Political Crime
Illegal acts that are designed to undermine, challenge, or damage an existing government and threaten its survivial
What causes political crime?
May stem from religious or ideological sources
No set pattern/reason
- Get into political office
- Vent frustration
- Opposition
What are examples of political crimes?
Dissent
Treason
Espionage
Terrorism
Assassination
Human Rights
Those personal, social, and economic rights and freedoms that should belong to all people
Goals of Political Criminals:
Intimidation
Revolution
Profit
Conviction
Psuedoconviction
What are the stages of becoming a political criminal:
1. "It's not right" - Individual identifies undesirable condition or event
2. "It's not fair" - Individual concludes event/condition is a product of "injustice"
3. "It's your fault" - Someone or some group must be held accountable for the extremist's disp
Conduit Contributions
Funds given to friends or family members that are then contributed to a specific campaign in order to circumvent election laws
3 Categories of Political Crimes:
Organizational - situations in which crimes are committed on behalf of a collection of people
Occupational - Crimes committed by individuals for professional gain
Independent - Crimes benefit only perpetrators
Election Fraud
Illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud tend to involve affecting vote counts to bring about a desired outcome whether by increasing the vote share for favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or bo
What are types of election fraud?
Intimidation
Disruption of polling places
Distribution of misinformation (wrong election date, registration fraud, vote buying)
Treason
An act of disloyalty to one's nation or state
Espionage
The practice of obtaining information about a government, organization, or society that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information, commonly called "spying
Explain the difference between espionage and treason.
Helping or cooperating with the enemy in a time of war would be considered treason
Espionage is the practice of obtaining information about a government, organization, etc. without permission
Industrial Espionage
Unethical or illegal activities such as bribing employees to reveal trade secrets (computer codes, product formulas)
State Political Crime
Political crime that arise from the efforts of the state to either maintain governmental power or to uphold the race, class, or gender advantages of those who support the government
5 Types of State Political Crimes:
Political Corruption
Illegal Domestic Surveillance
Human Rights Violations
State Violence (Torture, Illegal Imprisonment, Police Violence/Use of Deadly Force)
State Corporate Crime
Torture
An act that causes severe pain or suffering whether physical or mental that is intentionally inflicted on a person to obtain a confession, punish them for a crime, or intimidating/coercing them into a desired action
Ticking Bomb Scenario
A scenario that some experts argue in which torture can perhaps be justified if the government discovers that a captured terrorist knows the whereabouts of a bomb
Terrorism
The illegal use of force against innocent people to achieve a political objective
Terror cells
Divisions of terrorist group affiliates, each of which may be functionally independent so that each member has little knowledge of other cells, their members, locations, and so on. The number of cells and their composition depend on the size of the terror
Guerilla
Armed military bands, typically located in rural areas, that use hit-and-run terror tactics to destabilize the existing government
***Antigovernment forces located in rural areas that attack the military, police, government
Insurgent
The typical goal of an insurgency is to confront the existing government for control of all or a portion of its territory, or force political concessions in sharing political power. While terrorists may operate in small bands with a narrow focus, insurgen
Reign of Terror
The origin of the term "terrorism," the french revolution's reign of terror began in 1795 and was initiated by the revolutionary government during which agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention were referred to as terrorists
Examples of Right-Wing Political Groups
Ku Klux Klan
Aryan Nation
(ending abortion rights, extending the right to bear arms, and eliminating taxation)
Examples of Left-Wing Political Groups
Black Panthers
Students for a Democratic Society
Earth Liberation Front (ELF)
Retributive Terrorists
Want to impose their social and religious code on others
Retributive Terrorist Groups Today:
Al-Qaeda
Groups that have adopted al-Qaeda's worldview and concept of mass-casualty terrorism
Violent Islamist/Non-Islamist terrorist and insurgent groups (Hamas, Hezbollah)
Nexus between terrorism and organized crime
State-Sponsored Terrorism
Terrorism that occurs when a repressive government regime forces its citizens into obedience, oppresses minorities, and stifles political dissent
Forms of state-sponsored terrorism:
Forced disappearance
Political imprisonment
Torture
Blacklisting
Massive Exile
Networks
When referring to terrorist organizations, networks are loosely organized groups located in different parts of the city, state, or country (or world) that share a common theme or purpose, but have a diverse leadership and command structure and are in inte
Revolutionary Terrorist
Use violence to frighten those in power and their supporters in order to replace existing government with a regime that holds acceptable political or religious views
*** Civil war between nationalists and a sovereign power
Political Terrorists
Political terrorism directed at people or groups who oppose the terrorists' political ideology or whom the terrorist define as 'outsiders' who must be destroyed
Eco-Terrorism
Political terror groups involved in violent actions to protect the environment
Nationalist Terrorism
Groups whose actions promote the interests of a minority ethnic or religious group that has been persecuted under majority rule and/or wishes to carve out its own independent homeland.
State Sponsored Terrorism
Carried out by a repressive government regime in order to force its citizens into obedience, oppress minorities, and stifle political dissent
Five Views of Terrorist Motivation:
1. Psychological View - terrorists are emotionally disturbed individuals that act out psychoses within the confines of violent groups
2. Economic View - lack of economic opportunity and recessionary economies are positively correlated with terrorism
3. Al
Agencies created to fight terrorism:
9/11 Commission
DNI
National Counterterrorism Center
Privacy & Liberties Board
National Counterproliferation Center
What was the commission created after 9/11 to prepare in-depth report of the events that led up to the attack/ensure no further attacks would occur?
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the US
"9/11 Commission
Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
Government official charged with coordinating data from the nation's primary intelligence gathering agencies
Agencies reporting to the DNI: National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC), Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, National Counterproliferation Center
Joint-Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF)
Created by the FBI
Located in 103 cities nationwide, 4,400 members
Enable a shared intelligence base across many agencies
Department of Homeland Security
An agency of the federal government charged with preventing terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing Americans vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizing the damage and aiding recovery from attacks that do occur
USA Patriot Act
Legislation giving US law enforcement agencies a freer hand to investigate and apprehend suspected terrorists
This is the illegal interference with the process of an election.
Election fraud
This is any act that causes severe pain and suffering that is intentionally inflicted on a person to obtain information, punish, intimidate or coerce.
Torture
This is the conquest and direct control of other peoples and their land.
Colonialism
This is the use of social, political, economical, and cultural practices to control a people and their land.
Neocolonialism
According to Reiman and Leighton, when are the wealthy and powerful protected from punishment for their criminal activity?
Arrest and Charging
Revolutionary terrorists use violence to frighten ____________________________
those in power/supporters in order to replace existing government.
Political terrorism is directed at whom?
People or groups who oppose the terrorists' political ideology or whom are considered "outsiders" and need to be destroyed.
Nationalist terrorism promotes the interests of whom?
Minority ethnic or religious group
What motivates terrorists?
They suffer from alienation and lack tools to compete in a post-technological society
They hold extreme religious and/or ideological beliefs that prompt their behavior
Without _________________, terrorism couldn't survive.
Funding
Where do terror groups get funding from?
Some own businesses, hijack/co-opt charities, take part in common-law crimes, kidnapping, political support.