What are state crimes?

Illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by the state or its agencies, or with state complicity.

Why is it difficult to label state actions as criminal?

The state has the power to define what counts as crime, since states make and enforce laws.

How do human rights provide a framework for defining state crime?

They offer universal standards of treatment that transcend national law, regardless of what individual states permit.

What is genocide, the most serious state crime?

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation, by the state, as in the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Why is torture regarded as a state crime?

It is the infliction of severe pain or suffering by state agents, which international law bans absolutely under the UN Convention against Torture (1984), even though many states still use it.

Why is imprisonment without trial an example of state crime?

The state detains people without legal process or judicial oversight, breaking the human right to a fair trial.

AQA A-Level Sociology 7192

Education

Topic overview The role and functions of education Class differences in educational achievement Labelling, subcultures and processes within schools Gender and educational achievement Ethnicity and educational achievement Selection and marketisation Privatisation and vocational education Educational policy, equality and globalisation

Methods in Context

Topic overview Access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schools Choosing methods for research in schools Data, theory and validity in educational research

Theory and Methods

Topic overview Research design and choosing a method Sources of data and types of data Positivism, interpretivism and research ethics Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories Modernity and post-modernity Is sociology a science?Objectivity, value freedom and social policy

Culture and IdentityOptional topic

Topic overview Conceptions of culture Socialisation and the agencies of socialisation The self, identity and difference Identity, age, disability, ethnicity, gender and class Identity, production, consumption and globalisation

Families and HouseholdsOptional topic

Topic overview Functionalist views of the family Marxist and feminist views of the family The New Right, postmodernism and family policy Marriage, cohabitation and divorce Family diversity and the personal life perspective Conjugal roles and domestic labour Power relationships and domestic violence The social construction of childhood Birth rates and death rates Family size and the ageing population Migration and globalisation

HealthOptional topic

Topic overview The social construction of health and models of illness Class and gender inequalities in health Ethnic and regional inequality, and access to health care Mental illness and the power of the medical profession The sick role and the globalised health industry

Work, Poverty and WelfareOptional topic

Topic overview Poverty: definitions, explanations and distribution The welfare state and welfare provision The division of labour and the control of work Work, worklessness and life chances Globalisation and the global division of labour

Beliefs in SocietyOptional topic

Topic overview Ideology and science as belief systems Functionalist views of religion Marxist and feminist views of religion Religion as a force for social change Churches, sects, denominations and cults New religious movements and New Age movements Religion, gender, ethnicity, age and social class Secularisation Believing without belonging and postmodern religion Globalisation, fundamentalism and religion worldwide

Global DevelopmentOptional topic

Topic overview Theories of development and underdevelopment Globalisation, transnational corporations and aid agencies Aid, trade, industrialisation and urbanisation Environment, conflict and human development Population, gender and postcolonial critiques

The MediaOptional topic

Topic overview The new media and its significance Ownership, control and media globalisation The selection and presentation of the news Media representations of social groups Media effects and models of the audience Reception analysis and selective filtering

Stratification and DifferentiationOptional topic

Topic overview Theories of stratification Life chances and dimensions of inequality Defining and measuring social class Changing structures of inequality and globalisation Social mobility

Crime and Deviance

State crime and human rights

2 things to know
Paper 3

Overview

Defining state crime through human rights, and the typologies of Cohen and McLaughlin.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What are political crimes in Eugene McLaughlin's categorisation of state crime?

Key term

What are social and cultural crimes according to McLaughlin?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What are state crimes?
Model answer
Illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by the state or its agencies, or with state complicity.
2
Why is it difficult to label state actions as criminal?
Model answer
The state has the power to define what counts as crime, since states make and enforce laws.
3
How do human rights provide a framework for defining state crime?
Model answer
They offer universal standards of treatment that transcend national law, regardless of what individual states permit.
4
What is genocide, the most serious state crime?
Model answer
The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation, by the state, as in the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
5
Why is torture regarded as a state crime?
Model answer
It is the infliction of severe pain or suffering by state agents, which international law bans absolutely under the UN Convention against Torture (1984), even though many states still use it.
6
Why is imprisonment without trial an example of state crime?
Model answer
The state detains people without legal process or judicial oversight, breaking the human right to a fair trial.

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Education

Methods in Context

Theory and Methods

Culture and Identity

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AAll change begins with an act of deviance.

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