Description:
This book brings together original writings from leading scholars in the field to explore the many ways that the use and abuse of state power results in grave social harms that outweigh, by far, the consequences of ordinary street crime. The topics covered include the crimes of empire, illegal war, the bombing of civilians, state sanctioned torture, state sacrifice of human lives, and judicial wrongdoing.
Review Quotes:
'Stemming from a 2008 workshop on state crime in the global age held by the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Spain, this collection of essays addresses the neglected area of state crime, the most destructive of all crimes. While attention to white-collar crime has steadily increased, the study of state crime has languished, limiting itself to the narrow confines of high profile crimes. These essays direct attention to a plethora of crimes of political power, including war, terror bombing of civilians, torture, imperial domination, harmful drug prohibition laws, international financial policy, wrongful convictions, and judicial errors. In addition, other chapters examine the futile attempts by offending governments, international legal bodies, and bystander states to exercise meaningful social control. Three sections frame and theorize state crimes, explore their international and domestic varieties, and address strategies for confronting them, including a very persuasive plea for a public criminology of state crime. The introductory and concluding chapters provide a useful contextual overview and synthesis of the essays. An impressive contribution to the literature on crimes of the powerful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' - G. B. Osborne, University of Alberta in Choice, Jan 2011