Sociology-crime-globalisation, green crime, human rights, state crime Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Sociology-crime-globalisation, green crime, human rights, state crime Deck (116)
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1
Q

What is globalisation?

A

The growing interconnectedness of societies, so that what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events and vice versa

2
Q

How does Held et al define globalisation?

A

As the widening, deepening and speeding up of world wide interconnectedness in all aspects of life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual

3
Q

What are the causes of globalisation?

A

Globalisation has many causes, these include the spread of new information and communication technologies and the influence of global mass media, cheap air travel, the deregulation of financial and other markets and their opening up to competition, and easier movements so that businesses can easily relocate to countries where profits will be greater

4
Q

What does Held et al suggest about crime?

A

There has also been a globalisation of crime-an increasing interconnectedness of crime across national borders. The same processes that have brought about the globalisation of legitimate activities have also brought about the spread of transnational organised crime. Globalisation creates new opportunities for crime, new means of committing crime and new offences, such as various cyber crimes

5
Q

What does Castells argue about the result of globalisation?

A

There is now a global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum, which takes a number of forms

6
Q

What are examples of crimes that are made possible by globalisation?

A

Arms trafficking, trafficking in nuclear materials, smuggling of illegal immigrants, trafficking in women and children, sex tourism, trafficking in body parts, cyber crimes, green crimes, international terrorism, smuggling of legal goods to evade taxes/sell to foreign markets, trafficking in cultural artefacts, trafficking in endangered species or their body parts, the drugs trade, and money laundering

7
Q

What are the two parts to the global criminal economy?

A

It has a demand side and a supply side. Part of the reason for the scale of transnational organised crime is the demand for its products and services in the rich West. However, the global criminal economy could not function without a supply side that provides the source of the drugs, sex workers and other goods and services demanded in the west

8
Q

What is the supply of the global criminal economy linked to?

A

The globalisation process. Eg Third World drugs-producing countries such as Colombia, Peru and Afghanistan have large populations of impoverished peasants. For these groups, drug cultivation is an attractive option that requires little investment in technology and commands high prices compared with traditional crops. In Colombia for instance, an estimated 20% of the population depends on cocaine production for their livelihood, and cocaine outsells all Colombia’s other exports combined. To understand drug crime, we cannot confine our attention merely to the countries where the drugs are consumed

9
Q

What is ‘risk consciousness’?

A

Globalisation creates new insecurities and produces a new mentality of ‘risk consciousness’ in which risk is seen as global rather than tied to particular places. Eg the increased movement of people, as economic migrants seeking work or as asylum seekers fleeing persecution, has given rise to anxieties among populations in Western countries about the risks of crime and disorder and the need to protect their borders. Whether such fears are rational or not is a different matter

10
Q

Where does knowledge of ‘risk consciousness’ come from?

A

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 create moral panics about the supposed ‘threat’, often fuelled by politicians. Negative coverage of immigrants, portrayed as terrorists or as scroungers ‘flooding’ the country, has led to hate crimes against minorities in several European countries including the UK

11
Q

What is a result of global risk consciousness?

A

The intensification of social control at national level. UK has toughened its border control regulations, eg fining airlines if they bring in undocumented passengers. Similarly, the UK now has no legal limits on how lone someone may be held in immigration detention. Other European stats with land borders have introduced fences, CCTV, and thermal imaging devices to prevent illegal crossings. Another result of globalised risk is the increased attempts at international cooperation and control in the various ‘wars’ on terror, drugs and crime-particularly since the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001

12
Q

What does Taylor argue about globalisation?

A

Writing from a socialist perspective, he argues globalisation has led to changes in the pattern and extent of crime. By giving free rein to market forces, globalisation has created greater inequality and rising crime

13
Q

How has globalisation created crime at both ends of the social spectrum?

A

It has allowed transnational corporations to switch manufacturing low-wage countries, producing job insecurity, unemployment and poverty. Deregulation means that governments have little control over their own economies, eg to create jobs or raise taxes, while state spending on welfare has declined. Marketisation has encouraged people to see themselves as individual consumers, calculating the personal costs and benefits of each action, undermining social cohesion. As left realists note, the increasingly materialistic culture promoted by the global media portrays success in terms of a lifestyle of consumption

14
Q

What do factors of globalisation and crime create?

A

Insecurity and widening inequalities that encourage people, especially the poor, to turn to crime. The lack of legitimate job opportunities destroys self-respect and drives the unemployed to look for illegitimate ones, for instance, in the lucrative drugs trade. Eg in Los Angeles, de-industrialisation has led to growth of drugs gangs numbering 10,000 members

15
Q

At the same time, how does globalisation create criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups?

A

Eg the deregulation of financial markets has created opportunities for insider trading and movement of funds around the globe to avoid taxation. Similarly, the creation of transnational bodies such as the European Union has offered opportunities for fraudulent claims for subsidies, estimated at over $7 billion per annum in the EU

16
Q

How has globalisation affected employment?

A

It has led to new patterns of employment, which have created new opportunities for crime. It has led to increased 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 or other labour laws

17
Q

Why is Taylor’s theory useful?

A

It is useful in linking global trends in the capitalist economy to changes in the pattern of crime. However, it does not adequately explain how the changes make people behave in criminal ways. Eg, not all poor people turn to crime

18
Q

What do Rothe and Friedrichs look at?

A

They examine the role of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in what they call ‘crimes of globalisation’

19
Q

What are international organisations?

A

These organisations are dominated by major capitalist states. Eg the World Bank has 188 member countries, yet just five (USA, Japan, Germany, Britain, France) hold over a third of voting rights

20
Q

What do Rothe and Friedrichs argue about these international organisations?

A

They impose pro-capitalist, neoliberal economic ‘structural adjustment programmes’ on poor countries as a condition for the loans they provide. These programmes often require governments to cut spending on health and education, and to privatise publicly-owned services (such as water supply), industries and natural resources. While this allows Western corporations to expand into these countries, it creates conditions for crime

21
Q

What did Rothe et al show?

A

They showed how the programme imposed on Rwanda in the 1980s caused mass unemployment and created the economic basis for the 1994 genocide

22
Q

What does Cain suggest?

A

In some ways, the IMF and World Bank act as a ‘global state’ and, while they may not break any laws, their actions can cause widespread social harms both directly, through cutting welfare spending, and indirectly, as in the Rwandan case

23
Q

What are examples of how globalisation and de-industrialisation have created new criminal opportunities and patterns at a local level?

A

Winlow’s study of bouncers in Sunderland. Also a study of post-industrial town by Hobbs and Dunningham, who found that thew ay crime is organised is linked to the economic changes brought by globalisation. 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. Hobbs and Dunningham argue this contrasts with the large-scale, hierarchical ‘Mafia’-style criminal organisations of the past, such as that headed by the Kray brothers in East End of London

24
Q

What are ‘glocal’ organisations?

A

New forms of organisation sometimes have international links, especially with the drugs trade, but crime is still rooted in its local context. Eg individuals still need local contracts and networks to find opportunities and to sell their drugs. Hobbs and Dunningham conclude crime works as a ‘glocal’ system. It is locally based still, but with global connections. This means the form it takes will vary from place to place, according to local conditions, even if it is influenced by global factors such as availability of drugs from abroad

25
Q

What do Hobbs and Dunningham conclude about patterns of criminal organisation?

A

Changes associated with globalisation have led to changes in patterns of crime. However, it is not clear that such patterns are new, nor that the older structures have disappeared. It may be that the two have always co-existed. Equally their conclusions may not be generalisable to other criminal activities elsewhere

26
Q

What is another example of the relationship between criminal organisation and globalisation?

A

What Glenny calls ‘McMafia’. This refers to the organisations that emerged in Russia and Eastern Europe following the fall of communism-itself a major factor in the process of globalisation

27
Q

What does Glenny trace the origins of transnational organised crime back to?

A

The break-up of the Soviet Union after 1989, which coincided with the deregulation of global markets. Under communism, Soviet state had regulated prices of everything, but following fall of communism, Russian government deregulated most sectors of economy except for natural resources such as oil. These commodities remained at old Soviet prices, often only a 40th of world market price. Anyone with access to funds, such as former communist officials and KGB generals, could buy up oils, gas, diamonds or metals for next to nothing. Selling them abroad at an astronomical profit, these individuals became Russia’s new capitalist class, often popularly referred to as ‘oligarchs’

28
Q

What did the collapse of the communist state lead to a period of?

A

A period of increasing disorder. To protect their wealth, capitalists therefore turned to ‘mafias’ that had begun to spring up. These were often alliances between former KGB men and ex-convicts. Among the most ruthless were the Chechen mafia

29
Q

How were these mafias unlike the old Italian and American mafias?

A

The old mafias were based on ethnic and family ties, with a clear-cut hierarchy. The new Russian mafias were purely economic organisations formed to pursue self-interest. Eg the Chechen mafia originated in Chechnya, but soon began to ‘franchise’ its operations to non-Chechen groups. ‘Chechen mafia’ became a brand name that they sold to protection rackets in other towns, so long as they always carried out their word, otherwise the brand would be damaged

30
Q

How did these mafias help globalise crime?

A

With the assistance of these fluid and violent organisations, the billionaires were able to find protection for their wealth and a means of moving it out of the country. Criminal organisations were vital to the entry of the new Russian capitalist class in the world economy. At the same time, the Russian mafias were able to build links with criminal organisations in other parts of the world

31
Q

How can green or environmental crime be defined?

A

As crime against the environment. Much of it is linked to globalisation and the increasing interconnectedness of societies. Regardless of the division of the world into separate nation-states, the planet is a single eco-system, and threats to the eco-system are increasingly global rather than just local in nature, eg atmospheric pollution from industry in one country can turn to acid rain that falls in another, poisons its watercourses and destroys its forests. Similarly accidents in nuclear industry

32
Q

Where do most threats to human well being and the ecosystem now come from?

A

They are now human-made rather than natural

33
Q

What does Beck argue about today’s late modern society?

A

we can now provide adequate resources for all (at least in developed countries). However, the massive increase in productivity and technology that sustains it, have created new, ‘manufactured risks’-dangers that we have never faced before. Many of these risks involve harm to the environment and its consequences for humanity, such as global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from industry

34
Q

How does Beck describe today’s society?

A

Like climate change, many of these risks are global rather than local in nature, leading Beck to describe late modern society as ‘global risk society’. An example of how the global nature of human-made risk can produce crime and disorder comes from Mozambique in 2010

35
Q

What is the Mozambique example for ‘global risk society’?

A

In Russia, global warming triggered the hottest heatwave in a century, causing wildfires that destroyed parts of the country’s grain belt. This shortage led Russia to introduce export bans and pushed up the world price of grain. The knock-on effect in Mozambique, which is heavily dependant on food imports, was a 30% rise in the price of bread. This sparked extensive rioting and looting of food stores that left dozens dead. Mozambique’s own harvest had been hit by drought, possibly also the result of global warming. At the same time, international speculators were engaging in what the World Development Movement called ‘gambling on hunger in financial markets’ (Patel)

36
Q

What are two types of criminology that answer the question of ‘What if the pollution that causes global warming or aid rain is perfectly legal and no crime has been committed?’?

A

Traditional criminology, and green criminology

37
Q

What does traditional criminology argue?

A

Has not been concerned with such behaviour, since its subject matter defined by the criminal law, and law has been broken. The starting point for this approach is the national and international laws and regulations concerning the environment. For example, Situ and Emmons define environmental crime as ‘an unauthorised act or omission that violates the law’. Like other traditional approaches in criminology, it investigates the patterns and causes of law breaking

38
Q

What is an advantage of traditional criminology?

A

It 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

39
Q

What is green criminology?

A

Takes a more radical approach. It starts from the notion of harm rather than criminal law

40
Q

What does green criminology argue?

A

For example White argues that the proper subject of criminology is any action that harms the physical environment and/or the human and non-human animals within it, even if no law has been broken. In fact, many of the worst environmental harms are not illegal, and so the subject matter of green criminology is such wider than that of traditional criminology. For this reason, green criminology is a form of transgressive criminology-it oversteps the boundaries of traditional criminology to include new issues

41
Q

What is green criminology also known as?

A

It also known as ‘zemiology’-the study of harms. Furthermore, different countries have different laws, so that the same harmful actions may be a crime in one country but not in another. Therefore, legal definitions cannot provide a consistent stand of harm, since they are the product of individual nation-states and their political processes. By moving away from a legal definition, therefore, green criminology can develop a global perspective on environmental harm

42
Q

What is green criminology approach similar to?

A

This approach is like the Marxist view of ‘crimes of the powerful’. Marxists argue that the capitalist class are able to shape the law and define crime so that their own exploitative activities are not criminalised or, where they are, to ensure that enforcement is weak. Similarly, green criminologists argue that powerful interests, especially nation-states and transnational corporations, are able to define in their own interests what counts as unacceptable environmental harm

43
Q

What does White talk about?

A

In general, nation-states and transnational corporations adopt what White calls an anthropocentric or human-centred view of environmental harm, which assumes that humans have a right to dominate nature for their own ends, and puts economic growth before the environment

44
Q

What does White contrast the anthropocentric view with?

A

An ecocentric view that sees human and their environment as interdependent, so that environmental harm hurts humans also-this view sees both humans and the environment as liable to exploitation, particularly by global capitalism. In general, green criminology adopts the ecocentric view as the basis for judging environmental harm

45
Q

What are types of green crimes?

A

From a green criminology perspective, South classifies green crimes into two types: Primary and Secondary

46
Q

What are primary green crimes?

A

These are crimes that result directly from the destruction and degradation of the earth’s resources. South 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

47
Q

What are crimes of air pollution?

A

Burning fossil fuels from industry and transport adds 6 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year and carbon emissions are growing at around 2% per annum, contributing to global warming. The potential criminal are governments, business and consumers. According to Walters, twice as many people now die from air pollution-induced breathing problems as 20 years ago

48
Q

What are crimes of deforestation?

A

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

49
Q

What are crimes of species decline and animal abuse?

A

50 species a day are becoming extinct, and 45% of mammal and 11% of bird species are at risk. 70-95% of earth’s species live in the rainforests which are under severe threat. There is trafficking in animals and animal parts. Meanwhile, old crimes such as dog-fights and badger-baiting are on the increase

50
Q

What are crimes of water pollution?

A

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 governments and discharge untreated sewage into rivers and seas

51
Q

What are secondary green crimes?

A

These crimes grow out of the flouting of rules aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters. For example, governments often break their own regulations and cause environmental harms. South suggests two examples secondary crimes: state violence against oppositional groups, and hazardous waste and organised crime

52
Q

What is state violence against oppositional groups?

A

States condemn terrorism, but they have been prepared to resort to similar illegal methods themselves. For example, in 1985 the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, killing one crew member. The vessel was there in an attempt to prevent green crime, namely French nuclear weapons testing in the south Pacific. Day says, ‘in every case where a government has committed itself to nuclear weapons or nuclear power, all those who oppose this policy are treated in some degree as enemies of the state’

53
Q

What is hazardous waste and organised crime?

A

Disposal of toxic waste from the chemical, nuclear and other industries is highly profitable. Because of the high costs of safe and legal disposal, businesses may seek to dispose of such waste illegally. For example, in Italy, eco-mafias profit from illegal dumping, much of it at sea. Walters notes, ‘the ocean floor has been a radioactive rubbish dump for decades’. For example, 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lie on the seabed off the Channel Islands, reportedly dumped by UK authorities and corporations in the 1950s

54
Q

What does illegal dumping often have?

A

A globalised character. For example, Bridgland describes how, after the tsunami of 2004, hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste, illegally dumped by European companies, washed up on the shores of Somalia. In other cases, Western businesses ship their waste to be processed in Third World countries where costs are lower and safety standards are often non-existent. For example, as Rosoff et al note, the cost of legitimately disposing of toxic waste in the USA is about $2,500 a ton but some Third World countries will dispose of it for $3 a ton

55
Q

How do transnational corporations also lead to illegal dumping, hazardous waste and organised crime?

A

Similarly, transnational corporations may offload products (such as pharmaceuticals) onto Third World markets after they have been banned on safety grounds in the West. Illegal waste disposal illustrates the problems of law enforcement in a globalised world-the vert existence of laws to regulate waste disposal in developed countries pushes up the costs to business and creates an incentive to dump illegally in. Third World countries
In some cases, it is not even illegal, since less developed countries may lack the necessary legislation outlawing it

56
Q

What is environmental discrimination?

A

This is how South describes the fact that poorer groups are worse affected by pollution. For example, black communities in the USA often find their housing situated next to garbage dumps or polluting industries

57
Q

What is the evaluation for green criminology?

A

Both the strengths and weaknesses arise from its focus on global environmental concerns However, by focusing on the much broader concept of harms rather than simply on legally defined crimes, it is hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly. Defining these boundaries involves making moral or political statements about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong. Critics argue that this is a matter of values and cannot be established objectively

58
Q

What are the strengths of green criminology?

A

It recognises the growing importance of environmental issues and the need to address the harms and risks of environmental damage, both to humans and non-human animals

59
Q

What are the weaknesses of green criminology?

A

However, by focusing on the much broader concept of harms rather than simply on legally defined crimes, it is hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly. Defining these boundaries involves making moral or political statements about which actions ought to be regarded as wrong. Critics argue that this is a matter of values and cannot be established objectively

60
Q

How do Green and Ward define state crimes?

A

‘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. State crimes do not include acts that merely benefit individuals who work for the state, such as a police officer who accepts a bribe

61
Q

What are two suggested reasons for why state crime could be considered the most serious form of crime?

A

The scale of state crime, and the state is the source of law

62
Q

Why is the scale of state crime a reason why it may be considered the most serious form of crime?

A

The state’s enormous power gives it the potential to inflict harm on a huge scale. For example, Green and Ward cite a figure of 262 million people murdered by governments during the 20th century. As Michalowski and Kramer note, ‘great power and great crimes are inseparable. Economic and political elites can bring death, disease and loss to tens of thousands with a single decision’

63
Q

Why is the fact that the state is the source of law a reason why it may be considered the most serious form of crime?

A

It is the state’s role to define what is criminal, uphold the law and prosecute offenders. However, its power means that it can conceal its crimes, evade punishment for them, and even avoid defining its own actions as criminal in the first place. State crime undermines the system of justice and public faith in it. States of all kinds, including democracies such as Britain and the USA, have been guilty of crimes, but 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

64
Q

What does McLaughlin identify about state crime?

A

Four categories of state crime: Political crimes, for example corruption and censorship. Crimes by security and police forces, such as genocide, torture and disappearances of dissidents. Economic crimes, for example official violations of health and safety laws. Social and cultural crimes, such as institutional racism

65
Q

What is genocide?

A

The UN defines genocide as ‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’

66
Q

What does Straus note about genocide?

A

In 1994 Rwanda was the scene of ‘the 20th century’s fastest genocide’

67
Q

What was Rwanda like before the genocide

A

Rwanda became a Belgian colony in 1992 and the Belgians used the minority Tutsi to mediate their rule over the Hutu majority. But Hutus and Tutsis were not separate ethnic groups-they spoke the same language and often intermarried. They were more like social classes: Tutsis owned livestock and Hutus did not; Hutus could become Tutsis if they could afford to buy cattle

68
Q

How did Rwanda start to change?

A

However, the Belgians ‘ethnicised’ the two groups, issuing them with radical identity cards, and educated the two groups separately. Rwanda gained independence in 1962 and elections brought the majority Hutus to power. By the 1990s an escalating economic and political crisis led to civil war, with Hutu hardliners in the government attempting to cling on to power by fuelling race hate propaganda against the Tutsis

69
Q

How did the Rwandan genocide start?

A

The shooting down of the Hutu president’s plane in 1994 triggered the genocide. In 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis (along with moderate Hutus) were slaughtered, legitimated with dehumanising labels describing Tutsis as ‘cockroaches’ and ‘rats’
Initially, the killing was done by marauding groups of Hutu militia. Later, many Hutu civilians were forced to either join the killing or be killed themselves, and a third of the Hutu population are estimated to have actively participated in the genocide

70
Q

What are state-corporate crimes?

A

State crimes are often committed in conjunction with corporate crimes. Kramer and Michalowsi distinguish between ‘state-initiated’ and ‘state-facilitated’ corporate crime

71
Q

What is state-initiated corporate crime?

A

Occurs when states initiate, direct or approve corporate crimes

72
Q

What is an example of state-initiated corporate crime?

A

The Challenger space shuttle disaster. Risky, negligent and cost-cutting decisions by the state agency NASA and the corporation Morton Thiokol led to the explosion that killed 7 astronauts 73 seconds after blast-off (Kramer)

73
Q

What is state-facilitated corporate crime?

A

Occurs when states fail to regulate and control corporate behaviour, making crime easier

74
Q

What is an example of state-facilitated corporate crime?

A

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig, leased by BP, exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and causing the largest accidental oil spill in history, with major health, environmental and economic impacts. The official enquiry found that while the disaster had resulted from decisions by the companies involved (BP, Halliburton and Transocean), government regulators had failed to oversee the industry adequately or to notice the companies’ cost-cutting decisions

75
Q

What are the two kinds of war-related crime?

A

Illegal wars, and crimes committed during war or its aftermath

76
Q

What are illegal wars?

A

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 US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of the ‘war on terror’ as illegal. For example, Kramer and Michalowski argue that to justify their invasion of Iraq in 2003 as self-defence, the USA and UK knowingly made the false claim that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction

77
Q

What are crimes committed during war or its aftermath?

A

For example, Whyte describes the USAs ‘neo-liberal colonisation’ of Iraq, in which the constitution was illegally changed so that the economy could be privatised. Iraqi oil revenues were seized to pay for ‘reconstruction’. In 2004 alone, over $48 billion went to US firms . But poor oversight by the occupying powers meant it is unclear where much of this went, and ‘cost-plus’ contracts (where all the contractor’s costs are met automatically by the government, regardless of what they are for) led to an enormous waste. This case is also an example of state-corporate crime

78
Q

What other crimes Kramer and Michalowsi identify that were committed during the Iraq war?

A

Include torture of prisoners. A US military inquiry into Abu Ghraib prison found numerous instances of ‘sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses’ of prisoners. Nine soldiers were convicted, the highest-ranking being a staff sergeant. No commanding officers were prosecuted and personnel from private companies were also implicated but none were prosecuted

79
Q

What does Kramer note about terror bombing?

A

Notes how the terror bombing of civilians has become ‘normalised’. This began in the 1930s and continued through the Second World War with the American fire-bombing of 67 Japanese cities and atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No trials for war crimes took place. Indiscriminate and often deliberate bombing of civilians has continued in recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria

80
Q

How does Chambliss define state crime?

A

As ‘acts defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in pursuit of their jobs as representatives of the state’

81
Q

What is a problem with defining state crime in terms of domestic?

A

Using a state’s own domestic law to define state crime is inadequate. 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. For example, the German Nazi State passed a law permitting it to compulsorily sterilise the disabled. This definition also leads to inconsistencies, for example, the same act may be illegal on one side of the border but legal on the other

82
Q

How can state crime be defined in terms of social harms/zemiology?

A

This recognises that much of the harm done by states is not against the law. Michalowski 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. Similarly, Hillyard et al argue that we should take a much wider view of state wrongdoing. We should replace the study of crimes with ‘zemiology’, whether or not they are against the law. For example, these harms would include state-facilitated poverty

83
Q

What is good about the social harms definition of state crime?

A

This definition 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 to identify which ones are most harmful to human or environmental wellbeing

84
Q

What are the problems with the social harms definition of state crime?

A

Critics argue that a ‘harms’ definition is potentially very vague: What level of harm must occur before an act is defined as a crime? There is a danger that it makes the field of study too wide. Who decides what counts as a harm? This just replaces the state’s arbitrary definition of crime with the sociologist’s equally arbitrary definition of harm

85
Q

How can state crime be defined in terms of labelling and societal reaction?

A

Labelling theory argues that whether an act constitutes a crime depends on whether the social audience for the act defines it as a crime. The audience may witness the act either directly or indirectly, for example through media reports. This definition recognises that state crime is socially constructed, and so what people regard as a state crime can vary over time and between cultures or groups

86
Q

What is good about the labelling/societal reaction definition of state crime?

A

This prevents the sociologist imposing their own definitions of state crime when this may not be how the participants (perpetrators, victims and audiences) define the situation

87
Q

What are the problems with the labelling/societal reaction definition of state crime?

A

However, this definition is even vaguer than ‘social harms’. For example, Kauzlarich’s study of anti-Iraq War protestors found that while they saw the war as harmful and illegitimate, they were unwilling to label it criminal. By contrast, from a ‘harms’ or an international law perspective, the war can be seen as illegal. It is also unclear who is supposed to be the relevant audience that decides whether a state crime has been committed, or what to do if different audiences reach different verdicts about an act. 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

88
Q

How can international law be used to define state crime?

A

Some sociologists base their definition of state crime on international law-law created through treaties and agreements between states, such as the Geneva and Hague Conventions on war crimes. For example, Rothe and Mullins 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

89
Q

What is the advantage of the international law definition of state crime?

A

The advantage of this is that it does not depend on the sociologist’s own personal definitions of harm or who the relevant social audience is. Instead it uses globally agreed definitions of state crime. International law also has the advantage of being intentionally designed to deal with state crime, unlike most domestic law

90
Q

What are the problems of the international law definition of state crime?

A

Like the laws made by individual states, international law is a social construction involving the use of power. For example, Strand and Tuman found that Japan has sought to overturn the international ban on whaling by concentrating its foreign aid on impoverished ‘microstates’, including six small Caribbean island nations, to bribe them to vote against the ban. Another limitation is that international law focuses largely on war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than other state crimes such as corruption

91
Q

How can human rights be used as a way of defining state crimes?

A

Human rights include: Natural rights that people have simply by virtue of existing, such as the right to life, liberty and free speech. Civil rights, such as the right to vote, to privacy, to a fair trial, or to education. Schwendinger and Schwendinger argue that we should define state crime as the violation of people’s basic human rights by the state or its agents. States that practice imperialism, racism, sexism or economic exploitation are committing crimes because they are denying people their basic rights

92
Q

What is an advantage of the human rights definition of state crime?

A

Risse et al argue that one advantage of this definition is that virtually all states care about their human rights image, because these rights are now global social norms. This makes them susceptible to ‘shaming’ and this can provide leverage to make them respect their citizens’ rights

93
Q

What do the Schwendingers believe about the definition of crime?

A

It is inevitably political. If we accept a legal definition, we become subservient to the state’s interests. The Schwendingers argue that the sociologist’s role should be to defend human rights, if necessary against the state’s laws. Like the ‘harms’ approach, their view is an example of transgressive criminology, since it goes beyond the traditional boundaries of criminology, which are defined by the criminal law

94
Q

How does Cohen criticise the Schwendinger’s view?

A

While gross violations of human rights, such as torture, are clearly crimes, other, such as economic exploitation, are not self-evidently criminal, even if we find them morally unacceptable

95
Q

What is another main problem of the humans right approach to defining state crime?

A

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 counter this with the view that liberty is not much use if people are too malnourished to exercise it. Therefore if the state knowingly permits export of food from a famine area, for example, like the British government did during the Irish famine of the 1840s, then this is a denial of human rights and a state crime

96
Q

What is the authoritarian personality?

A

Adorno et al identify an ‘authoritarian personality’ that includes a willingness to obey the orders of superiors without question

97
Q

How is the authoritarian personality an explanation of state crime?

A

They argue that at the time of the Second World War, many Germans had authoritarian personality types due to the punitive, disciplinarian socialisation patterns that were common at the time. Similarly, it is often thought that people who carry out torture and genocide must by psychopaths, however, research suggests that there is little psychological difference between them and ‘normal’ people. For example, Arendt’s study of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann showed him to be relatively normal and not even particularly anti-Semitic

98
Q

How do state crimes differ from other crime?

A

Crime is usually defined as deviance from social norms, however, state crimes are crimes of conformity, since they require obedience to a higher authority-the state or its representative. For example, in a corrupt police unit, the officer who accepts bribes is conforming to the unit’s norms, while at the same time breaking the law. Conforming to one norm means deviating from the other

99
Q

How can obedience explain state crime?

A

Research suggests that many people are willing to obey authority even when this involves harming others. Sociologists argue that such actions are part of a role into which individuals are socialised. They focus on the social conditions in which atrocities become acceptable or even required

100
Q

What do Green and Ward argue?

A

In order to overcome norms against the use of cruelty, individuals who become torturers often need to be re-socialised, trained and exposed to propaganda about ‘the enemy’. States also frequently create ‘enclaves of barbarism’ where torture is practiced, such as military bases, segregated from outside society. This allows the torturer to regard it as a ‘9 to 5’ job from which he can return to normal everyday life

101
Q

What was the My Lai massacre?

A

Happened in Vietnam, where a platoon of American soldiers killed 400 civilians

102
Q

What did Kelman and Hamilton identify from a study of the My Laid massacre?

A

Three general features that produce crimes of obedience: Authorisation-When acts are ordered or approved by those in authority, normal moral principles are replaced by the duty to obey. Routinisation-Once the crime has been committed, there is strong pressure to turn the act into a routine that individuals can perform in a detached manner. Dehumanisation-When the enemy is portrayed as sub-human, normal principles of morality do not apply

103
Q

How do some people argue modernity/postmodernity is an explanation of state crime?

A

Some commentators argue that the Nazi Holocaust represented a breakdown of modern civilisation and a reversion to pre-modern barbarism

104
Q

What does Bauman believe about modernity and crime?

A

Certain key features of modern society made the Holocaust possible: A division of labour-Each person was responsible for just one small task, so no-one felt personally responsible for the atrocity. Bureaucratisation-Normalised the killing by making it a repetitive, rule-governed and routine ‘job’-and meant that the victims could be dehumanised as mere ‘units’. Instrumental rationality-Where rational, efficient methods are used to achieve a goal, regardless of what the goal is: In modern business, the goal is profit; in the Holocaust, it was murder. Science and technology-From the railways transporting victims to the death camps, to the industrially produced gas used to kill them

105
Q

Overall what does Bauman believe about the Holocaust?

A

The Holocaust was a modern, industrialised mass production ‘factory’ system, where the product was mass murder
For Bauman, the Holocaust was the result not of a breakdown of civilisation, but one of the very existence of modern rational-bureaucratic civilisation

106
Q

What are the evaluation points for state crime?

A

Not always a division of labour, ideological factors, modernity is not the whole answer

107
Q

How is the division of labour an evaluation point for state crime?

A

Not all genocides occur through a highly organised division of labour that allows participants to distance themselves from the killing. For example, the Rwandan genocide was carried out directly by large marauding groups

108
Q

How are ideological factors an evaluation point for state crime?

A

Ideological factors are also important. Nazi ideology stressed a single, monolithic German racial identity, that excluded minorities such as Jews, Gypsies and Slavs, who were defined as inferior or even sub-human. This meant they did not need to be treated according to normal standards of morality

109
Q

How is modernity an evaluation point for state crime?

A

Thus, while the modern, rational division of labour may have supplied the means for the Holocaust, it was racist ideology that supplied the motivation to carry it out. A decade of anti-Semitic propaganda preceded the mass murder of the Jews and helped to create many willing participants and more sympathetic bystanders

110
Q

What does Alvarez argue?

A

According to Alvarez, recent years have seen the growing support impact of the international human rights movement, for example through the work of organisation such as Amnesty International, and this bringing pressure to bear on states

111
Q

What does Cohen argue, as a result of pressure on states

A

states now have to make a greater effort to conceal or justify their human rights crimes, or to re-label them as not crimes. Cohen is interested in the ways states do this. While dictatorships generally just flatly deny any 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’:

112
Q

What is the three stage ‘spiral of state denial’?

A

Stage 1-‘It didn’t happen’ eg the state claims there was no massacre. But then human rights organisations, victims and the media show it did happen: ‘here are the graves; we have the photos’. Stage 2-‘If it did happen, “it” is something else’ eg the state says it was self-defence, not murder. Stage 3-‘Even if it is what you say it is, it’s justified’ eg to fight the ‘war on terror’

113
Q

How does Cohen examine ways in which states deny or justify their crimes?

A

He draws on the work of Sykes and Matza, who identify their deviant behaviour, and shows how states use the same techniques to justify human rights violation

114
Q

What techniques does Cohen identify that the state uses to deny/justify crimes?

A

Denial of victim-‘They exaggerate; they are terrorists; they are used to violence; look what they do to each other. Denial of injury-‘We are the real victims, not them’. Denial of responsibility-‘I was only obeying order, doing my duty.’ This justification is often used by individual policemen, death camp guards etc. Condemning the condemners-‘They are condemning us only because of their anti-Semitism (Israeli version), their hostility to Islam (Arab version), their racism.’. Appeal to higher loyalty-Self-righteous justifications that claim to be serving a higher cause, whether the nation, Zionism, Islam, the defence of the ‘free world’, national security etc

115
Q

What do the techniques identified by Cohen do?

A

These techniques do not deny that the event has occurred. ‘They seek to impose a different construction of the even from what might be the case’. For example, Cohen argues that in its ‘war on terror’, the USA had to publicly justify its coercive interrogation practices, which Cohen describes as ‘torture lite’

116
Q

What is ‘torture lite’?

A

These included hooding, shaking, sleep deprivation, the use of stress positions and ‘water boarding’ (simulated drowning). The US claimed that these techniques were not torture because they merely induced stress and were bit physically or psychologically damaging. Cohen sees this as a neutralisation technique aimed at normalising torture

Decks in A-Levels Class (89):