crime and deviance - media Flashcards

Question

Explain cyber-violence (WALL)

Answer 1

Cyber-violence - doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm. Cyber-violence includes cyber-stalking (e.g. sending unwanted, threatening or offensive emails) and hate crimes against minority groups, as well as bullying by text

Answer 2

Global cyber-crime: Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly, because of the sheer scale of the Internet and the limited resources of the police, and also because its globalised nature which poses problems of jurisdiction (e.g. in which country should someone be prosecuted for an internet offence?). Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it is seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing

Answer 3

Globalisation refers to the increasing interconnectedness of societies, so that what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events and vice versa. The main causes of globalisation include: new information and communication technologies and the influence of global mass media, cheap air travel, the deregulation of financial and other markets and easier movement so that businesses can easily relocate to countries where profits will be greater.

Answer 4

Held et al (1999) suggest there has been a globalisation of crime – an interconnectedness of crime across national borders. Globalisation has created new opportunities for crime, new means of committing crime and new offences. Therefore, the same processes that have brought about the globalisation of legitimate activities have also brought about the spread of transnational organised crime. The global crime economy has both a demand side (for its products and services in the rich West) and a supply side (that provides the source of the drugs, sex workers etc. demanded in the West). Therefore, both the supply and demand side is linked to the globalisation process.

Answer 5

Castells (1998) claims that there is now a new global criminal economy worth over 1 trillion dollars per year. This takes a number of forms including: - drug trafficking - people trafficking - other trafficking offences such as nuclear materials, body parts, endangered species - smuggling of illegal immigrants - cybercrime - international terrorism - sex tourism - money laundering - green crimes - smuggling of goods

Answer 6

DRUG TRAFFICKING: The drug trade was the first illegal sector to maximise profits in a globalised world. Drugs grown in South American countries such as Columbia, and Afghanistan and Pakistan make their way to the UK and the US via well-established routes. Globalisation has made drug trafficking far quicker and easier and detection less likely. The more people and goods flow in and out of a country, the more chances for drugs to be smuggled in. The potential profits are immense and the human cost devastating. It has been estimated that illegal drug use is responsible for 52,000 American deaths each year.

Answer 7

PEOPLE TRAFFICKING: People trafficking is as old as history, but is made far easier and more profitable by globalisation. In the same way that drugs can be moved around the world, so can people. Adults are trafficked for prostitution, forced labour and the removal of organs. Children are trafficked for prostitution, illegal adoption, forced marriage, slavery and as soldiers. Traffickers use deception, coercion, fraud and/or abduction. According to a National Crime Agency and UK Human Trafficking Centre Report (2014), it is estimated that 3000-4000 women are trafficked every year into the UK by organised Eastern European gangs in order to work against their will as constrained sex workers

Answer 8

- arms/weapons trafficking - body parts - endangered species

Answer 9

ARMS to illegal regimes, terrorist and guerrilla groups, NUCLEAR MATERIALS especially from former communist countries

Answer 10

BODY PARTS for organ transplants in rich countries – (an estimated 2000 organs are annually taken from condemned or executed criminals in China),

Answer 11

ENDANGERED SPECIES or their body parts, for example to produce traditional remedies

Answer 12

SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: Criminals such as the Chinese Triads make an estimated $2.5 billion annually from smuggling immigrants into countries illegally. People (along with weapons, drugs etc.) can easily be trafficked via containers which can be interchanged between ships, trains and trucks. Containerisation refers to the growth of this type of crime. Global gangs may try to bribe port officials to ensure smooth passage of their criminal ‘merchandise’.

Answer 13

CYBERCRIME: Cybercrime is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world. It covers a wide range of activities including financial cons (online scams to extort money, e.g. phishing), computer hacking, virus attacks, creating websites that promote racial and religious hatred, stalking by email, identity theft, child pornography etc. Cybercrime has been made possible by the increased reliance on computers in homes and businesses and by the spread of the internet. It has been estimated that a new cybercrime is committed every 10 seconds in the UK alone, and most cybercrimes go undetected and unreported. Most cybercrime is in the form of hacking, much of it by teenagers doing it for fun rather than to make a profit, but some hackers have broken into banks’ computer systems to steal credit card numbers and account details. In 2015, Isis claimed to have hacked into the US military and government databases. Identity theft is when criminals find out someone’s personal details and use them to open bank accounts or get credit cards, loans, state benefits and personal documents such as passports.

Answer 14

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: Much terrorism is now based on ideological links made via the internet and other social media, rather than on local territorial links as in the past.

Answer 15

SEX TOURISM: Where Westerns travel to underdeveloped countries for sex, often with young people under the legal age.

Answer 16

MONEY LAUNDERING: Gained from the profits of organised crime, estimated at up to $1.5 trillion a year.

Answer 17

GREEN CRIMES: Crimes that damage the environment, such as the illegal dumping of toxic waste in underdeveloped countries

Answer 18

SMUGGLING OF GOODS: Legal goods such as alcohol and tobacco are smuggled to evade taxes and stolen goods, such as cars are smuggled and sold in foreign markets.

Answer 19

There are difficulties in investigating global crime: There is disagreement as to how to define global crime It is difficult to measure the precise extent of global crime There is no accurate way in which the value or cost of global crime can be estimated The impact of global crime on local crime rates is difficult to operationalise and therefore observe and measure Sociologists are over-reliant on secondary sources such as Interpol and Europol which may exaggerate the problem in order to justify extra funding Primary research into global crime is likely to be dangerous

Answer 20

Globalisation creates new global insecurities and produces a new mentality of ‘risk consciousness’. For example, the increased movement of people, as economic migrants seeking work or asylum seekers feeing prosecution have given rise to new anxieties about the risks of crime and disorder and the need to protect borders. Much of our knowledge about risks comes from the media, which often give an exaggerated view of the dangers we face. In the case of immigration, the media (often fuelled by politicians) creates moral panics. One result of this is the intensification of social control at a national level e.g. the UK has toughened border control fighting against the trend of globalisation and introduced fines for airlines if they bring in undocumented passengers. Other European countries with land borders have introduced fences, CCTV and thermal imaging devices to prevent illegal crossings.

Answer 21

The postmodernist Beck (2000) argues that the risks associated with global crime are the result of new technologies developed by industrial capitalism. The development of cyber of cyber and digital technology has produced a set of risks unique to our age and the main role of governments in late/post modernity is the management of such risks. For example, to prevent terrorists using such technology to bring harm to Western population by using the internet to recruit jihadists or to promote their cause.

Answer 22

According to Hobbs and Dunningham (2016) the way that crime is organised is linked to economic changes such as increased unemployment, brought about by de-industrialisation and globalisation. Globalisation resulted in the devastation of many manufacturing industries and communities and the removal of trade barriers also means that industries have been badly affected by competition from other nations.

Answer 23

One of the key sociologists writing in this area is Taylor (1997). Writing from a socialist perspective, he also looked at how global capitalism allows multinational corporations to move from country to country in the search for profitability. This he claims, has reduced job security and increased unemployment, particularly in the manufacturing sector, which has caused some young working-class males in particular to turn to crime. In addition, the increase in part-time and temporary jobs encourages the employment of people who are working illegally, especially illegal immigrants and those claiming benefits. It makes it more likely that employers pay low wages and ignore health and safety regulations. Conversely, the wealthy have been able to take advantage of the 24-hour digital global banking system and the existence of offshore global tax havens to avoid paying tax.

Answer 24

These trends combine with what Left Realists refer to as the increasingly materialistic consumerist culture promoted by the global media which portrays success in terms of a lifestyle of consumption. All of these factors create insecurity and widening inequalities that encourage people, particularly the poor to turn to crime. At the same time, globalisation creates criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups. For example, the deregulation of financial markets has created opportunities for insider trading and the movement of funds around the world to avoid taxation. Furthermore, it has led to new patterns of employment which have increased the use of subcontracting to recruit ‘flexible’ workers, often working illegally or employed for less than the minimum wage or working in breach of health and safety laws or other legislation. While this work highlights the links between global trends in the capitalist economy and changes in the pattern of crime, critics claim it does not adequately explain how the changes make people behave in criminal ways. For example, not all poor people commit crime.

Answer 25

Rothe and Friedrichs (2015) explore the role of international financial organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in what they call ‘crimes of globalisation’. These organisations are dominated by the major capitalist states who impose pro-capitalist, neoliberal economic ‘structural adjustment programmes’ on poor countries as a condition for the loans they provide – requiring them to privatise publicly-owned services, industries and natural resources and cut spending on health, welfare and education. This allows Western corporations to expand into these countries and creates the conditions for crime.

Answer 26

According to Hobbs and Dunningham (2016), the way that crime is organised is linked to economic changes such as increased unemployment, brought about by de-industrialisation and globalisation. Globalisation resulted in the devastation of many manufacturing industries and communities and the removal of trade barriers also means that industries have been badly affected by competition from other nations. Increasingly, it involves individuals with contacts acting as a ‘hub’ around which a loose-knit network forms, composed of other individuals seeking opportunities and often linking legitimate and illegitimate activities. They argue that this contrasts sharply with the large-scale, hierarchical ‘Mafia’ style criminal organisations of the past.

Answer 27

They observed two key patterns: Glocal organisation Mcmafia

Answer 28

‘Glocal’ organisation: This refers to the fact that whilst crimes often operate internationally they are still rooted in a local context, e.g. individuals need local contacts and networks to sell their drugs. Global criminal networks often serve and feed off established criminal networks in western countries. Therefore, crime is increasingly ‘glocal’ in character: it is still locally based but it has global connections. For example, those addicted to global crime products such as heroin and crack cocaine, are responsible for a great deal of domestic crime. Hobbs and Dunningham argue local prices for drugs and the profits made by British drug dealers depend on their availability, which in turn depends on how efficiently global drug trade gangs can move drugs around the world while avoiding detection. They claim that changes associated with globalisation have led to changes in patterns of crime, e.g. a shift from the old rigid hierarchical gang structure to lose networks of flexible, opportunistic, entrepreneurial criminals. However, it is not clear whether these patterns are new or that the older structures have disappeared – it may be that the two coexist.

Answer 29

McMafia: Glenny (2008) refers to the organisations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe following the fall of communism as ‘McMafia’. He traces the origins of transnational organised crime to the fall of communism and the break-up of the Soviet Union after 1989, which coincided with the deregulation of global markets. This led to anyone with access to funds (such as former communist officials and secret service generals) to buy up oil, gas, diamonds or metal for next to nothing. Selling them abroad for an astronomical profit, these individuals became Russia’s new capitalist class, popularly known as ‘oligarchs’. The collapse of the communist state heralded a period of increasing disorder and so to protect their wealth, they turned to ‘mafias’ that had emerged (these were often alliances between former secret service men and ex-convicts). Among the most ruthless were the Chechen mafia. Unlike older Italian and American mafias, which were based on ethnic and family ties with a clear-cut hierarchy, the Russian mafias were purely economic organisations formed to pursue self-interest. The Chechen mafia became a brand name sold to protection rackets in other towns and cities. These criminal organisations have been vital to the entry of the new Russian capitalist class in the world economy. These billionaires turned to mafia style criminal organisations to protect their wealth and as a means to move it out of the country and to build criminal links with other criminal organisations in other parts of the world.

Answer 30

The Marxist Castells (2010) also observed how the ‘perverse connection’ between global capitalism and crime was apparent in post-communist Russia. He claimed that corruption, speculation, privatisation, money laundering and investment merged as criminals were able to take advantage of the political and economic chaos, as the old communist system collapsed and took control of the economy and most of its business

Answer 31

TRADITIONAL CRIMINOLOGY: has not been concerned with environmental problems which are legal, e.g. legal pollution that causes global warming. SITU and EMMONS (2000) define environmental crime as ‘an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law’ and therefore only offences which damage the environment and break national or international laws would be the focus of analysis. However, an advantage of this approach to criminology is that is has a clearly defined subject matter. However, it is criticised for accepting official definitions of environmental problems and crimes – which are often shaped by powerful groups such as big business – to serve their own interests.

Answer 32

GREEN OR ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMINOLOGY extends the definition of what is seen as criminal beyond conventional law-breaking. This relatively new area of criminology is becoming increasingly relevant as environmental concerns take centre stage in the 21st globalised postmodern world. Much green crime, like climate change can be linked to globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of societies. Today, threats to the eco-system are increasingly global rather than local in nature. For example, atmospheric pollution from industry in one country can turn into acid rain that falls in another, poisoning its watercourses and destroying forests.

Answer 33

BECK (1992) puts green criminology in the context of major changes in society. He argues that we have entered a risk society. Technological developments have reduced the scarcity of goods so that today we can now provide adequate resources for all (or at least in the developed countries). However, the massive increase in productivity and the technology that sustains it have created new, ‘manufactured risks’ – dangers that we have never faced before, resulting in massive damage to the environment, increasing the risks of ‘human’ made disasters. The major risks we face today are of our making, rather than natural disasters (such as nuclear accidents and the effects of air pollution on health and the earth’s climate - global warming). BECK describes late modern society as a ‘global risk society’

Answer 34

GREEN CRIMINOLOGY takes a more radical approach and starts from the notion of harm rather than the criminal law. This field of study is called zemiology, from the Greek word for harm. It sees the actions which harm animal and plant species and the environment as a form of criminal activity whether or not they are illegal. LYNCH and STRETSKY (2003) and WHITE (2008) see criminology as the study of individuals or entities that harm the physical environment and/or the human and animals within it, even if no law has been broken. Many of the worst environmental harms are not illegal and so the focus of green criminology is much wider than that of traditional criminology. For this reason, green criminology and its zemiological approach, is a form of transgressive criminology as it transgresses the boundaries of traditional criminology, including new issues such as harms.

Answer 35

However, WHITE and other green and radical criminologists observe that: different countries have different laws, so the same harmful action may be a crime in one country but not in another – therefore, legal definitions do not provide a consistent standard. Furthermore, international law is inadequate and is weakly enforced - there is no global agency that has the power to police green law. By moving away from a legal definition, green criminology provides a global analysis of environmental harm.

Answer 36

In line with this approach, green criminologists take a similar stance to Marxists arguing that powerful interests, especially nation-states and transnational corporations are able to define in their own interests what counts as acceptable and unacceptable environmental harm. Reflecting this, HALSEY and WHITE (1998) believe that the World Bank, the global capitalist system and capitalist countries all put economic development before environmental well-being. Green crime generally tends to be carried out by companies or individuals with powerful interests, particularly transnational corporations such as oil and chemical companies working with the cooperation of nation states and local wealthy elites. For example, the US company Union Carbide was allowed to locate a dangerous chemical plant in a residential area of Bhopal, India

Answer 37

TWO VIEWS OF HARM: In general nation-states and transnational corporations adopt what WHITE (2008) calls an anthropocentric (human-centred) view of environmental harm which assumes that humans have the right to dominate nature for their own ends. Therefore, economic growth is put before the environment. This contrasts with an ecocentric view that sees humans and the environment as interdependent - the planet is a single ecosystem in which humans, animals and the environment are interconnected and interdependent. From this view, environmental harm hurts humans too. Supporters of this view, see both humans and the environment as liable to exploitation by global capitalism. In the main, green criminology adopts an ecocentric view as the basing for assessing environmental harm.

Answer 38

From a green criminology perspective, SOUTH (2014) classifies green crimes into two types, primary and secondary crimes

Answer 39

PRIMARY GREEN CRIMES: are crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources. He identifies four main types of primary crime: - Crimes of air pollution - Crimes of deforestation - Crimes of species decline and animal abuse - Crimes of water pollution

Answer 40

Crimes of air pollution: Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year. Carbon emissions are growing at approx. 2% per year, contributing to global warming. Governments, businesses and consumers are essentially the perpetrators of these crimes. WALTERS (2013) notes that twice as many people die now from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago.

Answer 41

Crimes of deforestation: Between 1960-1990, one-fifth of the world’s tropical rainforest was destroyed. In the Amazon, forest has been cleared to rear cattle for export and in the Andes, the ‘war on drugs’ has led to pesticide spraying to kill coca and marijuana plants – but has created a new green crime: destroying food crops, contaminating drinking water and causing illness. The criminals are the state and those who profit from deforestation, such as cattle ranchers and logging companies.

Answer 42

Crimes of species decline and animal abuse: 50 species a day are becoming extinct and 46% of mammal and 11% of bird species are at risk. 70-95% of earth’s species live in the rainforests, which are under threat (see point above). Animals and animal parts are trafficked and old crimes such as dog-fighting and badger-baiting are on the increase.

Answer 43

Crimes of water pollution: Half a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 25 million die annually from drinking contaminated water. Marine pollution threatens 58% of the world’s ocean reefs and 34% of its fish. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused massive harm to marine life and coasts. Criminals include businesses that dump toxic waste and governments that discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas.

Answer 44

SECONDARY GREEN CRIMES: are crimes that grow out of the flouting of rules aimed at the prevention or regulation of environmental disasters, e.g. governments who often break their own rules. SOUTH suggests two examples of secondary crimes: - state violence against oppositional groups - Hazardous waste and organised crime

Answer 45

State violence against oppositional groups: States condemn terrorism, but often commit similar illegal practices. DAY (1991) observes that governments that commit themselves to nuclear weapons or power tend to see anyone who oppose this policy as enemies of the state. For example, in 1985 the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour killing one crew member – it was there to prevent a green crime, French nuclear weapons testing in the south Pacific.

Answer 46

Hazardous waste and organised crime: Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal of toxic waste from the chemical, nuclear and other industries, businesses may seek to dispose of it illegally. For example, in Italy, ‘eco-mafias’ profit from illegal dumping of such waste. WALTERS (2007) notes that for decades the ocean floor has been used as a radioactive rubbish dump – 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off the Channel Islands as a result of being dumped by UK authorities and corporations in the 1950s. Significantly, illegal waste dumping has a global character. For example, waste illegally dumped by European companies washes up on the shores thousands of miles and western businesses ship their waste for processing in Third World countries where costs are lower and safety standards are often non-existent since less developed countries may lack the legislation to outlaw it. This illustrates the problems of law enforcement in a globalised world. SOUTH describes this as environmental discrimination – where poorer groups are worse affected by pollution. In the US, poor black communities often find their housing located next to polluting industries or waste dumps.

Answer 47

COHEN (2001) argues that the scope of criminology should be expanded to include crimes committed by the state and human rights abuses. States and their agents may commit crimes and illegal human rights abuses which contravene the laws of their own countries or binding international agreements. State crime is clearly an area of interest to Marxists as they view it as another example of the crimes of the powerful, (however much of the investigative work is done by journalists).

Answer 48

GREEN and WARD (2005) define state crime as ‘illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by, or with the complicity of state agencies.’ It includes all forms of crime committed by or on behalf of states and governments in order to further their policies

Answer 49

McLAUGHLIN (2001) identifies four categories of state crime: Political crimes Crimes by security and police forces: Economic crimes: Social and cultural crimes

Answer 50

Political crimes e.g. corruption and censorship

Answer 51

Crimes by security and police forces e.g. torture, inhumane treatment of prisoners, taking of hostages, disappearance of dissidents (protests/critique challenging of government authority), genocide

Answer 52

Economic crimes: e.g. linked to trade and official violations of health and safety rules e.g. Qatar - migrant waves

Answer 53

Social and cultural crimes: e.g. discriminatory actions/behaviour - institutional level e.g. china - uyghur

Answer 54

- scale of state crime - the state is source of law

Answer 55

The scale of state crime: The power of the state enables it to commit extremely large-scale crimes with widespread victimization. For example, in Cambodia between 1975 and 1978 the Khmer Rouge government of Pol Pot is believed to have killed up to two million people, a fifth of the country’s entire population. The state’s monopoly of violence gives it the potential to inflict massive harm, conceal its crimes and evade punishment. Although media attention is often on state crimes committed by Third World dictatorships, democratic states such as Britain and the US have also been guilty of crimes such as the military use of torture in Iraq, Northern Ireland and elsewhere. The ‘War on Terror’ has highlighted crimes committed by terrorists who are sometimes state sponsored, but also by national governments themselves. The USA has been accused of human rights abuses including torture and other such abuses have been reported in many countries including China, Iran and Burma. War crimes committed by the state include directing attacks against civilians, torture or the inhuman treatment of prisoners, taking hostages, using civilians as shields, using child soldiers and settlement of an occupied territory.

Answer 56

CHAMBLISS (1989) studies the crimes of the state from a Marxist perspective and found the US state was involved in money-laundering, arms smuggling and state-sponsored assassinations. McLAUGHLIN (2001) studied state crime from a Weberian perspective arguing that because the state claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of force, it can claim the right to use force whenever it is seen as in the public interest. However, there is often no consensus about what constitutes the public interest. For example, under international law, in all cases other than self-defence, war can only be declared by the UN Security Council. On this basis, many see the actions by the British and the US governments in Iraq and Afghanistan as illegal while the US and the UK governments see them as legitimate. KRAMER and MICHALOWSKI (2005) argue that to justify their invasion of Iraq in 2003 as self-defence, the US and UK knowingly made the false claim that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Answer 57

The state is the source of law: It is the state’s role to define what is criminal and manage the criminal justice system. State crime undermines the system of justice as its power to make the law also means that it can avoid defining its own harmful actions as criminal. For example, the British and US governments legitimise their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. State crimes are often covered up and rarely result in prosecutions because the state has the power to decide what offences are prosecuted. The principle of national sovereignty – that states are the supreme authority within their own borders – makes it difficult for external authorities such as the United Nations to intervene.

Answer 58

Domestic law: CHAMBLISS (1989) defines state crime as ‘acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state’. However, using a state’s own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the fact that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions. Furthermore, they can make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts.

Answer 59

Social harms and zemiology: This recognises that much of the harm done by states is not against the law. MICHALOWSKI (1985) therefore defines state crime as including not just illegal acts, but also ‘legally permissible acts whose consequences are similar to those of illegal acts’ in the harm they cause. Reflecting this, HILLYARD et al (2004) argue that we should take a much broader view of state wrongdoing by focusing on zemiology – the study of harms, whether or not they are against the law, e.g. state facilitated poverty. This approach prevents states from ruling themselves ‘out of court’ by making laws that allow them to misbehave. It also creates a single standard that can be applied to different states, however critics argue that a ‘harms’ approach is potentially too vague.

Answer 60

Labelling and societal reaction: Labelling theory argues that whether an act constitutes a crime depends on whether the social audience for that act defines it as a crime. The audience may witness the act either directly or indirectly, for example through the media. This definition recognises that state crime is socially constructed and what people regard as state crime can vary over time and between cultures or groups. However, this definition is even vaguer than the ‘social harms’ definition: who is the relevant audience or what happens if different audiences reach different verdicts? It also ignores the fact that audiences’ definitions may be manipulated by ruling class ideology, for example, the media may persuade the public to see a war as legitimate rather than criminal.

Answer 61

International law: Some sociologists base their definition of state crime on international law – that is, law created through treaties and agreements between states, such as Geneva and Hague Conventions on war crimes. For example, ROTHE and MULLINS (2008) define a state crime as any action by or on behalf of a state that violates international law and/or a state’s own domestic law. An advantage of this definition is that it uses globally agreed definitions of state crime and international law is intentionally designed to deal with state crime, unlike most domestic law. However, international law is a social construction involving the use of power and it neglects state crimes such as corruption, focusing more on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Answer 62

Human Rights crimes: One particular approach to the study of state crime is through the notion of human rights. Whilst there is no single definition of what constitutes human rights, most agree that it includes: (a) Natural rights: that people are regarded as having simply by existing, such as rights to life, liberty, free speech etc. and (b) Civil rights: such as the right to vote, to privacy, to a fair trial or to an education. Therefore, a right is an entitlement to something; as such it acts as a protection against the power of the state over an individual.

Answer 63

Critical criminologists such as SCHWENDINGER and SCHWENDINGER (1970) argue that we should define crime in terms of the violation of basic human rights rather than the breaking of legal rules. Therefore, states that deny individuals’ human rights must be regarded as criminal – states that practise imperialism, racism, sexism or economic exploitation are committing crimes because they are denying people their basic rights. Therefore, this approach is an example of transgressive criminology, since it goes beyond the traditional boundaries of criminology, as defined by the criminal law.

Answer 64

From a human rights perspective, the state can be seen as a perpetrator of crime and not simply the authority that defines and punishes crime. In this view, the definition of crime is inevitably political. For example, in the 1930s, the Nazi state attacked the human rights of Jews and other German citizens in a perfectly legal manner by simply passing laws that persecuted them. Therefore they believe that accepting only a legal definition of crime (i.e. what the state says is a crime) means we would become subservient to the state that makes the law. For them, the role of the sociologist, is to defend human rights, if necessary against the state and its laws.

Answer 65

As stated above, the SCHWENDINGER’S view is an example of transgressive criminology, as it oversteps the traditional boundaries of criminology defined by criminal law. However, COHEN (2001) criticises their view arguing that some acts such as economic exploitation, whilst morally unacceptable are not self-evidently criminal. Furthermore, other critics point out that is a lack of agreement on what counts as human rights, e.g. freedom from poverty? There are also disagreements about what counts as a human right. While most would include life and liberty, some would not include freedom from hunger. However, GREEN and WARD (2012) counter this with the view that liberty is not much use if people are malnourished to exercise it.

Answer 66

Although COHEN criticises the SCHWENDINGER’S, he accepts that the issue of human rights and state crime as increasingly central to political debate and criminology. He is particularly interested in the ways in which states conceal and legitimate their human rights crimes. He argues that while dictatorships generally deny committing human rights abuses, democratic states have to legitimate their actions in more complex ways. In doing so, their justifications follow a three-stage ‘spiral of state denial’:

Answer 67

Stage 1: "it doesn't/didn't happen" - the state may claim that there hasn't been a human rights violation/massacre. However, human rights organisations/victims/media has shown something happened stage 2: "If it did happen, it is something else" - Here the state would claim that it is not what it looks like e.g. self defence (deny it) stage 3: "Even if it is what you say it is, it's 'justified'" - to protect national security or fight the war on terror

Answer 68

COHEN examines the ways in which states and their officials deny or justify their crimes. Drawing on the ideas of SYKES and MATZA (1957), who identify five neutralisation techniques employed by delinquents to justify their actions, COHEN argues that states use the same techniques when they attempt to justify human rights violations: Denial of Victim: "It's exaggerated, they are terrorists, they are use to violence, look what they do to each other" Denial of Injury: The state will claim that they are real victims or claim they started it/launched the first missile etc Denial of Responsibility: "I was only obeying orders, I was doing my duty" - where agencies of the state argue that they are not the perpetrators just following orders" Condemning the Condemners: "The whole world is picking on us, it is worse elsewhere" - states condemn and criticise the condemners e.g. USA criticise Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia criticises the US Appeal to a higher loyalty: self-righteous justification / they appeal to a higher cause e.g the nation state, their religion, the free-world These techniques do not seek to deny that the event has taken place, rather ‘they seek to negotiate or impose a different construction of the event from what might appear to be the case’.

Answer 69

The Authoritarian Personality: Adorno et al (1950) identify an ‘authoritarian personality’ that includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question. They argue that at the time of WW2, many Germans had authoritarian personality types due to the punitive, disciplinarian socialisation patterns that were common at the time. It also often thought that people who carry out torture and genocide must be psychopaths. However, research suggests that there is little psychological difference between them and ‘normal’ people

Answer 70

Crimes of Obedience: Crime is usually defined as deviance form social norms. However, state crimes are crimes of conformity, since they require obedience to a higher authority – conformity to the state. Research suggests that many people are prepared to obey authority even when this involves harming others. Sociologists argue that such actions are part of a role into which people are socialised. KELMAN and HAMILTON (1989) provide insights into the social conditions of such crimes where atrocities become acceptable or even required. From their study of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where a platoon of US soldiers killed 400 civilians, they identify three general features that enable crimes of obedience to be committed

Answer 71

KELMAN and HAMILTON (1989) provide insights into the social conditions of such crimes where atrocities become acceptable or even required. From their study of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where a platoon of US soldiers killed 400 civilians, they identify three general features that enable crimes of obedience to be committed: Authorisation - acts are ordered and approved by those in authority - the norm is to obey authority/have a duty to obey Routinisation - once committed, there is a strong pressure to turn the act into routine - if it becomes routine, individuals can perform the act in a detached manner Dehumanisation - if the enemy is portrayed as sub-human e.g a monster, animal or evil. The usual principles of reality cease to apply

Answer 72

Modernity: Unlike many commentators who interpreted the Nazi Holocaust as a breakdown in modern civilisation and a reversion to pre-modern barbarism, BAUMAN (1989) takes the opposite vie claiming that it was key features of modernity that made it possible: A division of labour: each person was responsible for one small task so no one person felt fully responsible / personally responsible for the atrocity or genocide Bureaucratisation: killing was normalised by making it repetitive rule governed and routine - just a job Instrumental rationality: where rational efficient methods are used to achieve goals - to achieve genocide e.g. concentration camps Science and technology: From the trains transporting to the death camps to the individuals turning on the gas to kill them - technology and scientific advancement were harnessed/used efficiently For BAUMAN, the Holocaust was the result not of a breakdown of civilisation, but of the very existence of modern rational-bureaucratic civilisation; a modern industrialised mass production ‘factory’ system, where the product was mass murder.

Answer 73

Using a states own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the reality that states have the power to make laws and so they can avoid criminalising their own actions. They can make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts e.g., the German Nazi state passed a law permitting it to compulsory sterilise the disabled.

Answer 74

- This definition prevents states from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow them to misbehave - It creates a single standard that can be applied to different states - Critics argue, that a harms definition is vague and makes the field of study too wide; what level of harm must occur before an act is defined as a crime? Who decides what counts as harm? It replaces the states arbitrary definition of crime with the sociologists equally arbitrary definition.

Answer 75

this definition can be considered even vaguer than the previous one as different audiences may reach different verdicts about an act.- it ignores the fact that audiences definitions can be manipulated, e.g. the media could persuade the public to see a war as legitimate rather than criminal

Answer 76

it uses a globally agreed definition. - international law has the advantage of being intentionally designed to deal with state crime, unlike most domestic law. - it does not depend on the sociologists own definition of harm or who the social audience is. However, international law is still socially constructed reflecting power.- international law focuses largely on war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than crimes such as corruption.

Answer 77

- domestic law of states to define state crime is inadequate as it ignores the fact that states have the power to make law - so avoid discriminating against their own actions - states can still make laws allowing them to carry out harmful acts - social harm and zemiology approach is too vague - labelling theory ignores the fact that audiences definitions of state crime may be manipulated by RC ideology e.g. Media - International law is a social construction as it involves the use of power and it neglects state crimes - Green and Ward would criticise the argument on human rights crime as liberty or civil rights cannot be used if people are malnourished to exercise it - not all genocides occur through a highly organised division of labour that allows participants to distance themselves e.g Rwandan genocide

Answer 78

The Guardian Article 1: ‘FBI files detail Guantánamo torture tactics’: Mark Tran, Wednesday 3 January 2007 Captives at Guantánamo Bay were chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor for 18 hours or more, urinating and defecating on themselves, an FBI report has revealed. The accounts of mistreatment were contained in FBI documents as part of a lawsuit involving the American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties group. In the 2004 inquiry, the FBI asked nearly 500 employees who had served at Guantánamo Bay to report possible mistreatment by law enforcement or military personnel. Twenty-six incidents were reported, some of which had emerged in earlier document releases. Besides being shackled to the floor, detainees were subjected to extremes of temperature. One witness said he saw a barefoot detainee shaking with cold because the air conditioning had bought the temperature close to freezing. On another occasion, the air conditioning was off in an unventilated room, making the temperature over 38C (100F) and a detainee lay almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been pulling out his hair throughout the night. In October 2002, one interrogator squatted over a copy of the Qur'an during intensive questioning of a Muslim prisoner, who was "incensed" by the tactic, according to an FBI agent. On another occasion, an agent was asked by a "civilian contractor" to come and see something. "There was an unknown bearded longhaired detainee gagged with duct tape that had covered much of his head," the FBI document said. When the FBI officer asked if the detainee had spit at interrogators, the "contractor laughingly replied that he’d had been chanting the Qur'an non-stop. No answer how they planned to remove the duct tape," the report said. After an erroneous report of Qur'an abuse prompted deadly protests overseas in 2005, the US military conducted an investigation that confirmed five incidents of intentional and unintentional mishandling of the book at the detention facility. It acknowledged that soldiers and interrogators had kicked the Qur'an, had stood on it and, in one case, inadvertently sprayed urine on a copy. An FBI agent called W also heard that female interrogators would sometimes wet their hands and touch detainees' faces in order to disrupt their prayers. Such actions would make some Muslims consider themselves unclean so they would stop praying. The detention of terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay has been strongly criticised by human rights groups. In a rebuff for the Bush administration, the US Supreme Court last year rejected its claims that detainees at the facility were not entitled to the protection under the Geneva Convention.

Answer 79

The Guardian Article 2: ‘Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN’: Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont, Friday 24 February 2012 The UN has accused the Syrian regime of "crimes against humanity" – including the use of snipers against small children – and has drawn up a list of senior officials who should face investigation, reportedly including President Bashar al-Assad. The UN report was delivered as two journalists injured in the attack that killed Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Rémi Ochlik issued dramatic appeals to be evacuated from the besieged city of Homs, where they are trapped. Western officials urged Damascus to give immediate humanitarian access to trapped civilian populations in Homs and elsewhere, including the evacuation of the western journalists, but said the lack of a security council mandate meant they were powerless to provide assistance without the regime's permission. The UN report found evidence that "army snipers and Shabbiha gunmen [from pro-Assad militias] posted at strategic points terrorised the population, targeting and killing small children, women and other unarmed civilians. Fragmentation mortar bombs were also fired into densely populated neighbourhoods." It said: "Security agencies continued to systematically arrest wounded patients in state hospitals and to interrogate them, often using torture, about their supposed participation in opposition demonstrations or armed activities." The list of Syrian regime officials claimed to be involved in the crackdown will remain sealed until the alleged crimes can be investigated by an international human rights court. Such an investigation has so far been blocked by Russian and Chinese UN Security Council vetoes of concerted international action against the Damascus regime. The UN inquiry said it found "a reliable body of evidence" implicating "commanding officers and officials at the highest levels of government" in the commission of "crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations". Although no names were released, Assad was reported to be top of the list. The report also says rebel groups, known collectively as the Free Syrian Army, have committed torture and extra-judicial executions, but argues those violations are in no way "comparable in scale and organisation" to the abuses being carried out by the Assad regime, which have led to thousands of deaths. "I am appalled by the evidence that young children are being targeted by snipers, and that security forces continue to arrest and torture wounded patients in state hospitals," said Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East. "I am also very concerned at evidence of abuses by the Free Syrian Army, though the report makes clear these are on a far smaller scale than the widespread and systematic violations by the Syrian authorities. I call on all Syrians to respect human rights standards, end the violence immediately and ensure neutral and impartial access for humanitarian organisations to deliver desperately needed supplies and medical care." UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby on Thursday yesterday appointed Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

Answer 80

The outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, has said that China had committed “serious human rights violations” against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province which may amount to crimes against humanity. Bachelet’s damning report was published with only 11 minutes to go before her term came to an end at midnight Geneva time. Publication was delayed by the eleventh-hour delivery of an official Chinese response that contained names and pictures of individuals that had to be blacked out by the UN commissioner’s office for privacy and safety reasons. The Chinese government, which attempted until the last moment to stop the publication of the report, rejected it as an anti-China smear, while Uyghur human rights groups hailed it as a turning point in the international response to the programme of mass incarceration. The 45-page report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded: “The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Beijing, which attempted until the last moment to stop the publication of the report, said in an official response that it was “based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces” and that it “wantonly smears and slanders” China and interfered in the country’s internal affairs. Human rights organisations welcomed Bachelet’s report. Omer Kanat, the executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project pressure group said it was “a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis”. “Despite the Chinese government’s strenuous denials, the UN has now officially recognized that horrific crimes are occurring,” Kanat said. Over the past five years, China swept an estimated million Uyghurs and other minority groups into internment camps which it termed training centres. Some of the centres have since been closed but there are still thought to be hundreds of thousands still incarcerated. In several hundred cases families had no idea about the fate of relatives who had been detained. Out of 26 former inmates interviewed by UN investigators, two-thirds “reported having been subjected to treatment that would amount to torture and/or other forms of ill-treatment”. The abuses described included beatings with electric batons while being strapped in a “tiger chair” (to which inmates are strapped by their hands and feet), extended solitary confinement, as well as what appeared to be a form of waterboarding, “being subjected to interrogation with water being poured in their faces”. The US and some other countries have said the mass incarceration of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, the destruction of mosques and communities and forced abortion and sterilisation, amount to genocide. The UN report does not mention genocide but says allegations of torture, including force medical procedures, as well as sexual violence were all “credible”. It said that the authorities had deemed violations of the three-child official limit on family size to be an indicator of “extremism”, leading to internment. “Several women interviewed by OHCHR raised allegations of forced birth control, in particular forced IUD [intrauterine device] placements and possible forced sterilisations with respect to Uyghur and ethnic Kazakh women. Some women spoke of the risk of harsh punishments including “internment” or “imprisonment” for violations of the family planning policy,” the report said.

crime and deviance - media Flashcards

(104 cards)