| Political Crime |
Article Index for Political |
Website Links For Political |
Information AboutPolitical Crime |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT POLITICAL CRIME | |
| crimes | |
| politics by issue | |
| political crime | |
|
In Criminology , a political Crime is one involving overt acts or Omissions (where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of the State , its Government or the political system. It is to be distinguished from State Crime when it is the states that break both their own Criminal Law s and/or Public International Law (Ross, 2000). States will define as political crimes any behaviour perceived as a threat, real or imagined, to the state's survival including both violent and non-violent oppositional crimes. A consequence of such criminalisation may be that a range of Human Rights , Civil Rights , and freedoms are curtailed, and conduct which would not normally be considered criminal ''per se'', i.e. that is not antisocial according to those who engage in it, is criminalised at the convenience of the group holding power. Thus, while the majority of those who support the current regime may consider criminalisation of politically-motivated behaviour an acceptable response when the offender is driven by more extreme political, Ideological , Religious or other beliefs, there may be a question of the Morality of a law which simply criminalises ordinary Political dissent (Ross, 2004). DISCUSSION At one extreme, crimes such as ) and, if it is institutionalised, then over time, the use of unnecessary force become a state crime. , Sexism , ethnic preference as well as Class advantages. Thus, states will protect property rights and reduce the rights of trade unions to represent the interests of the poor. Even war is likely to be grounded in the problems of local capitalists in wealthy countries in the effort to move raw materials, profits and jobs in a globalised political economy, and opposing such a war will be a political crime. (Barak) Marxists do not dispute that, for a Society to function efficiently, social order is necessary. But they consider that, in all societies, one class, usually characterised as the "ruling class", gains far more than other classes. Marxists agree with functionalists that Socialisation plays a crucial role in promoting conformity and order. However, unlike the latter, they are highly critical of the ideas, values and norms of "capitalist ideology". Modern Marxists point to education and the media as socialising agencies, which delude or "mystify" the working class into conforming to a social order, which works against its real interests. Thus, all controls which directly or indirectly explit the criminal law to control access to the discourses are political crimes. AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS Miller says that one of the defining characteristics of power in modern history has been the rationalisation and bureaucratisation of law. Legal codification, or at least debates over the merits of legal codification, became an almost global phenomenon in the nineteenth century as state power was centralised. In particular, the rationalisation of criminal law standardised not just the concept of crime, but was adopted as the means to eliminate the "deviant" as a threat to a modern, uniform, moral standard. In this, the religious establishment began to play a new role in defining "evil" in which threats to the political or social norm became as dangerous as threats to religious orthodoxy. Thus, political speech became one of the most likely activities to be criminalised. The freedom of association and to meet may also be criminalised if the purpose is to express oppositional political views. TERRORISM People convicted or suspected of certain crimes classified as terrorism by the government of their country (or some foreign countries) reject that classification. They consider that their fight is a legitimate one using legitimate means, and thus their crimes should be more appropriately called political crimes and justify special treatment in the penal system (as if they were soldiers in a war and therefore covered by the Geneva Convention . Unfortunately, the states tend to consider the political nature of the crimes an aggravating factor in the Sentencing process and make no distinction between the terrorists and "ordinary" offenders, e.g. the convicted murderers of Action Directe consider themselves political prisoners. RELIGIOUS CRIMES Where there is no clear separation between the state and the prevailing religion, the edicts of the church may be codified as law and enforced by the secular policing and judicial authorities. This is a highly functionalist mechanism for enforcing conformity in all aspects of cultural life and the use of the label "crime" adds an extra layer of stigma to those convicted. REFERENCES
|
|
|