NCJ Number
72247
Date Published
1974
Length
183 pages
Annotation
Maintaining that political crime lacks not only empirical research but also conceptual refinement, this paper proposes sociological definitions of political crime and political criminals.
Abstract
Prior approaches towards a definition of political crime are reviewed. The political criminal is defined as an individual who, motivated by his conviction, commits an unlawful act designed to attack the social structure to bring about a reorganization of the system. Concomitantly, a political crime is any unlawful act committed by a political criminal. Twenty case histories are presented to substantiate the definition. Collectively, these case histories reveal that political criminals are not simply following a fad which makes it fashionable to bomb or to terrorize, but all have developed a high degree of moral awareness and political sophistication. Their behavior is not straight criminal action in search of a political rationale, but political conviction expressed through criminal action. The process of becoming a political criminal is traced through several developmental stages. The population used in the study averaged 27.3 years of age; the youngest subject was age 18, the oldest age 47. There were 13 males and 7 females compared to 94.8 males per 100 females in the general population. Although one subject was the daughter of a millionaire and another was the son of a laborer, the overwhelming majority of the subjects were middle class. The perspective is adopted that all crime is political and that the political aspects of social life influence and shape our legal definitions of crime, as well as the type and amount of criminal conduct. Distinctions are made among totally political crimes, politically relevant crimes, and politically conditioned crimes. Footnotes are included. A bibliography contains approximately 150 references.