Theories of Victimology

1. RADICAL VICTIMOLOGY
 Green and Ward (2005) 1 defined state crimes as:illegal or deviant
activities perpetrated by the state, or with the complicity of state
agencies."
 Simply put: State crimes refer to any crime committed by, or on behalf
of nation-states to achieve their individual policies.

Difficulty in defining the 'typical' victims of state crime

Due to the vast scope of state crimes, the study of victims and victimology in
state crimes is extensive, and there are several definitions of what constitutes a
victim.

Kauzlarich, Matthews and Miller (2001) 2 state that scholars have identified
several groups of people as victims of state crime. These include:

 civilians and war soldiers

 groups targeted for genocide
 individuals suffering from sexism, racism and classism
 prisoners
 countries that are oppressed by other powerful countries
 immigrants
 criminal suspects
 the environment

The victims of state crime: definition

 David Kauzlarich (1995) defined state crime victims as "individuals or

groups of individuals who have experienced economic, cultural, or
physical harm, pain, exclusion, or exploitation because of state
actions or policies which violate the law or generally defined human
rights".

 Thus, any individual or group whose human rights have been violated due
to an act of a state in furtherance of its policies may be a state crime
victim.

 Victims of state crime may further be divided into two types:

  Victims of domestic state crime: victims whose rights have been
violated by the government of their own state. For example, victims of
religious discrimination perpetrated by their own government.

 Victims of international state crime: victims whose rights have been

violated by the government in another state (or states). For example,
victims of war crimes.

Types of state crime in sociology

 According to Eugene McLaughlin (2001), there are four types of state

crime. These are the following:

 Crimes committed by police and security

 Political crimes
 Economic crimes
 Social and cultural crimes
 Core international crimes

Examples of state crimes in sociology

 Crimes by security and police forces

Crimes by security and police forces include genocide, torture, and war crimes.
Although these types of crimes may have similarities and overlaps, it is
important to note the differences between them.

 Genocide is the deliberate killing of a group of people belonging to a

nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying the nation or ethnicity.
 Example: the study of Nazis and Jewish, 2002 Gujarat riots in India
between Hindus and Muslims- Godhra Riots
Godhra 27 Godhra, 59 Hindus Hindu passengers (mostly women
massacre February Gujarat and children) burnt alive and
2002 pelted with rocks. Different
commissions were set up; one was
by the Government of Gujarat to
investigate the train burning spent
6 years going over the details of
the case, and concluded that the
fire was arson committed by a mob
of 1000–2000 people. But some
reports say the cause of the
Godhra train fire is still uncertain.
The court convicted 31 Muslims
 and another 63 were acquitted due
to lack of evidence.

As per government
reports, 790 Muslims
and 254 Hindus killed,
28 223 reported missing,
2002 Gujarat
February Ahmedabad 2,500 injured. Communal violence
riots
2002 Unofficial estimates
by groups like Human
Rights Watch put the
death toll to over 2,00

Gulbarg Society
28
massacre (part of
February Ahmedabad 69 (mostly Muslims)
the 2002 Gujarat
2002
riots)

Large numbers had fled since 1989

to escape targeted killings and
abductions. 219 were killed from
1989 to 2004 according to
1990 Kashmiri Kashmir 30–80 Kashmiri government of Jammu and Kashmir,
1990s
Hindus killings Valley Pandits while an organization of the
community in Kashmir carried out a
survey whose data stated that 399
had been killed since 1990 with an
estimated 75% killed in 1990 alone.

2023 Manipur
3 May 181+ killed and 310+ Caused by ethnic tensions between
violence Manipur
2023 injured Meitei and Kuki-Zomi

 A war crime refers to a deliberate violation of laws of war by those in

the field, such as killing innocent civilians or sexually abusing women
during the invasion of another country.

 Political crimes

Political crimes include corruption and censorship.

 Corruption is the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by someone in power,

for example, a political figure electing themselves into power without
democratic means (no election, or rigged election).
  Censorship is the deliberate suppression of any form of information. For
example, the removal of a film scene by labelling it as too political, when
it is merely portraying the reality of the political situation of a country.
 Examples: Current situation of portrayal of TV media, censorship of
movies and books
 Fake Encounters- Another form of political state crime is assassination,
which refers to the premeditated act of killing someone, suddenly and
secretly. State-sponsored assassination or 'targeted killing' of terrorists
has increasingly become a debated topic.
 Example- Sohrabuddin Assasination, Atik Ahmed encounter

Economic crimes

 Bribery is an important example

 Bribery refers to giving something of value to influence the actions of

someone in charge of public or legal duty

Social and cultural crimes

 Discrimination is the unjust treatment of different categories of people

based on their characteristics, such as age, sex, ethnicity, nationality, or
religious beliefs.

 This may happen, for example, when government legislations

disadvantage certain groups in society more than others.

 Example: Section 377, Manipur Violence and policies of Govt. favouring

only one community.

 Institutional racism is a form of discrimination that has been going on

for so long that it has now become embedded in the laws, structure, and
functioning of a society or organisation.
  Example: The 'Black Lives Matter' movement is based on fighting
against such institutional racism in the USA.

Core international crimes are crimes that are considered so gross that they
threaten the peace, security, and well-being of humanity as a whole. The crime
of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes are collectively
recognised as the core international crimes.

International Examples:

 The Cambodian genocide in the 1970s wiped out about 25 percent of the
population, an estimated 2 million people.

 Similarly, during the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, members of the

Hutu majority group slaughtered approximately 500,000 - 1,000,000 of
the minority Tutsi group, about 20 percent of Rwanda’s total population.