PART 1:
Using a formal academic voice, explain why it is difficult to hold states to
account for the harms they cause to their own citizens.
Your answer should be 500 words and should be written in paragraph form. To
complete the task, you should use the materials in Chapter 7 ‘Dangerous
states’ and Week 11 of the module website.
Throughout the annals of recorded history, numerous states have been complicit in
the perpetration of atrocities, resulting in significant harm being caused to their own
citizens. This TMA explores the primary reasons why it is so challenging to hold
states accountable for the harm they inflict on their own citizens.
The crime in each state is defined by the laws in that state. Therefore, every state
has the power to create laws, and an act would be a crime in one state but not in
other. Furthermore, states have the ability to avoid defining their own actions as
crime or even changing the law to ensure that their actions are not strictly illegal
(Drake and Scott, 2023, p. 195) and the power to influence how these policies are
discussed in society (Watts, 2016). Thereupon, legal definition of ‘crime’ is therefore
problematic when considering harms perpetrated by the state (Schwendinger and
Schwendinger, 1975, cited in Drake and Scott, 2023, p. 195).
These crimes committed by the state, which can occur anywhere, are also known as
‘state crimes’ and no state is free from them. Examples of that are the actions of Nazi
government in Germany during the Second World Ward or the Syria conflict.
Some criminologists (Schwendinger and Schwendinger, 1975; Cohen, 1993; Stanley,
2006) defined the harms perpetrated by states as fundamental breaches of human
rights (the UDHR), the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the
world from birth until death based on values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect
and independence (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2017).
Using a formal academic voice, explain why it is difficult to hold states to
account for the harms they cause to their own citizens.
Your answer should be 500 words and should be written in paragraph form. To
complete the task, you should use the materials in Chapter 7 ‘Dangerous
states’ and Week 11 of the module website.
Throughout the annals of recorded history, numerous states have been complicit in
the perpetration of atrocities, resulting in significant harm being caused to their own
citizens. This TMA explores the primary reasons why it is so challenging to hold
states accountable for the harm they inflict on their own citizens.
The crime in each state is defined by the laws in that state. Therefore, every state
has the power to create laws, and an act would be a crime in one state but not in
other. Furthermore, states have the ability to avoid defining their own actions as
crime or even changing the law to ensure that their actions are not strictly illegal
(Drake and Scott, 2023, p. 195) and the power to influence how these policies are
discussed in society (Watts, 2016). Thereupon, legal definition of ‘crime’ is therefore
problematic when considering harms perpetrated by the state (Schwendinger and
Schwendinger, 1975, cited in Drake and Scott, 2023, p. 195).
These crimes committed by the state, which can occur anywhere, are also known as
‘state crimes’ and no state is free from them. Examples of that are the actions of Nazi
government in Germany during the Second World Ward or the Syria conflict.
Some criminologists (Schwendinger and Schwendinger, 1975; Cohen, 1993; Stanley,
2006) defined the harms perpetrated by states as fundamental breaches of human
rights (the UDHR), the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the
world from birth until death based on values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect
and independence (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2017).
