state crime Flashcards
(11 cards)
explain the case study of genocide in Rwanda
the UN defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethical or religious group.
In 100 days, 800,000 tutsis along with some Hutus were slaughtered, legitimated with dehumanizing labels describing tutsis as cockroaches
a third of the hutu population were estimated to have participated in the genocide
explain state corporate crime
kramer and michalowski distinguish between:
state initiated corporate crime - the challenger space shuttle disaster - negligent and cost-reducing decisions resulted in disaster
State facilitated corporate crime - the deep water horizon oil rig disaster - states fail to control corporate behaviour.
war crime
illegal wars - in all cases other than self defence, war can only be declared by UN security council.
kramer and michalowski - to justify invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Uk and USA knowingly made the false claim that Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction
crimes committed in war or aftermath - Iraqi war including torture of prisoners (Kramer and Michalowski)
labelling and societal reaction
whether an act constitutes a crime depends on whether social audience for that act defines it as a crime
state crime Is socially constructed - Kauzlarich’s study of anti-iraq war protesters found that while they saw the war as harmful they were unwilling to label it as criminal.
domestic law
chambliss - 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.
Using a state’s own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate - ignores that states have the power to make the law.
social harms and zemiology
michalowski also defines state crime as legally permissable acts whose consequences are similar to that of illegal acts.
Hillyard et al argues that we should take a wider view of state wrongdoing through zemiology
definition prevents states from ruling themselves out of court by making laws that allow themselves to misbehave.
the authoritarian personality
adorno et al - includes willingness to obey orders of superiors without question. At the time of the second world war, many germans had authoritarian personality due to punitive disciplinarian discourse patterns common at the time
explain the relationship between modernity and state crime
the Nazi holocaust represents breakdown of modern civilisation and a reversion to premodern barbarism
bauman takes the opposite view - it has certain key features of modern society that made the Holocaust possible
- division of labour
- bureaucratisation
- instrumental rationality
how do some sociologists use human rights to define state crime
natural rights - people have simply by existing
civil rights - right to vote, to education etc.
Herman and schwendinger - we should define state crime as a violation of human rights
crimes of obedience
state crimes are crimes of conformity since they require obligation to higher authority
research suggests that many are willing to obey authority even when it involves harming others.
Green and Ward - in order to overcome harms against use of cruelty, individuals who become torturers often need to be resocialized. States create enclaves of barbarism where torture is practiced such as military bases segregated from wider society
kelman and Hamilton - identify 3 features producing crimes of obedience:
- authorisation - moral duties replaced with duty to obey
- routinization
- dehumanisation
the culture of denial
Alvarez - recent years have seen growing impact of international human rights movement
Cohen - states make a great effort to conceal human rights crimes
stage 1 - state claims nothing happens
stage 2 - state claims it was something else
stage 3 - state claims that its justified
technniques of neutralisation
denial of victims
denial of injury
condemning the condemners
appeal to higher loyalty
