward definitions based around:
1.
Domestic law
2. Social harm and Zemiology
3. International law
4. Human rights
Definition 1: Domestic law – Chambliss
Acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of the jobs as
representatives of the state. Examples MP Expenses Scandal 2009 -The United Kingdom
parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning
expenses claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over the previous years.
Definition 2: - Social Harm and Zemiology - Michalowski (1985)
State crime includes illegal acts but also legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar
to those of illegal acts in the harm that they cause.
Hillyard (2004)
Replace the study of crime with Zemiology regardless of if the act is against the law. This is
based on a consensus of Western norms and values.
Zemiology is the study of social harms. Zemiology gets its name from the Greek word ζημία
zēmía, meaning "harm". It originated as a critique of criminology and the notion of crime.
Zemiology has been criticized in some quarters as imposing Western norms and values on other
nations.
Definition 3: International Law:
Rothe and Mullins (2008)
State crime is an action by or on behalf of a state that violates international law and/or a
state’s own domestic law.
Definition 4: Human Rights: United Nations Declaration of Human Rights 1948 Schwendinger
1975
State crime should be defined as a violation of people’s basic human rights by the state and
their agents – regardless of whether the nation considers the act to be legal.
Types of State Crime
Eugene McLaughlin (2001) identifies 4 categories of state crime:
1.
Political crimes
2. Crimes by security and police forces,
3. Economic crimes
4. Social and cultural crimes
1. Political Crimes
Corruption, Censorship, War Crimes
Political corruption can take various forms, but the most common examples appear to be
Politicians siphoning public money off to their private bank accounts,
Unfairly granting government contracts in return for bribes
Electoral fraud (vote rigging).
Award of PPE contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic have been under scrutiny as many linked
to Cons. Party donors – others awarded without Parl. Scrutiny
Political censorship exists when a government attempts to conceal, fake, distort, or falsify
information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the
public might receive through news outlets.
There are 2 types of War Crime:
Illegal Wars - Not self defence or declared by UN e.g. Ukraine
Crime committed during war:
Abu Graib - During the early stages of the Iraq War, United States Army and Central
Intelligence Agency personnel committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in
the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including physical and sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and
murder2003-2006
Bombing of Civilians - On 25 May 2017, the Pentagon concluded that at least 105 civilians died
in the airstrike when a US aircraft delivered a single precision-guided bomb (GBU-38 JDAM)
with the intention of targeting two ISIL snipers on the second storey of a structure in the alJadida neighbourhood. Also, WW2
2.
Crimes by Security or police forces
Genocide - Genocide means any act committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Holocaust 1939 – 1945
Cambodia 1970’s - The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of
Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot, who radically pushed Cambodia
towards communism. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979,
nearly a quarter of Cambodia's 1975 population. 1975-79
Rwanda 1990’s - The Rwandan genocide was the mass slaughter of Tutsi, as well as Twa and
moderate Hutu, carried out between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. The
most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 600,000 Tutsi deaths.
Bosnia Herzegovinia 1990’s - Removing all Bosnian Muslims from 1992, 8,000 Bosnian Muslim
men and boys were murdered.
Torture - The action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in
order to force them to do or say something.
Guantanamo Bay - The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison
located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and "Gitmo",
which is on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. At the time of its establishment in January
2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the detention camp was established to detain
extraordinarily dangerous people, to interrogate detainees in an optimal setting, and to
prosecute detainees for war crimes from 2002
Operation Demetrius in Ulster, Ireland, conducted by the UK – a British Army operation in
Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. ... Armed soldiers launched dawn
raids throughout Northern Ireland, sparking four days of violence in which 20 civilians, two IRA
members and two British soldiers were killed.
Imprisonment Without Trial - Detained in prison or psychiatric facilities without knowledge of
why or for how long. e.g. Guantanamo Bay
Disappearance Of Dissidents - Political dissent refers to any expression designed to convey
dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. China, Russia and Saudi
Arabia have all been accused of this crime. E.g. Dissident Alexander Litvinenko died 23rd
November 2006.
Jamal Khashoggi - On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, journalist, columnist
for The Washington Post, former editor of Al-Watan and former general manager and editor-inchief of the Al-Arab News Channel, was assassinated by agents of the Saudi government at the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
George Floyd
3. Economic Crimes Possibly Hardest form of crime to detect
1. Official violations of health and safety laws
Where the government knowingly allowed health and safety breaches in public services to save
money or create profit. Examples - Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, Flint Michigan Water,
Challenger Space Shuttle - 1986. The Challenger was lost because one small part - an O-ring seal
- failed during a launch in cold weather. The possibility of this part failing had been predicted
long before, but Nasa managers chose to ignore the concerns.
2. Economic Policies which cause harm to the citizenry
Economic policies which the government knows will lead to harm upon the citizens of their
country e.g. Austerity in the UK from 2010
Also use privatization policies – govt. subcontract activities to private companies who act on
behalf of the state sector but deviate from the law bring in Grendfall here,
3. Social and Cultural Crimes
1. Institutional Racism - Police force targeting certain groups in society. Discrimination
against LGBQT communities Ethnocentric Curriculum ignore certain groups history.
2. Destruction of native culture and heritage - Deliberate and conscious destruction of
the culture or heritage of native groups. ISIS destruction of Churches and shrines in Mosul,
USA Destruction of Native Indian sites and lands
Evaluation
Defining legal activities in one nation as being a state crime can be seen as the imposition of
Western values – crime is a social construction. Nations have a right to self-govern to what
extent should other nation intervene? Some e.g. murder and genocide can be seen as inexcusable
but economic and political crimes should according to Cohen, be considered carefully before
being branded as state crimes.
Crimes committed by the state are often legitimised based upon the need for the action – e.g.
‘interests of national security’. Ie suspects locked up until proven they are of no potential harm
Many states have laws based upon religious beliefs of nation and this discrimination is based
upon religious beliefs and practices eg Poland’s recent ban on abortion due to high levels of
Catholicism also same in Ireland though have recently said will allow abortion. Some nations also
have laws/customs seen as an appeal to a higher power can be problematic for those with a
westernised view of society.
Influence of religious beliefs in some forms of discrimination is seen as an appeal to a higher
power.
Causes of State Crime
State crimes can be committed for a wide variety of reasons but are more common in
authoritarian regimes.
As the state is the creator of laws, many state crimes are legitimised by the actions of the
state.
Why do individuals carry out these acts on behalf of the state?
Explaining Causes of State Crime
1.
Integrated Theory – Green and Ward
2. Modernity – Bauman (1989)
3. Social Conditions – Kelman and Hamilton (1989)
1. Integrated Theory: Green and Ward
This theory suggests state crime arises from similar circumstances to those of other
crimes, like street crime. Integrating three factors and how these factors interact
generate state crimes:
Opportunities/ Failure of controls/Motivation of offenders
2. Modernity- Zygmunt Bauman (1989)
It is certain features of modern society that made the state crimes possible:
1.
A division of labour - Each person is responsible for one task so no one is full
responsible.
2. Bureaucratisation –Normalisation of the act by making it repetitive and routine.
Dehumanisation of victim.
3. Instrumental rationality -Rational and efficient methods to achieve a goal regardless of
the goal itself.
4. Science and technology - Scientific and technological knowledge to justify the means
and the motive.
3. Social Conditions
Unlike citizen crime, state crimes tend to be crimes of obedience rather than deviance.
Kelman and Hamilton identify three features that produce crimes of obedience:
1. Authorisation - Acts are approved of by those in power. Normal moral principals are
replaced by duty to obey.
2. Routinisation -Turn the act into a routine behaviour so it can be performed in a
detached manner.
3. Dehumanisation - The victims are portrayed as sub human so normal morality doesn’t
apply.
Why is state crime so serious?
1. The scale of state crime - States are large and powerful entities, they can cause
large and, often widespread crimes Michalowski & Kramer(2006) “Great power and
great crimes are inseparable. Economic and political elites can bring death disease and
loss to tens of thousands with a single decision”
2. The state is the source of law - States have the power to conceal their crimes and
make them harder to detect, and change the law to benefit their deviance. The concept
of National Sovereignty means that it is difficult for international bodies to intervene.
Culture of Denial
With the growing Human Rights Movements and growth of 24 news cycle States have had to
become better at hiding or justifying their crimes
Cohen - ‘Spiral of State Denial’
STAGE 1 – ‘It didn’t happen’.
STAGE 2 – ‘If it did happen, “it” is something else’.
STAGE 3 – ‘Even if it is what you say it is, it’s justified.
Matza & Sykes - Neutralisation Theory
Justification of the act through:
Denial of the victim
Denial of injury
Denial of responsibility
Condemning the condemners
Appeal to higher loyalty
Problems of researching state crime
Cohen:
Strategies of denial or justification
Reclassification of the crime
Censorship and Power
No official Statistics or victim surveys
Sociologists are reliant on secondary data from the media mostly.
Tombs and Whyte (2003) point out that states can use their power to prevent or hinder
sociologists doing research.
Greene and Ward (2012) point out that research can be difficult, harrowing and dangerous.