Synopses & Reviews
Current media and political discourse on crime has long ignored crimes committed by States themselves, despite their greater financial and human toll. For the past two decades, scholars have examined how and why States violate their own laws and international law and explored what can be done to reduce or prevent these injustices. Through a collection of essays by leading scholars in the field, State Crime offers a set of cases exemplifying state criminality along with various methods for controlling governmental transgressions. With topics ranging from crimes of aggression to nuclear weapons to the construction and implementation of social controls, this volume is an indispensable resource for those who examine the behavior of States and those who study crime in its varied forms.
Review
"An admirable collection of case studies by leading scholars that illuminate the historical and modern contours of state crime."
Review
"Given recent highly injurious acts committed by governments around the world, this riveting book is essential reading for scholars, students, activists, and policy makers. A timely and much needed contribution to the field."
Review
"There has been a paucity of research on state crime, but this volume makes an important contribution to the literature and should not only stimulate further research on state crime, but also contribute to social policies that seek to reduce it. Highly recommended."
Synopsis
There is no limit to the number of crimes--including acts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, piracy, drug smuggling, governmental corruption and illegal intelligence gathering--committed by various national governments. In STATE CRIME, the volume editors gather together some of the best new research on state transgressions, in addition to asking senior scholars to reflect on their past research and bring it up to date.The first section of the book features a well-rounded set of cases exemplifying state criminality, including an examination of the Holocaust through a criminological framework, and a look at the illegal aggressions committed by the US army in Iraq. The second section of the book focuses on various methods for controlling these governmental transgressions, including domestic legal sanctions and also international enforcers such as the International Court of Human Rights. Contributors to this section of the book examine worldwide policies, such as the international rule against the assassination of regime elites regardless of the acts of aggression and criminality committed by them. The book taps into a previously overloked area that is most relevant for understanding what policies or responses to governmental crime would be most effective in constraining the worst acts. Contributors include leading scholars in criminology such as Ray Michalowski, David Friedrichs, and Peter Iadicola.
About the Author
Dawn L. Rothe is an assistant professor of criminology at Old Dominion University. She is the author of State Criminality: The Crime of All Crimes, Symbolic Gestures and the Generation of Global Social Control, and coauthor with Christopher W. Mullins of Blood, Power, and Bedlam: Violations of International Criminal Law in Post-Colonial Africa. Christopher W. Mullins is an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has authored or coauthored several books including Holding Your Square: Masculinities, Streetlife, and Violence.