Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor. Department of Law. Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics. University of Isfahan. Isfahan. Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to conduct a criminological analysis of state crime through the labeling theory. This theory emphasizes the constructed nature of criminal phenomena and their connection to power structures. It explains how behaviors are criminalized based on power, dividing crimes into those committed by the powerful and those by the powerless. It illustrates how numerous actions by ordinary citizens are labeled as criminal, while many harmful acts committed by elites—despite their significant social damage—are met with leniency and escape criminal labeling. This research adopts a descriptive-analytical approach. Through conceptual expansion of the key notions within labeling criminology, it seeks to analyze the phenomenon of state crime from a theoretical standpoint. applying labeling theory to state crimes reveals critical dimensions of how these crimes occur. Excessive labeling of citizens leads to the restriction of their rights and freedoms through over-criminalization, violating their access to civil, cultural, economic, and social rights. Conversely, selective labeling results in the non-criminalization of state crimes, making accountability difficult. Furthermore, the processes of dehumanization and devaluation—rooted in labeling perspectives—create fertile ground for victimization caused by state crimes. State crime can be understood as a product of the labeling/de-labeling processes driven by power. This dynamic purifies state delinquency while condemning innocent citizens, replacing a rights-based minimal criminal justice system with a maximalist, citizen-oppressive penal system.
Keywords
- State Crime
- Crimes Against Human Rights
- Theoretical Criminology
- Criminology of State Crime
- Labeling Theory
Main Subjects
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