Crime of the mighty

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A criminological concept that has been discussed since the mid-1970s, especially in the context of critical criminology , is referred to as the crime of the mighty . According to Sebastian Scheerer , it is “the sum of the crimes that are committed to strengthen or defend a superior power”.

Science-historical background

The term was originally intended to bring about a paradigm shift within criminology. As early as the 1940s, the American criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland had stated that criminology had traditionally dealt disproportionately with the phenomena of so-called lower-class crime and called for a corresponding change of perspective.

The concept became the focus of a work program on the subject of “Inequality and Crime” that the Working Group of Young Criminologists (AJK) initiated at a program conference in the summer of 1973. A symposium then took place in 1975 under the heading “Crime of the Powerful”. Thirty years later, this topic was taken up again at a conference in Bielefeld .

The proposed paradigm shift within the criminology has not been brought about by the focusing of the crime of the powerful part of the critical criminology ultimately. The criticized concept of “lower-class crime” still plays a significant role in the criminal policy discourse and has not been eliminated as the primary topos of criminology. However, an expansion of the criminological focus, a problematization of equating crime and deviance and a softening of the boundaries between legality and illegality were achieved.

Definition problems

Defining what should be understood as the crime of the powerful poses some difficulty. This has to do with the fact that the relevant terms “crime” and “power” or “powerful” are understood to different degrees.

Power

A common definition includes under the term criminality of the powerful all offenses punishable under positive law, which are committed to strengthen or defend a superior power.

Such superiority can be seen in a variety of situations, not only in economic and political contexts, but also in the family area. The basis is essentially Max Weber's concept of power , according to which power is understood as an opportunity to enforce one's own will against resistance, regardless of what the opportunity is based on. The power constellations can also change continuously, so that the role of the “powerful” appears to be interchangeable depending on the situation.

Against such a broad version of the concept of power, however, the danger of escalation is asserted, whereby a sensible handling of the concept, which has been robbed of its sharpness, is hardly given. After all, at least every interpersonal crime is associated with a power imbalance. Precisely because the concept of the criminality of the powerful has emerged as a topos critical of rule, a situational concept of power appears problematic.

Therefore, in this context, power is often understood less as a dynamic principle than as a static structure. In this way, the criminality of the powerful is to be consciously contrasted with lower-class crime , in that politically and / or economically powerful groups come into focus. Therefore, in the sense of the concept, only those persons are considered to be “powerful” who hold a position of superior power that goes beyond what is generally available. At the same time, those crimes are excluded that have been committed by such persons but are not related to strengthening or defending this position of power.

crime

Differences in the assessment of the criminality of the powerful also arise depending on whether a legalistic concept of crime or a material-sociological concept of crime is used. Sometimes there is also talk of an expanded legalistic concept of crime.

The problem with the legalistic concept of crime, which relates to the violation of criminal law norms, is sometimes cited as the fact that criminal law itself is largely dependent on power constellations and is enforced by socially powerful groups. In doing so, it could lose sight of those socially damaging actions that aimed at maintaining power for groups that see themselves as elite. On the other hand, criminal law is also a negotiated result of social processes that demand compromises from socially powerful people. A material term of crime - as it was first coined by Thorsten Sellin (crime as a violation of "Conduct Norms") - is subject to the objection that it is too arbitrary and dependent on individual ideas of justice . The extended legalistic concept of crime tries to compensate for the possibilities of legalization of material injustice by state authorities through recourse to general, internationally recognized legal principles. This is the path taken by Sebastian Scheerer, for example.

Characteristic

The “criminality of the powerful” is seen as characterized by a high level of damage with at the same time little concern for the population, a division of labor and a relative immunity to sanctions with low stigmatization . Due to the often given functionalization of hierarchical structures for committing criminal acts, there is a correspondingly broad field of participants. In addition, there is often a close connection with economic and political processes, so persecution could have incalculable effects on other areas of society (such as mass layoffs). If sanctions do take place, they are comparatively mild and more symbolic (cf. recently the Josef Ackermann or Peter Hartz cases ).

According to the representatives of the concept, the manifestations of the criminality of the powerful are diverse. The following are listed: genocide , torture , war crimes , bribery , illegal surveillance, electoral fraud as typical crime by governments, including attacks by the police or groups affiliated with the police , colonial crimes , acts of the Sicilian mafia , crimes by religious associations, illegal measures by companies such as bribery and illegal toxic waste disposal .

causes

Lord Acton coined the much-quoted phrase, "Power corrupts, total power corrupts totally." According to the " Rational Choice Theory ", as advocated by Chul Lee , one of the most important causes of the criminality of the powerful is seen in the fact that prosecution or sanctioning is considered unlikely by the actors. The postulated cost-benefit calculation turns out accordingly.

From a psychodynamic point of view, the high value of the external position for the sense of identity of the person concerned may also have an impact beyond cost-benefit considerations. Avoiding powerlessness can be an essential drive for striving for positions of power and at the same time bring radical defense methods with regard to these positions into the realm of the possible.

The distance of the actors to the results of their actions can also have a considerable influence. This is because the immediate execution only takes place on the lower hierarchical levels. Also, the effects of certain actions may only become visible after a long delay, in which case a causal relationship can often only be proven with difficulty.

Related concepts

White Collar Crime

The term “ White Collar Crime ” goes back to Edwin H. Sutherland . He understood this to be crimes committed by people with a high social status. Unlike the crime of the powerful, this concept is limited to economic actors. Nor does it differentiate between crimes related to maintaining or expanding power and other crimes of the specified group of people.

Government crime

Under State Crime criminal acts be understood by the Government to be committed and a violation of state law or against the law represent. In contrast to the concept of the crime of the powerful, the actors in question are treated here only as legal persons or as corporate actors. Economic crime phenomena are essentially excluded.

According to the author and former US public prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi , for example, the former US President George W. Bush should be charged with the murder of the US soldiers killed there for the unprovoked attack on Iraq after the end of his immunity (2009) .

Macro crime

The concept of macro- crime developed by Herbert Jäger refers to crimes of particular magnitude. This is the case, for example, with war crimes, international and mass murders, the use of nuclear weapons, state and group terrorism, persecution of minorities, religious conflicts, revolutionary and counter-revolutionary movements. As a collective term, the term only has a function that indicates the phenomenon.

Repressive crime

The concept of repressive crime proposed by Henner Hess relates to the maintenance, strengthening or defense of privileged positions, especially power and property, and, according to Scheerer (1993), corresponds to the concept of the criminality of the powerful. However, in the case of the crime of the powerful, the emphasis is on the perpetrator, while in the case of repressive crime, the focus is on the function of the act. Hess also contrasts this with the revolting crime that attacks the positions and structures defended by the former.

literature

  • Michael Bock : Crime of the Powerful. Critical inquiries about an outdated concept and glances at younger relatives. In: Günther Kaiser , Jörg-Martin Jehle (Hrsg.): Criminological victim research. Volume 1: Basics, victims and criminal justice, criminality of the powerful and their victims (= New Kriminologische Schriftenreihe der Neue Kriminologische Gesellschaft eV 102, 1). Kriminalistik-Verlag, Heidelberg 1994, ISBN 3-7832-0794-0 , pp. 171-186, ( digitized version ).
  • Vincent Bugliosi : The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. Vanguard Press, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-1-59315-481-3 .
  • Günther Kaiser: “Crime of the Powerful”. Theory and reality. In: Hans-Heiner Kühne (Ed.): Festschrift for Koichi Miyazawa. The pioneer of the Japanese-German criminal law discourse. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, ISBN 3-7890-3781-8 , pp. 159-175.
  • Chul Lee: Crime of the Powerful: Object Definition, Appearances, and an Attempt at Explanation. In: Social Problems. Vol. 6, No. 1, 1995, ISSN  0939-608X , SS 24-61, ( online ).
  • Dietmar K. Pfeiffer, Sebastian Scheerer : Criminal sociology. An introduction to theories and topics (= Urban pocket books. 291). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1979, ISBN 3-17-004892-9 .
  • Carolin Reese: Major Crimes and Criminological Concepts. An attempt at theoretical integration (= Cologne writings on criminology and criminal policy. 7). Lit, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7892-9 (also: Cologne, University, dissertation, 2004).
  • Sebastian Scheerer: Crime of the Powerful. In: Günther Kaiser, Hans-Jürgen Kerner , Fritz Sack , Hartmut Schellhoss (eds.): Small criminological dictionary (= Uni-Taschenbücher . 1274). 3rd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Müller, Heidelberg 1993, ISBN 3-8252-1274-2 , pp. 246-249.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sebastian Scheerer: Crime of the mighty. In: Günther Kaiser et al. (Ed.): Small criminological dictionary. 3rd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Müller, Heidelberg 1993, pp. 246-249, here p. 246.
  2. ↑ Michael Bock: Crime of the Mighty. In: Günther Kaiser, Jörg-Martin Jehle (Hrsg.): Criminological victim research. Volume 1. Kriminalistik-Verlag, Heidelberg 1994, pp. 171–186, and Günther Kaiser: “Kriminalität der Mächtigen”. Theory and reality. In: Hans-Heiner Kühne (Ed.): Festschrift for Koichi Miyazawa. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, pp. 159-175.
  3. ^ Henner Hess : Repressive crime. In: Criminological Journal . Vol. 8, No. 1, 1976, pp. 1-22.