Are States the Worst Perpetrators of Terror - Essay Example

Critically Evaluate the Proposition That s Are the Worst Perpetrators of Terror (Criminology) Introduction According to criminologists crime is done by individuals and not by corporations or the government. This has made it difficult to define what state crime is. There are a number of factors that facilitate the absence of state crime in criminology. The definition of crime by criminology is based on what the government defines legally as criminal (Bessant, Hil and Watts 2008, p209). State crime is given several descriptions such as delinquency, governmental crime, lawlessness, illegality, misconduct, official deviance, human rights violation, and crimes of obedience. State crime is treated as a response or a consequence to the incidence of threats to national security, insurgent violence or a phenomenon that is endemic to the transitional and the third world countries (Ross 2000, p3). State crime is infiltrative and is committed in varying degrees by all countries in the world. The state is considered as the initiator rather than the target or the mediator of the crime. Despite the fact that the private institutions hold more forcible power, the state still holds the special legal authority to compel to do something (Ross 2000, p3). State crimes include homicide, sexual assault, crimes of violence, serious assaults, torture, kidnapping, embezzlement, bribery, all forms of corruption and economic crime. The magnitude of such crimes is sometimes very big and ordinary words like murder become inadequate and they are replaced by terms like genocide. Some of the most serious crimes in the world are committed by the state. This paper will critically evaluate state crimes in light of its seriousness in various occasions. Corruption and Abuse of Power Corruption can be described as the abuse of the public office for personal gain and the abuse of the public power for personal benefit. The World Bank defines corruption as the abuse of the public office for personal or private gain. The Transparency international defines corruption as the abuse of delegated for personal or private gain. Corruption is a form of behaviour that deviates from the official duties of the public role (Stachowicz-Stanusch 2010, p132). Corruption can be either be passive or active and this is dependent on the person to whom it is being requested or the person who has the power of decision making. Corruption can be private among certain individuals. Public corruption happens in the public sphere of government administration and politics (Stachowicz-Stanusch 2010, p132). Some examples of corruption include collusion, bribery, fraud, embezzlement of public funds, theft, abuse of discretion, extortion, clientelism, favouritism, sale of government property by the public officials, nepotism, patronage and others. Bribery is the most common form of corruption and it is driven by rewarding profits and providing benefit to undeservedly influence decision or some action on the portion of the beneficiary or the recipient (Stachowicz-Stanusch 2010, p133). Abuse of power is usually associated with the governmental crime. It usually occurs when the state agents or the state violate laws in order to accomplish some prohibited or improper objectives. In other words, the abuse of power occurs when the state exercises and assumes power it is not supposed to. Abuse of power entails the violation of the basic human rights, use of harm, and economic corruption acts (Friedrichs 2009, p129). State Corporate Crime State corporate crime can be defined as the socially injurious actions or the illegal actions that happen when the institution(s) of political governance pursue a target in direct cooperation with other institution(s) of economic distribution and production. It is a form of organizational delinquency that happens at the intervention of the corporations and the governments (Schlegel and Weisburd 1994, p215). State corporate crimes exist in two forms; state initiated corporate crime and state facilitated corporate crime. State initiated crime happens when the corporations that are employed by the government get involved in organizational deviance with the full approval of or at the direction of the government. State facilitated corporate crime happens when the government regulatory institutions become incapable of restraining deviant business activities; this is either because of the direct collusion between the government and the business or because of the adherence to the shared goals whose accomplishment may be hampered by strict regulations (Lasslett n.d., p1). In a capitalist economy, the crimes usually entail the active participation of two or more corporations; one of the participants has to be within the civil sector and the other one in the state sector. Thus, state corporate crimes create harmful consequences that are as a result of defiance in the inter-organizational relationship between the government and the business (Schlegel and Weisburd 1994, p215). Examples of state corporate crimes include safety, environmental and health violations that happened at a number of nuclear weapons production facilities that were managed by private contractors for the United States Department of Energy and the coordinated criminal frauds that involved the defense contractors and the U.S. military officials; this was particularly evident in the Pentagon’s weapons procurement process (Schlegel and Weisburd 1994, p215). Environmental Crime Forms Environmental crime can be defined as the illegal actions that directly cause harm to the environment (Environmental Investigation Agency [EIA] 2008, p1). It is considered a white collar crime because of the motive behind the offense. The offense is usually carried for the purposes of economic gain. Many consider the crime as victimless and least in the priority list but in reality the victims are children and children’s children and in general the society. Thus, environmental crimes in most cases fail to initiate the required response from the enforcement community and the government (EIA 2008, p1). The crime is far reaching and penetrating and its consequences are felt years or decades after (Hess and Orthmann 2009, p446). Environmental crimes comes in many forms and the offenders range from the homeowners (they may dump leftover paint into the sewer system) to multinational corporations (who do the manufacturing, shipping and disposal of hazardous materials under unsafe conditions and the action is morally outrageous and criminally negligent) (Benson and Cullen 1998, p143). Some of the offenses in environmental crime are very complex and they involve sophisticated schemes by the business executives to avoid the possibilities of being detected. The different types of environmental crimes are associated with different types of businesses and industries, thus, the nature of these crimes give a reflection of the local economic activity (Benson and Cullen 1998, p143). The environmental crimes have many forms and they include; trafficking in ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), poaching, use and trafficking of illegal pesticides, diversion of rivers illegally, smuggling of endangered species, unreported illegal and unregulated fishing, illegal logging and smuggling of stolen timber (EIA 2008, p1) and illegal dumping of hazardous materials in the water or onto the land (Hess and Orthmann 2009, p446). The perpetrators of these crimes usually cause extensive and permanent damage to the ecosystem and some of these damages can lead to serious human health complications. The most common and lucrative forms of environmental crimes are the trading of the collectible species and the illegal disposal of waste in an attempt to evade paying the disposal costs, thus, resulting to unfair competitive advantage for the criminal over the law-abiding and legitimate businesses (Hess and Orthmann 2009, p446). Environmental crime is very lucrative generating huge profits for the criminal enterprises and it is growing very fast. This is partly attributed to the proliferation of the regional and international environmental agreements which result in the control of a wide range of commodities. It is also partly linked to the mutations in the criminal syndicate operations; their operations are diversified and they are currently venturing into new areas such as environmental crime and counterfeiting (EIA 2008, p1). Environmental crime is a catalyst for corruption and both the criminals and the corporate or government officials view it as a means to cash in. Examples include; the signing and forging of import and export certificates, facilitation of the illicit goods transportation and ignoring all forms of institutionalized corruptions. The crime is further strengthened by the complicit and long involvement of the army, police, international organizations and the government. The crime is characterized by weak legislations, familiar bureaucracies and poor enforcement; this makes it an ideal environment for the corrupt officials to thrive through environmental crime (EIA 2008, p3). State Agency Crime The study of state crime entails examining the processes and behaviours committed by the organizations and agents who are both politically powerful and socially accepted. Police crime is among the low level official crimes among the governmental crimes. The police crimes tend to have dire consequences. It is imperative to provide distinction between police crime as a type of state organized crime that involves the use abuse of power and police crime as a type of occupational crime that primarily concerns corruption; while this may be necessary, it is not always the case to differentiate between personal and organizational objectives or motivations (Friedrichs 2009, p146). Police crime history is quite long and varied and it has involved the violation of the constitutional rights, related illegal acts to accomplish the state or the departmental objectives, and the excessive use of force. The abuse of power is mostly directed towards the minorities, political rebels, the poor, and the members of the counterculture. For example, most of the urban race riots in the 1960s were perpetuated by the white police officers through the abuse of the African Americans (Friedrichs 2009, p146). The most serious case of police brutality is the fatal misuse of the deadly force. In the previous decades, police brutality was rarely prosecuted; it is only in the recent years that measures have been put up to prosecute police guilty of brutality. This has been achieved through citizen mobilization, the establishment of civilian review boards and a more keen press (Friedrichs 2009, p146). The image the police are portrayed obscures the nature and the extent to which police crime is committed. The police are viewed as waging war on behalf of the public against armed robbers, muggers, murderers, thieves, psychopaths and terrorists. The obscure is achieved by transforming the meaning of police crime; the existence of police crime is not denied. Instead of portraying police crimes as wrong and indefensible like any other crime, it provides justification within the context of the police work. The bending of rules as popularly known, gives capability to the officers to solve a certain contradiction in the enforcement of law and it requires getting their man and reliance on a criminal justice system that gives respect to the accused rights to an extent that the guilty is found innocent (Box 2002, p80). Other than police brutality, there are other forms of police abuse of power. They include; committing perjury, false arrests, tampering with evidence and making searches without the warrants. Perjury is the most common form and it is known among the police force as testilying (Friedrichs 2009, p147). State Terrorism Terrorism can be defined as deliberate physical and/or psychological acts that are perpetrated on a selected group of victims. The intention of terrorism is to mould the behaviour and the thinking of the targeted groups and the larger section of the society that shares or indentifies with the same views as those of the targeted group or those who are vulnerable to their ideology. The intention of the terrorist is to threaten the targeted group by causing them extreme anxiety, fear, panic, apprehension, horror and dread (Gareau 2004, p14). The main aim of terrorism is to coerce and intimidate and not to entirely eliminate a group socially or physically. Terrorism is categorized as the violation of human rights and violation of human rights is not terrorism. Terrorism is instilled through the use of means such as torture, which can take the psychological or the physical form. Torture can be used to obtain information or confession from the victim or to punish the victim (Gareau 2004, p15). State terrorism can be carried out at different levels; at the national level it may be designed as an instrument to control the subject population through fear. Regime terror entails the organized use of torture and the rise of police and the military forces who are engaged in an internal war against a particular set of population. This type of terrorism can also be facilitated through death squads, shadow organizations and other groups that have no official power but they are in collaboration with the elite power (Perdue 1989, p19). Examples of state terrorism include the Holocaust in Germany and the Reign terror in France; the two examples are considered to be state terrorism. Torture and Crimes against the Person Torture can be defined as intentional infliction of suffering or severe pain by omission or act whether mental or physical for purposes that have been prohibited such as obtaining confession or information, intimidating, punishing, humiliating the victim or discriminating against the victim on any grounds. For an action to be qualified as torture, it must have those elements (Trahan 2006, p77). Examples of acts that constitute torture; sexual violence, beating, threats to torture, kill or rape relatives, prolonged denial of food, sleep, medical assistance and hygiene and mutilation of body parts (Trahan 2006, p83). The U.N, Convention against torture prohibits the transfer of persons from one country to a country where torture can result but it fails to mention anything on the risks of inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment in those countries (Parry 2010, p17). Crime against the person occurs when a victim is put under threat of bodily harm or subjected to physical harm. Examples include; sexual assault, domestic violence, robbery, sex crimes and homicide. In both cases, the victim is injured or threatened with injury (Forbes 2008, p25). 392 people in Turkey were subject to torture and ill-treatment in 2003 alone. The Turkish police and military tortured through beatings, rape, falaka, electric shock, continual blindfolding, food deprivation and spraying using pressurised cold water (McDermott and Yildiz 2004, p9). War Crimes Article 147 of the Geneva Convention defines war crimes as torture, wilful killing or inhuman treatment that wilfully causes great suffering or serious injury to health or body, the transfer or deportation or the unlawful confinement of protected people, persuading a protected individual to serve in the military forces of a hostile power, willingly depriving a protected individual his or her rights of regular and fair trial, taking of hostages and the wanton destruction and distribution of property by means that are not justified by the necessities of the military and are done unlawfully (Czaja 2010, p1). War crimes include attacking people manifesting allegiance to the country, attacking soldiers ejected from a damaged airplane and have surrendered when on the ground, and mistreatment of prisoners and civilians (Czaja 2010, p1). There are five categories of war crimes and each category corresponds to the events on and off the field of war. The first category involves illegal actions that are committed by the military personnel during the battle. The illegal actions include the use of illegal tactics (disguising the combat personnel as medical staff), illegal weapons, and firing on assets that are protected such as medical facilities although they may belong to the military (Chuter 2003, p8). The second category is the mode of conduct (illegal actions) by the military staff and against other military staff after the war is over. Examples include ill treatment of prisoners and execution. The third category entails illegal acts that are committed against the civilians or the civilian things. Examples include using civilians as human shields and the deliberate attack of the civilian facilities such as encouraging the population to abandon a city and help in its capture (Chuter 2003, p8). The fourth category entails illegal acts that are committed against the civilians after the war is over. Examples include the theft of property and destruction. It occurs if the motive of fighting lacks or the major reason for fighting is looting (Chuter 2003, p8). The fifth and last category is the use of the paramilitary or the military forces with aims that are politically motivated and lack a military objective. The operations are conducted against unarmed groups or those who are incapable of resisting (Chuter 2003, p9). The United States war against Iraq is considered to be a war crime. Genocide The present Convention defines genocide as acts that are committed with the intention of destroying in part or whole, an ethnical, national, religious or racial group. These acts include killing the members of that group, causing serious mental or bodily harm to the group members, deliberate infliction of conditions that are meant to bring physical destruction in part or whole to the group members, imposing measures that are intended to prevent births from occurring within the group, and the forceful transfer of children from the group to another group (Jones 2010, p13). There are terms that have developed in the local languages to denote and memorize experiences in genocide. For example, Churban refers to the Great Catastrophe of the Jews at the hands of the Nazi, Holocaust refers to the human destruction by fire and it is used for the Nazi’s attempt to destroy the Jews during the Second World War, and Holodomor refers to the Ukrainian famine extermination at the full view of the Stalin’s Soviet regime between 1932 and 1933 Jones 2010, p22). Civil wars can cause genocide as in the case of the Jews, Sinti/Roma, Tutsis of Rwanda and Armenians. Genocide can also occur in the process of colonization like in the case of natives of Australia and North America. Political Economy and Crime Political economy relates to the study of the production, selling and buying and its relation to the law and government as well as the appropriation of the wealth and national income. Political economy is used in many contradictory ways; it is sometimes signifies a perspective that is very distinct from economics and at other times it seen as synonymous with it. It is sometimes used as a synonym for Marxism (Maguire, Morgan and Reiner 2007, p342). Political economy remains in the fundamental structural perspective and it preludes the extensive examination of the psychodynamics of crime and its control. The significant changes in the crime and its control, and the social order have complex and multiple interacting sources but the significant changes in the political economy have been very crucial. The appearance of the globalized neo-liberal political economy has been linked with the cultural and social changes that are likely to instigate crime and to shift all the frameworks that have been put into place for crime control policy excluding law and order (Maguire, Morgan and Reiner 2007, p370). Conclusion It has commonly been the norm that individuals commit crimes against others. However, without doubt, states can also commit crimes against its people. There are several instances when states clearly commit crimes like corruption, genocide, violent crimes, torture, kidnapping, and economic crime. When those in power conspire against the people, the state is said to commit state crime. The state however has the capability of committing such kinds of crimes on a wider scale than individuals or small groups can. The state can commit crimes directly or indirectly most of such crimes being driven by self ambitions and greed. 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