NCJ Number
186518
Date Published
2000
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Since the 1960's, the power of the State to shape domestic and foreign policy has become a concern among a growing number of social scientists, and researchers have shown that the etiology of State crime is varied and that the greatest impediments to studying and controlling State crime are definitional, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological in nature.
Abstract
State crime is defined to include cover-ups, corruption, disinformation, lack of accountability, violations of domestic and/or international law, and practices that are perceived by the majority of the population as illegal or socially harmful. Data on State crime and measures to control it are lacking, unreliable, expensive to collect, and plagued with jurisdictional differences. Much of the research on State crime focuses on advanced industrialized countries since State crime takes particularly unique forms in such countries. Forms of State crime in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Israel, France, Italy, and Japan are examined that involve military violence, human rights violations, tax evasion by politicians, torture, illegal domestic surveillance, illegal police violence, corruption, bribery, and cover-ups. Information on State crime in these countries is designed to contribute to the understanding of State crime control within theoretical and empirical frameworks. 5 notes