Moving Beyond Abstract Typologies? Overview of State and State-Corporate Crime

Abstract

The core focus of politicians, citizens, and the majority of criminologists continues to be on the most banal forms of lawbreaking street crimes. Yet state crimes occur vastly more often and are portentously harmful and costly—socially, politically, economically, culturally, and environmentally. As such, I suggest having a foundation for understanding and identifying what are often hidden “crimes” is as pertinent, if not more so today, as we continue to hear daily of atrocities, antitrust violations, tainted products, collusion, price gouging, crimes against humanity, human rights violations, to name just a few, by states and corporations. In addition, the topics covered in this special issue should not be seen as distinct, but rather as part of the overall broader system of power, neoliberalism, and the perpetuation of the inept status quo.