Reference Library
Collections
- See what's new
- All Resources
- Student Resources
- Assessment Resources
- Teaching Resources
- CPD Courses
- Livestreams
Study notes, videos, interactive activities and more!
Sociology news, insights and enrichment
Currated collections of free resources
Browse resources by topic
- All Sociology Resources
Resource Selections
Currated lists of resources
Study Notes
State Crimes
Last updated 7 Aug 2018
- Share on Facebook
- Share on Twitter
- Share by Email
State crimes are crimes committed by governments. They were defined by Penny Green and Tony Ward (2005) as "illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with, the complicity of state agencies”.
Of course, states generally create the laws of their countries and while governments may break their own laws, it is more likely the case that they are breaking international law; or their actions should be seen in terms of transgressive criminology (causing harm rather than breaking the law). A wide range of state crimes may be considered.
This can include corruption, e.g. kleptocratic regimes robbing their populations, or human rights abuses, including very extreme acts such as the Rwandan genocide or ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.
State crimes include (but are not restricted to):
- Discrimination
- Funding terrorism
- Funding organised crime
- Assassination
Eugene McLaughlin (2001) divided these into four types of state crime:
- crimes by the security and police forces
- economic crimes
- social and cultural crimes (like institutional racism) and
- practical crimes (like corruption)
Spiral of Denial
Stan Cohen (1996) identified a spiral of denial that states use when accused of human rights abuses.
"IT DIDN'T HAPPEN"
The first reaction is often to deny that anything occurred at all. This lasts until international bodies produce evidence that it did occur.
"IT'S NOT HOW IT LOOKS"
Once such evidence is provided, the next stage is often to question a particular version of events, instead claiming that others carried out the atrocity or the evidence pointed to something rather different occurring.
"IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY"
The final stage of the spiral of denial is to admit that the abuse occurred but to justify it. To suggest that it was the fault of the victims, or that there was no other way.
There is some similarity to Matza's techniques of neutralisation as referred to in functionalist explanations of crime, deviance, social order and social control . This can also be applied to state crimes.
Evaluating the Sociology of State Crimes
While Marxists look at all manner of harmful activity as being state crime, some question what the parameters are. This is the same issue raised elsewhere in relation to transgressive approaches to crime. For all the problems of limiting considerations of crime to transgressions of specific laws, opening it up to all harm becomes very unwieldy. While everyone would agree that torture or genocide are state crimes, some might question whether the absence of health and safety and equality legislation could be considered as such; yet Marxists and feminists might describe such measures as states causing harm.
Some worry that discourses of human rights can be ethnocentric , seeking to apply western norms to all societies. While the argument is often used to oppose international intervention in countries (such as Iraq, for example) it would be difficult to justify the argument when presented with specific examples: it does not seem acceptable to argue that women should have fewer rights in Saudi Arabia than in the UK just because those happen to be the local norms and values. The whole point of a discourse of human rights is to challenge and change such values.
- State Crimes
- Crime and Deviance
You might also like
Domestic abuse: precursor to mass violence.
2nd November 2017
7th February 2018
Domestic Violence
30th April 2018
Situational Crime Prevention
Money laundering.
14th May 2019
His Best Friend Was Killed By the Police. Now He's Running for Office
15th June 2020
Wilson - Right Realist Theories of Crime and Deviance
Topic Videos
Crime Control, Prevention & Punishment - Surveillance
Our subjects.
- › Criminology
- › Economics
- › Geography
- › Health & Social Care
- › Psychology
- › Sociology
- › Teaching & learning resources
- › Student revision workshops
- › Online student courses
- › CPD for teachers
- › Livestreams
- › Teaching jobs
Boston House, 214 High Street, Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, LS23 6AD Tel: 01937 848885
- › Contact us
- › Terms of use
- › Privacy & cookies
© 2002-2024 Tutor2u Limited. Company Reg no: 04489574. VAT reg no 816865400.
- Subject List
- Take a Tour
- For Authors
- Subscriber Services
- Publications
- African American Studies
- African Studies
- American Literature
- Anthropology
- Architecture Planning and Preservation
- Art History
- Atlantic History
- Biblical Studies
- British and Irish Literature
- Childhood Studies
- Chinese Studies
- Cinema and Media Studies
- Communication
Criminology
- Environmental Science
- Evolutionary Biology
- International Law
- International Relations
- Islamic Studies
- Jewish Studies
- Latin American Studies
- Latino Studies
- Linguistics
- Literary and Critical Theory
- Medieval Studies
- Military History
- Political Science
- Public Health
- Renaissance and Reformation
- Social Work
- Urban Studies
- Victorian Literature
- Browse All Subjects
How to Subscribe
- Free Trials
In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section State Crime
Introduction, general overviews and anthologies.
- Definitions and Conceptualizations
- State of the Field Essays
- State-Corporate Crimes
- Nuclear Weapons
- US Government Case Studies
- Non-US Case Studies
- Crimes of Globalization
- Victimology
- The 2003 Iraq War
Related Articles Expand or collapse the "related articles" section about
About related articles close popup.
Lorem Ipsum Sit Dolor Amet
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Aliquam ligula odio, euismod ut aliquam et, vestibulum nec risus. Nulla viverra, arcu et iaculis consequat, justo diam ornare tellus, semper ultrices tellus nunc eu tellus.
- Critical Criminology
- Cross-National Crime
- Green Criminology
- Human Rights
- The Criminology of Genocide
- The Global Financial Crisis and White-Collar Crime
- Transnational Crime
- White-Collar Crime
Other Subject Areas
Forthcoming articles expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section.
- Education Programs in Prison
- Juvenile Justice Professionals' Perceptions of Youth
- Find more forthcoming articles...
- Export Citations
- Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter
State Crime by Christopher Mullins LAST REVIEWED: 24 June 2020 LAST MODIFIED: 24 June 2020 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0014
The focused academic study of crimes committed by nation-states is now more than two decades old, spanning several generations of scholars and increasingly drawing on multiple theoretical positions. At its root is the attempt to push the boundaries of both academic and political discourses to provide a recognition of the most harmful actions as states as criminal in nature and to bring social scientific theories of crime and criminality to bear in the identification, analysis, and control of these events. The subfield developed out of white-collar crime studies, as a group of mainly critical scholars applied and revised conceptual and theoretical materials developed in the study of crimes of corporations (and their actors) to the behavior (and agents) of nation-states. Of course, not all scholars who approach the study of crimes committed by nation-states are tied to critical criminology. Some work has been published that looks at law violation by states criminologically from mainstream theoretical perspectives. As this article is situated in the discipline of criminology, there are some threads of research that it does not index. Criminologists are not the only scholars to research crimes committed by nation-states. Even though the field is highly interdisciplinary, areas of overlap with history, political science, and legal studies exist. While these bodies of work are beneficial and illuminating, this bibliography limits itself to work that has an explicit or implicit criminological foundation. While a section is included here on genocides and other mass atrocities, sources included are limited to those that somehow work within criminological theories or approaches. Thus, the massive literature on the Holocaust is excluded (save for the few criminological explorations), as is political science–based work on state violence and repression (i.e., the work of Gurr or Rummel).
Since the late 20th century, a number of books have been published that provide a conceptual and empirical overview of the field. Some have taken the form of anthologized collections; others are monographs. All represent an attempt to define and overview the breadth and depth of the field. Most anthologies represent multiple positions on Definitions and Conceptualizations . Barak 1991 represents the earliest statement of the field and its concerns, while Friedrichs 1998 , a two-volume work, is the most extensive. Green and Ward 2004 and Rothe 2009 are both excellent overviews. Two recent anthologies are both strong contributions, with Chambliss, et al. 2010 focusing more on issues of neo-empire and state crime and Rothe and Mullins 2011 providing a broader presentation of the field as a whole.
Barak, Gregg. 1991. Crimes by the capitalist state: An introduction to state criminality . Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.
This early anthology pulls together a number of disparate views and conceptual frameworks. The uniting factors are the attempts to define state crime and to apply basic conceptual and theoretical positions from criminology (especially critical criminology) to specific cases of state crime.
Chambliss, William J., Raymond Michalowski, and Ronald C. Kramer, eds. 2010. State crime in the global age . Collumpton, UK: Willan.
Anthology of essays examining many current expressions of state crime. Integrates issues on globalism and internationalisms throughout. Strongly focused on issues of empire and state imperialism. An excellent presentation of this vein of state crime thinking and scholarship.
Friedrichs, David O., ed. 1998. State crime . 2 vols. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Anthology of state crime and legal studies pieces that attempt to identify and understand violations of law by nation-states. An invaluable resource for the serious scholar of the field. Includes numerous pieces from law, political science, and other disciplines not typically read by criminologists.
Green, Penny, and Tony Ward. 2004. State crime: Governments, violence and corruption . London: Pluto.
Provides an overview of the nature and types of state crime. Becker-influenced audience-based definition is central. Suggests that state acts are criminal when social audiences define them as such. Involves actions typically defined as criminal, but also governmental responses to natural disasters, maintaining services, and similar realms of state responsibility.
Rothe, Dawn L. 2009. State criminality: The crime of all crimes . Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Subfield overview suitable for students and scholars. Covers and classifies numerous cases of crimes and controls. Expands the boundaries of state crime to include violations of international law. Stands as the best assimilation and presentation of work in the field to date.
Rothe, Dawn L., and Christopher W. Mullins, eds. 2011. State crime: Current perspectives . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
Presents updated versions of several classic essays in the field, as well a few new works. It covers the more traditional orientations of state crime as well as the two new threads of crimes of empire and the push into supranational criminology. Valuable as an introduction or for experienced scholars.
back to top
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login .
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here .
- About Criminology »
- Meet the Editorial Board »
- Active Offender Research
- Adler, Freda
- Adversarial System of Justice
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Aging Prison Population, The
- Airport and Airline Security
- Alcohol and Drug Prohibition
- Alcohol Use, Policy and Crime
- Alt-Right Gangs and White Power Youth Groups
- Animals, Crimes Against
- Back-End Sentencing and Parole Revocation
- Bail and Pretrial Detention
- Batterer Intervention Programs
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Big Data and Communities and Crime
- Biosocial Criminology
- Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
- Blumstein, Alfred
- Boot Camps and Shock Incarceration Programs
- Burglary, Residential
- Bystander Intervention
- Capital Punishment
- Chambliss, William
- Chicago School of Criminology, The
- Child Maltreatment
- Chinese Triad Society
- Civil Protection Orders
- Collateral Consequences of Felony Conviction and Imprisonm...
- Collective Efficacy
- Commercial and Bank Robbery
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Communicating Scientific Findings in the Courtroom
- Community Change and Crime
- Community Corrections
- Community Disadvantage and Crime
- Community-Based Justice Systems
- Community-Based Substance Use Prevention
- Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
- Confessions, False and Coerced
- Conservation Criminology
- Consumer Fraud
- Contextual Analysis of Crime
- Control Balance Theory
- Convict Criminology
- Co-Offending and the Role of Accomplices
- Corporate Crime
- Costs of Crime and Justice
- Courts, Drug
- Courts, Juvenile
- Courts, Mental Health
- Courts, Problem-Solving
- Crime and Justice in Latin America
- Crime, Campus
- Crime Control Policy
- Crime Control, Politics of
- Crime, (In)Security, and Islam
- Crime Prevention, Delinquency and
- Crime Prevention, Situational
- Crime Prevention, Voluntary Organizations and
- Crime Trends
- Crime Victims' Rights Movement
- Criminal Career Research
- Criminal Decision Making, Emotions in
- Criminal Justice Data Sources
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
- Criminal Justice Reform, Politics of
- Criminal Justice System, Discretion in the
- Criminal Records
- Criminal Retaliation
- Criminal Talk
- Criminology and Political Science
- Criminology of Genocide, The
- Cross-Sectional Research Designs in Criminology and Crimin...
- Cultural Criminology
- Cultural Theories
- Cybercrime Investigations and Prosecutions
- Cycle of Violence
- Deadly Force
- Defense Counsel
- Defining "Success" in Corrections and Reentry
- Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
- Digital Piracy
- Driving and Traffic Offenses
- Drug Control
- Drug Trafficking, International
- Drugs and Crime
- Elder Abuse
- Electronically Monitored Home Confinement
- Employee Theft
- Environmental Crime and Justice
- Experimental Criminology
- Family Violence
- Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk
- Felon Disenfranchisement
- Feminist Theories
- Feminist Victimization Theories
- Fencing and Stolen Goods Markets
- Firearms and Violence
- Forensic Science
- For-Profit Private Prisons and the Criminal Justice–Indust...
- Gangs, Peers, and Co-offending
- Gender and Crime
- Gendered Crime Pathways
- General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- Genetics, Environment, and Crime
- Halfway Houses
- Harm Reduction and Risky Behaviors
- Hate Crime Legislation
- Healthcare Fraud
- Hirschi, Travis
- History of Crime in the United Kingdom
- History of Criminology
- Homelessness and Crime
- Homicide Victimization
- Honor Cultures and Violence
- Hot Spots Policing
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Theft
- Immigration, Crime, and Justice
- Incarceration, Mass
- Incarceration, Public Health Effects of
- Income Tax Evasion
- Indigenous Criminology
- Institutional Anomie Theory
- Integrated Theory
- Intermediate Sanctions
- Interpersonal Violence, Historical Patterns of
- Interrogation
- Intimate Partner Violence, Criminological Perspectives on
- Intimate Partner Violence, Police Responses to
- Investigation, Criminal
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Juvenile Justice System, The
- Juvenile Waivers
- Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner
- Labeling Theory
- Labor Markets and Crime
- Land Use and Crime
- Lead and Crime
- LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence
- LGBTQ People in Prison
- Life Without Parole Sentencing
- Local Institutions and Neighborhood Crime
- Lombroso, Cesare
- Longitudinal Research in Criminology
- Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
- Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime, The
- Mass Media, Crime, and Justice
- Measuring Crime
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Programs
- Mental Health and Crime
- Merton, Robert K.
- Meta-analysis in Criminology
- Middle-Class Crime and Criminality
- Migrant Detention and Incarceration
- Mixed Methods Research in Criminology
- Money Laundering
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Multi-Level Marketing Scams
- Murder, Serial
- Narrative Criminology
- National Deviancy Symposia, The
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Neighborhood Disorder
- Neutralization Theory
- New Penology, The
- Offender Decision-Making and Motivation
- Offense Specialization/Expertise
- Organized Crime
- Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs
- Panel Methods in Criminology
- Peacemaking Criminology
- Peer Networks and Delinquency
- Performance Measurement and Accountability Systems
- Personality and Trait Theories of Crime
- Persons with a Mental Illness, Police Encounters with
- Phenomenological Theories of Crime
- Plea Bargaining
- Police Administration
- Police Cooperation, International
- Police Discretion
- Police Effectiveness
- Police History
- Police Militarization
- Police Misconduct
- Police, Race and the
- Police Use of Force
- Police, Violence against the
- Policing and Law Enforcement
- Policing, Body-Worn Cameras and
- Policing, Broken Windows
- Policing, Community and Problem-Oriented
- Policing Cybercrime
- Policing, Evidence-Based
- Policing, Intelligence-Led
- Policing, Privatization of
- Policing, Proactive
- Policing, School
- Policing, Stop-and-Frisk
- Policing, Third Party
- Polyvictimization
- Positivist Criminology
- Pretrial Detention, Alternatives to
- Pretrial Diversion
- Prison Administration
- Prison Classification
- Prison, Disciplinary Segregation in
- Prison Education Exchange Programs
- Prison Gangs and Subculture
- Prison History
- Prison Labor
- Prison Visitation
- Prisoner Reentry
- Prisons and Jails
- Prisons, HIV in
- Private Security
- Probation Revocation
- Procedural Justice
- Property Crime
- Prosecution and Courts
- Prostitution
- Psychiatry, Psychology, and Crime: Historical and Current ...
- Psychology and Crime
- Public Criminology
- Public Opinion, Crime and Justice
- Public Order Crimes
- Public Social Control and Neighborhood Crime
- Punishment Justification and Goals
- Qualitative Methods in Criminology
- Queer Criminology
- Race and Sentencing Research Advancements
- Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice
- Racial Threat Hypothesis
- Racial Profiling
- Rape and Sexual Assault
- Rape, Fear of
- Rational Choice Theories
- Rehabilitation
- Religion and Crime
- Restorative Justice
- Risk Assessment
- Routine Activity Theories
- School Bullying
- School Crime and Violence
- School Safety, Security, and Discipline
- Search Warrants
- Seasonality and Crime
- Self-Control, The General Theory:
- Self-Report Crime Surveys
- Sentencing Enhancements
- Sentencing, Evidence-Based
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Sentencing Policy
- Sex Offender Policies and Legislation
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexual Revictimization
- Situational Action Theory
- Snitching and Use of Criminal Informants
- Social and Intellectual Context of Criminology, The
- Social Construction of Crime, The
- Social Control of Tobacco Use
- Social Control Theory
- Social Disorganization
- Social Ecology of Crime
- Social Learning Theory
- Social Networks
- Social Threat and Social Control
- Solitary Confinement
- South Africa, Crime and Justice in
- Sport Mega-Events Security
- Stalking and Harassment
- State Crime
- State Dependence and Population Heterogeneity in Theories ...
- Strain Theories
- Street Code
- Street Robbery
- Substance Use and Abuse
- Surveillance, Public and Private
- Sutherland, Edwin H.
- Technology and the Criminal Justice System
- Technology, Criminal Use of
- Terrorism and Hate Crime
- Terrorism, Criminological Explanations for
- Testimony, Eyewitness
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Trajectory Methods in Criminology
- Truth-In-Sentencing
- Urban Politics and Crime
- US War on Terrorism, Legal Perspectives on the
- Victim Impact Statements
- Victimization, Adolescent
- Victimization, Biosocial Theories of
- Victimization Patterns and Trends
- Victimization, Repeat
- Victimization, Vicarious and Related Forms of Secondary Tr...
- Victimless Crime
- Victim-Offender Overlap, The
- Violence Against Women
- Violence, Youth
- Violent Crime
- White-Collar Crime, The Global Financial Crisis and
- White-Collar Crime, Women and
- Wilson, James Q.
- Wolfgang, Marvin
- Women, Girls, and Reentry
- Wrongful Conviction
- Privacy Policy
- Cookie Policy
- Legal Notice
- Accessibility
Powered by:
- [185.80.149.115]
- 185.80.149.115
The Sociology Guy
Helping students understand society
The content checklist for what you need to know for the crime and deviance module can be downloaded from the link below. some of the key debates that you need to be aware of are shown in the title image, but can be downloaded in pdf format as well from the link below.
Crime Checklist
Crime and deviance is one of the core modules on the AQA A level Sociology specification. Examining theories of crime, deviance, social control and social order is one of the first stages of gaining an understanding into why people commit crime, what crime does to society and how people’s behaviours are controlled by social institutions. The first gallery focuses on Functionalist and subcultural theories of crime and deviance.
These can also be downloaded as pdfs to stick into your notes. Just click on the links below:
The next gallery focuses on the different Marxist and Neo-Marxist theories of crime and deviance – focusing on capitalism as a cause of crime, the ideological functions of crime and the role of the ruling class in making the laws and enforcing the laws.
These theories can also be downloaded as pdf files to put in your notes:
The content below is from previous years and will be uploaded to REVISION as this page continues to be updated throughout the academic year
8 Great – Crime and Media
5 reasons – white collar crime
5 reasons for working class crime
5 reasons for Green Crime
5 reasons for cyber crime
Functions of Crime
Share this:
- Find My Rep
You are here
The Sage website, including online ordering services, may be unavailable due to system maintenance on September 14th between 2:00 am and 8:30 pm BST. If you need assistance, please visit our Contact us page .
Thank you for your patience and we apologise for the inconvenience.
State, Power, Crime
- Roy Coleman - University of Liverpool, UK
- Joe Sim - Liverpool John Moore's University, UK
- Steve Tombs - Open University, UK
- David Whyte - University of Liverpool, UK
- Description
'This book is a superb compilation of original papers by an impressive roster of authors. While the articles cover a wide range of empirical issues, from Northern Ireland and corporate crime to youth crime and heterosexual hegemony they all explore the implications, strategies and mechanisms of state power. There isn't a weak paper here: all are extensively documented, well written, persuasive and scholarly in the very best sense.' - Professor Laureen Snider, Queens University, Canada
'State, Power, Crime is a hugely important book for these times. Bringing together some of the most original minds in criminology it offers a critical analysis of the state, how it constructs crime, responds to it and, at times, engages in the very same. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in justice, freedom and equality.' - Paddy Rawlinson, London School of Economics
Featuring contributions by many of the leading scholars in the field, this seminal text explores the key themes and debates on state power today, in relation to crime and social order. It critically evaluates a range of substantive areas of criminological concern, including terrorism, surveillance, violence and the media.
State, Power, Crime provides:
"historical overviews of key theories about state power
" assessment of the relationship between crime, criminal justice and the state
" analysis of the development of law and order policy
" discussion of the impact of structural fissures such as gender, race and sexuality
" an overview of current research and writing
" critical reflection on the future direction of research and analysis
" advice on further reading.
Core reading for this module
Essential essay reading which is a comprehensive study of Corporate,State and Crime in which a critical analysis is developed by leading authors in criminological studies. A singularly important book which involves a wide range of criminological theoretical insights into state power and corporate crime.
I have recommended this text to my students studying children, young people and crime. There is a fantastic chapter by Janet Jamieson and Joe Yates. I found this chapter and book excellent for helping students to think more critically about crime and justice!
This represents an excellent undergraduate text which discusses an number of important issues for our Terrorism studies course. We will be asking the library to acquire some copies and recommending it to students for important further reading.
First and foremost, this is an excellent text which critically explores the relationship between the state and crime. But unfortunately it is not appropriate for this particular first-year module due to it not having a clear enough relationship with the module outcomes at this level of learning. However, having inspected the book it may be able to contribute a great deal to our third year and post-graduate modules and I will pass it on to the relevant module leaders for consideration.
A fantastic book that incorporates a range of perspectives on the intersecting aspects of state, power and crime within late modernity. Building on the groundbreaking 1970s book, Policing the Crisis, State, Power, Crime situates contemporary social problems within the context of neoliberal and late modern developments.
An excellent text which brings together the key issues surrounding the question of criminal justice and 'the state'. Well written, informative and an essential read for any social sciences students
An excellent collection of critical essays written by leaders in the field of state crime and critical criminology. An interesting and important range of topics with a well constructed introduction from the editors.
The course that this book was intended for is cancelled.
This book offers a broad critical evaluation of the relationship between the state, power and crime in liberal democratic states. Although the collection of essays primarily deals with issues within the United Kingdom, the central theme of this edition and theoretical insights offered are directly applicable in cognate jurisdictions.
Preview this book
Sample materials & chapters.
Introduction
Chapter One
For instructors
Please select a format:
Select a Purchasing Option
- Electronic Order Options VitalSource Amazon Kindle Google Play eBooks.com Kobo
Related Products
SAGE Knowledge is the premier social sciences platform for SAGE and CQ Press book, reference and video content.
The platform allows researchers to cross-search and seamlessly access a wide breadth of must-have SAGE book and reference content from one source.
- Revision Resources
- Learning sociology starts here!!!
- Sociology revision books
- Answering Exam Questions
State crimes – revision notes with evaluative points
The scale of state crime
- The power of the state means that they are able to commit large scale crimes.
- The states monopoly of violence means that it can commit massive harm while its power enables it to conceal its crimes or avoid punishment.
- The media focuses on state crimes in 3 rd world countries, but avoid reporting on such crimes in the USA or UK.
However, it is hard for countries to intervene, such as the UN, due to state sovereignty and national boundaries. Many countries ignore international conventions and laws against acts such as genocide and war crimes.
The state is the source of law
- The role is the state includes that of defining what is criminal and to manage the criminal justice process and the prosecution of offenders.
- State crime can undermine the system of justice and it is ‘above the law’.
- The capacity of the state to make the law enables it to avoid its own harmful actions as being defined as criminal.
- The state can also use the criminal justice system to control its enemies.
Human rights and state crime
One way of explaining state crime is by looking at human rights. A right is a privilege to something, such as acts of protection against the power of the state.
States define crimes within their own boundaries, however they are also subject to international laws and conventions that cover a range of actions. Green and Ward suggest that this is the way round the problem of defining state crime, that is the laws of the country breaks the internationally agreed human rights, then the state can be accused of crimes of the state.
Continues…
Share this:
Leave a comment cancel reply.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .
- Entries feed
- Comments feed
- WordPress.com
Follow Blog via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address:
Follow me on Twitter
- youtube.com/watch?v=W80wo…
- webs.bcp.org/sites/vclear…
- theguardian.com/lifeandst…
- southampton.ac.uk/sociolo…
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
- Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
- Subscribe Subscribed
- Copy shortlink
- Report this content
- View post in Reader
- Manage subscriptions
- Collapse this bar
- Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Our Cookie Policy
- Tools and Resources
- Customer Services
- Corrections
- Crime, Media, and Popular Culture
- Criminal Behavior
- Criminological Theory
- Critical Criminology
- Geography of Crime
- International Crime
- Juvenile Justice
- Prevention/Public Policy
- Race, Ethnicity, and Crime
- Research Methods
- Victimology/Criminal Victimization
- White Collar Crime
- Women, Crime, and Justice
- Share Facebook LinkedIn Twitter
Article contents
State crime.
- Thomas MacManus Thomas MacManus School of Law, Queen Mary University of London; Acting Director of International State Crime Initiative (ISCI)
- https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.362
- Published online: 17 December 2020
While state crime is a relatively recent event in the discipline of criminology, tracing the roots of its modern form to the 1990s, it has attracted some of the best minds to research and theorize on the immense and fatal excesses of the modern nation state. State crime is defined most convincingly by Penny Green and Tony Ward as state organizational deviance involving the violation of human rights. The crimes are organizational in nature and are carried out by vast state systems and corporate structures. This approach can be contrasted with the individual criminal liability, “scapegoat” ideology of international criminal law and other criminal law regimes. The definition relies on the criminological concept of deviance, a label applied by a social audience, to make up for the lack of criminal legal definition of the behaviors, legitimacy, and human rights norms in order to differentiate it from crimes that are carried out without harm to human or planet (such as minor international economic treaty violations). A sub-field of state crime, state-corporate crime has developed to track those crimes which occur at the intersection of the state and the market.
- state crime
- state-corporate crime
- organizational crime
- state terror
- state violence
- human rights
- criminology
You do not currently have access to this article
Please login to access the full content.
Access to the full content requires a subscription
Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Criminology and Criminal Justice. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).
date: 15 September 2024
- Cookie Policy
- Privacy Policy
- Legal Notice
- Accessibility
- [185.80.149.115]
- 185.80.149.115
Character limit 500 /500
Defining the Concept of Crime: A Sociological Perspective
12 Pages Posted: 15 Jun 2021
V Kamal Ahamed
University of Colombo - Faculty of Law
Date Written: June 11, 2021
This paper argues that the traditional construction of ‘crime’ is narrow and unnecessarily constrictive of criminological work. Most criminologists have traditionally relied on a ‘legal’ conception of crime which defines it as behavior in violation of the criminal law and liable for sanctioning by criminal justice agencies under the political authority of the state. There have been, however, repeated attempts by leading criminologists to move beyond the narrow confines of the criminal law and thus develop more inclusive social definitions of crime. Instead of crime being an act which contravenes an elementary, universal human sentiment and which is socially harmful, it is an act which is believed to be socially harmful by a group of people which has the power to enforce its beliefs. By clarifying these underlying paradigms and displaying the value questions and domain assumptions contained within them, we are in position to develop sociological definitions of crime which are more suitable to the task of criminology.
Keywords: Behavioural dimension, Crime, Felony, Misdemeanor, Social order, Strain theory
JEL Classification: K14-Criminal Law
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Vaithulla Kamal Ahamed (Contact Author)
University of colombo - faculty of law ( email ).
P.O. Box 1490 Colombo, 03 Sri Lanka
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Paper statistics, related ejournals, criminology ejournal.
Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic
Pardon Our Interruption
As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:
- You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser.
- You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed.
- You've disabled cookies in your web browser.
- A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running. Additional information is available in this support article .
To regain access, please make sure that cookies and JavaScript are enabled before reloading the page.
Victims of State Crime
- Reference work entry
- First Online: 27 November 2018
- pp 5490–5497
- Cite this reference work entry
- David Kauzlarich 5
497 Accesses
This entry reviews the definitions, measurement, extent, and nature of victims of state crimes as well as relevant justice system policies and resistance to victimization by the state. Current theorizing and research on victims of state crime are discussed as are public and criminal justice policy initiatives. Propositions on the victimology of state crime as well as current research findings suggest that the study of state crime victimization requires an appreciation of creative and innovative social and criminal justice policy changes that attend to the diverse needs of those victimized by the state.
As with definitions of state crime itself, there are many competing ways to conceptualize those victimized by the state. There is obviously a vast array of harm and victimization which result from state crime, as well as multiple types of actors, agents, and organizations which may be directly or indirectly involved in this form of organizational crime. The crimes can be against...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Subscribe and save.
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime
- Available as PDF
- Read on any device
- Instant download
- Own it forever
- Available as EPUB and PDF
- Durable hardcover edition
- Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
- Free shipping worldwide - see info
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Institutional subscriptions
Recommended Reading and References
Ajdukovic (2006) Barriers to social reconstruction of communities in the aftermath of organized violence. In: Ewald U, Turkovic K (eds) Large-scale victimization as a potential source of terrorist activities: importance of regaining security in post-conflict societies. IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp 269–277
Google Scholar
Bassiouni C (1996) Searching for peace and achieving justice: the need for accountability. Law Contemp Probl 59(4):9–28
Bijeveld C (2007) So many missing pieces: some thoughts on the methodology of the empirical study of gross human rights violations. Paper presented at the expert meetings on supranational criminology. Maasstricht
Ewald U, Turkovic K (eds) (2006) Large-Scale Victimisation as a Potential Source of Terrorist Activities: Importance of Regaining Security in Post-Conflict Societies. U. Ewald and K. Turkovic
Faust K, Carlson S (2011) Devastation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a state crime: social audience reactions crime. Crime Law Soc Change 55(1):33–51
Faust K, Kauzlarich D (2008) Hurricane Katrina victimization as a state crime of omission. Crit Crim 16(2):85–103
Green P (2009) Women and natural disasters. In: Cain M, Howe A (eds) Women, crime and social harm. Hart, Oxford, pp 161–177
Hamber B, Nageng D, O’Malley G (2000) Telling it like it is…: understanding the truth and reconciliation commission from the perspective of survivors. Psychol Soc 26:18–42
Hayner PB (2001) Unspeakable truths: confronting state terror and atrocity. Routledge, New York
Hayner PB (2006) Truth commissions: a schematic overview. Int Rev Red Cross 862:295–310
Kauzlarich D, Matthews RA, Miller W (2001) Toward a victimology of state crime. Crit Criminol Int J 10(3):173–194
Lobwein W (2006) Experiences of the victims and witnesses section at the I.C.T.Y. In: Ewald U, Turkovic K (eds) Large-scale victimization as a potential source of terrorist activities: importance of regaining security in post-conflict societies. Ios Press, Amsterdam
Pham PN, Vinck P, Wierda M, Stover E, di Giovanni A (2005) Forgotten voices: a population-based survey of attitudes about peace and justice in northern Uganda. Human Rights Center, Berkeley
Rothe D, Kauzlarich D (forthcoming a) Toward a Victimology of State Crime. Routledge. London. forthcoming.
Rothe D, Kauzlarich D (forthcoming b) Introduction In: Rothe D, Kauzlarich D (eds) Toward a victimology of state crime. Routledge, New York
Rothe D, Mullins C (2011) State crime: current perspectives. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick
Stanley E, McCulloch J (2013) State crime and resistance. Routledge, New York
Stover E (2005) The witnesses: war crimes and the promise of justice in The Hague. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
Strobl R (2010) Becoming a victim. In: GioraShoham S, Knepper P, Kett M (eds) International handbook of victimology. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, London, pp 9–25
Turkovic K (2002) Overview of the Victimological Data Related to War in Croatia. Eur. J. Crime Crim. L. & Crim Just.10(202):202–215
Trust Fund for Victims (2011) Programme progress report, summer. International Criminal Court, The Hague
Van den Wyngaert, Christine (2012) Victims before international criminal courts: some views and concerns of an ICC trial judge. Case W Res J Int Law 44:475–496
Westervelt SD, Cook KJ (2010) Framing innocents: the wrongly convicted as victims of state harm. Crime Law Soc Change 53(3):259–275
Download references
Author information
Authors and affiliations.
Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL, 62026, USA
David Kauzlarich
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Corresponding author
Correspondence to David Kauzlarich .
Editor information
Editors and affiliations.
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gerben Bruinsma
VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
David Weisburd
Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel
Rights and permissions
Reprints and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry.
Kauzlarich, D. (2014). Victims of State Crime. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_115
Download citation
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_115
Published : 27 November 2018
Publisher Name : Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN : 978-1-4614-5689-6
Online ISBN : 978-1-4614-5690-2
eBook Packages : Humanities, Social Sciences and Law Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Share this entry
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
- Publish with us
Policies and ethics
- Find a journal
- Track your research
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
McLaughlin (2001) identifies four categories of state crime: • Crimes by security forces - e.g. genocide, torture, imprisonment without trial and disappearance of dissidents. • Political Crimes - e.g. censorship or corruption. • Economic crimes - e.g. violation of health and safety laws. • Social and cultural crimes - e.g ...
A Dependency Theorist (Marxist) Perspective on State Crime. From a Dependency point of view state crimes are not limited to developing countries. For a start, two of the greatest crimes in the history of humanity - Colonialism, which was basically the organised theft of resources through violence conquest, and slavery, were both a key part of ...
A wide range of state crimes may be considered. This can include corruption, e.g. kleptocratic regimes robbing their populations, or human rights abuses, including very extreme acts such as the Rwandan genocide or ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. State crimes include (but are not restricted to): Corruption. Discrimination.
State crimes - revision notes with evaluative points. Crime as a violation of human rights. Schwendinger H and J (1970) Argues that crime should be defined according to the violation of human rights, rather than the breaking of legal rules. the state can be seen as a culprit of crime, not just as the authority that defines and punishes crime.
Studying State Crime is an explicit requirement for students studying A-level Sociology, ... This case study from February 2020 is relevant to the 'state crime and human right's topic within the A-level sociology Crime and Deviance module. ... Essays and Short Answer Questions. Media. Beliefs in Society. Introduction to Sociology.
The authors provide a clear chapter-by -chapter assessment of state violence, corruption, state involvement in organised and corporate crime, avoidable 'natural' disasters, torture, criminal policing, war crimes and genocide. Penny Green and Tony Ward put forward a powerful argument drawing from a range of disciplines including law ...
History and Overview of the Field of State Crime. The criminological study of state crime can be traced back to Edwin Sutherland (), who called attention to a then-neglected form of crime, namely, the crimes of respectable people in the context of a legitimate occupation and of corporations.His extension of the concept of crime, beyond its conventional parameters, provided an important ...
The study of crimes of the state is relatively new to the field of criminology. William Chambliss (1989) introduced the concept of "state-organized crime" in. his 1988 presidential address to the American Society of Criminology. Chambliss (1989: 184) argued that state-organized crime, which he characterized as "acts.
The uniting factors are the attempts to define state crime and to apply basic conceptual and theoretical positions from criminology (especially critical criminology) to specific cases of state crime. Chambliss, William J., Raymond Michalowski, and Ronald C. Kramer, eds. 2010. State crime in the global age.
Extending Passas and Goodwin's [35] argument to state crime, then, we may have three categories of state harms: state crimes, state crimes that technically do not include law breaking, and social harms caused by the state. State crimes would include all violations of domestic, international law and human rights law.
As well as his important contribution to sociology of law Chambliss made a seminal contribution to the study of state crime with his 1988 presidential address to the American Society of Criminology, "State-Organized Crime" (Chambliss 1993).This article, in which Chambliss further developed his dialectical approach, has been an important influence on our own research on state crime: in ...
8 views on control and punishment Top 5 influences on state crime. 8 Great - Crime and Media. Possible essay question on state crime and how I might answer it. Possible essay question on globalisation and crime and how I might answer it. 5 reasons - white collar crime. 5 reasons for working class crime. 5 reasons for Green Crime. 5 reasons ...
It critically evaluates a range of substantive areas of criminological concern, including terrorism, surveillance, violence and the media. State, Power, Crime provides: "historical overviews of key theories about state power. " assessment of the relationship between crime, criminal justice and the state. " analysis of the development of law and ...
Sometimes it fails to fulfill these responsibilities; in other cases, it actively harms people. There have been many instances of political corruption and state crime throughout history, with impacts that range from economic damage to physical injury to death—sometimes on a massive scale (e.g., economic recession, pollution/poisoning, genocide).
State crime can undermine the system of justice and it is 'above the law'. The capacity of the state to make the law enables it to avoid its own harmful actions as being defined as criminal. The state can also use the criminal justice system to control its enemies. Human rights and state crime One way of explaining state crime is by looking ...
Summary. While state crime is a relatively recent event in the discipline of criminology, tracing the roots of its modern form to the 1990s, it has attracted some of the best minds to research and theorize on the immense and fatal excesses of the modern nation state. State crime is defined most convincingly by Penny Green and Tony Ward as state ...
Abstract. This paper argues that the traditional construction of 'crime' is narrow and unnecessarily constrictive of criminological work. Most criminologists have traditionally relied on a 'legal' conception of crime which defines it as behavior in violation of the criminal law and liable for sanctioning by criminal justice agencies under the political authority of the state.
10 mark state crime - 10 mark essay question. 10 mark essay question. Subject. Sociology. ... Sociologists Green and Ward (2005) define state crime as 'illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by the state, or with the complicity of state agencies', this agrees with Item B's suggestion that state crime is committed by the state in ...
Sociology document from Cambridge College, 54 pages, 1 Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of labelling theory in explaining crime and deviance. (21 marks) 1. Labelling theory shed light on the labelling process that deems someone as criminal or deviant. E.g Becker argues someone
1. Victims of state crime tend to be among the least socially powerful actors. 2. Victimizers generally fail to recognize and understand the nature, extent, and harmfulness of institutional policies. If suffering and harm are acknowledged, it is often neutralized within the context of a sense of "entitlement.". 3.
Culture life of Ulyanovsk - is a part of biography of whole Russia, its achievements in the fields of art, literature, philosophy. Among our countrymen are thousands of famous people: poets and writers, politicians and actors, sportsmen and art workers. Historical facts and present-day fulfillments once more prove how rich and unique our land is.
Ulyanovsk Oblast is a region in the Middle Volga, which borders Penza Oblast to the west, Mordovia to the northwest, Chuvashia to the north, Tatarstan to the northeast, Samara Oblast to the east, and Saratov Oblast to the south. Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo: Savtelana, CC BY-SA 4.0.
State crime and green crime are two of the most difficult topics within Crime and Deviance for students, below are two possible short answer questions (with answers) which could come up on A-level sociology paper 3. Outline two sociological explanations of state crime (4) A modernization theory perspective would argue that it is only really ...
Ulyanovsk, [a] known as Simbirsk [b] until 1924, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River 705 kilometers (438 mi) east of Moscow.Ulyanovsk has been the only Russian UNESCO City of Literature since 2015.. The city was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born Ulyanov), for whom it was renamed after his death in 1924; and of Alexander Kerensky ...