Political Crime Chapter 13 Test Bank Answers

13

Political Crime

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Political crime is against the state (violations of law for the purpose of modifying or changing social conditions) but also crimes by the state, both domestic (violations of law and unethical acts by state officials and agencies whose victimization occurs inside the United States) and transnational (violations of domestic and international law by state officials and agencies whose victimization occurs outside the United States).

13.1 Political Crimes Against the State

The intent here is for the purpose of changing existing social conditions, rather than for individual personal gain (as is often the case with other types of crimes). Therefore, political crimes—violent and nonviolent—against the state involve deliberate violations of the law for political purposes.

Violent Political Crimes Against the State

In the United States, one of the earliest examples of violent political crime against the state is the Revolutionary War. By encouraging, and engaging in, the war, colonists violated the British law of treason, which made it illegal to levy war against the king. Likewise, Native Americans have sometimes relied on violent crimes against the state to protest and change certain social conditions and policies to which they were subjected, such as repeated treaty violations by the U.S. government. From 1776 to 1881, the U.S. government ratified 371 treaties with native nations. (Figure 13.1 traces the results of government violations.) One example is the 1874 violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, which guaranteed full Lakota sovereignty and control over their large territory in the west. General Custer trespassed on sacred native lands to confirm reports of gold. He then allowed thousands of miners to enter and scrape the Black Hills region clean. In 1876, after two years of such trespassing, the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho nations gathered at Little Big Horn (in present-day Montana) to defend their territory. General Custer and 204 soldiers were killed. Nonetheless, the United States continually broke the treaty until 1889, at which time it reduced the Lakota lands to five small reservations in South Dakota. As this example illustrates, some violent political crimes against the state are a response to U.S. government violations of its own law.

Other groups have committed violent political crimes against the state: farmers in resistance to land foreclosures and arrests (e.g., Shays’ Rebellion, 1787), labor struggles for safe working conditions (e.g., Hay Market, 1886), suffrage movements, urban African-American rebellions in the 1960s and 1970s protesting poor living conditions, and feminist protests against pornography in Seattle and New York (1980). More recently, anti-abortion groups have violently attacked people and places that provide legal abortion. Methods include crashing vehicles into clinics (Davenport, Iowa, 2005; and St. Paul, Minnesota, 2009), setting fires (Virginia Beach 2007), the threat of deadly force (Dallas 2010), Molotov cocktails (Madera, California, 2012), and explosives-related actions (Austin, Texas, 2009).

When most think of political crime against the state they think of terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of force or violence to intimidate, coerce, or change a government or a civilian population for political reasons. The text discusses three types of individual or group terrorism: political assassination, domestic terrorism, and international terrorism. Examples of political assassinations include those of presidents Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy; the attempted assassination of Truman; and the assassination of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. The most dramatic modern example of domestic terrorism is the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, which killed 168 people and injured more than 500. This event was part of an increasingly vocal right-wing militia movement in the United States. In 2009 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, Rightwing Extremism, warned that domestic right-wing terrorist groups might be gaining recruits by playing on economic fears and the election of the first African-American president, Barack Obama. Concerns were also raised that pending restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans experiencing difficulties reintegrating into their communities might lead to new terrorist groups or “lone-wolf” extremists. Most recently the bombing of the Boston marathon by the Tsarnaev brothers (April, 15, 2013) killed three and injured at least 264.

Violent political crimes against the state are rarely committed by people who are not citizens of the United States, but international terrorism does occur. Examples include two attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. In 1993 six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in a bombing perpetrated by Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Najim. The September 11, 2001, attack was a unique case of mass murder in the United States. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when two hijacked planes were flown into the towers. Two other planes were also hijacked; one of the suicide missions was thwarted by passengers, and the plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. The other was flown into the Pentagon building. The Al Qaeda–linked mass murder also included mass suicide by the 19 hijackers. Saudi exile Osama bin Laden financed and masterminded the attacks to punish the United States for supporting extremist Arab regimes and disseminating Western values worldwide. He also organized the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 312, and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors (see section 13.3 for more information about Al Qaeda and bin Laden.)

Nonviolent Political Crimes Against the State

Most political crimes against the state are not violent, such as civil disobedience and spying. The civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s is an example of nonviolent civil disobedience. Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” articulates his critique of just and unjust laws as the basis for peaceful resistance. By deliberately violating the racial segregation laws, protestors were engaging in nonviolent political crimes against the state. Other examples include the Clamshell Alliance sit-in at the Seabrook Nuclear Power station in 1976; the 1986 sit-in at the University of Massachusetts where protestors trespassed on university property to stop the recruitment of CIA agents; and the trial of the Chicago Eight, who nonviolently protested against the Vietnam War.

In 1999, nonviolent antiglobalization protests began in Seattle but quickly spread around the world (e.g., Prague and Melbourne). Over 10,000 people participated in these protests, in what Kellner (2003) calls “globalization from below.” The vast majority of protestors were peaceful and nonviolent, but police response intensified, in terms of numbers and tactics. Police wore riot gear, used tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannons to “control” protesters. Police also began cooperating with immigration. In one example about 600 people on their way to protests in Prague were turned away at the Czech border. Thousands of people from around the world then protested the G20 Summit in London, calling for economic justice and environmental accountability. Ironically, globalization processes facilitated the organizing; the French group Attac uses 200 translators to make protest information available in 10 languages on its website. At the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Al Gore called for civil disobedience to stop coal plant construction.

Spying is also a form of nonviolent political crime against the state. Spies differ in their motives; some are mercenary, others are ideological or egocentric. One of the best-known recent cases of illegal spying is that of Aldrich Ames, a 32-year veteran of the CIA. Ames stole intelligence secrets and sold them to the Soviet Union. Computer spying emerged as a growing security issue in the 1990s, when hackers broke into U.S. military computer systems in three separate incidents. U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for releasing classified documents to the public. Former NSA computer contractor Edward Snowden was also charged with violating the Act. He downloaded and leaked approximately 200,000 classified documents. He now resides in Moscow under temporary asylum.

13.2 Domestic Political Crimes by the State

These are violations of law and unethical conduct by state officials or agencies whose victimization occurs within the boundaries of the United States. The book discusses three types: state corruption, political repression, and state corporate crime.

State Corruption

State corruption is the illegal or unethical use of state authority for personal or political gain, and exists at every level of government—from the police to the presidency.

1. Political bribery is the acceptance of money or property by state officials in return for political “favors.” Examples of this type of corruption include James Traficant Jr. (ex-Democratic congressman from Ohio), Vincent Cianci (ex-mayor of Providence, Rhode Island), and Rod Blagojevich (Illinois governor impeached and removed from office for “pay-to-play” schemes linked to former Senator Obama’s Senate seat). Two especially blatant cases are those of Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Jack Abramoff. Lobbyist Abramoff was convicted in 2008 for defrauding the Saginaw Chippewa, Agua Caliente, Choctaw, and Coushattas native peoples of tens of millions of dollars. Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressperson from San Diego, is the “most corrupt member of Congress in history” for bribes totaling more than $2.4 million between 2000 and 2005. Bribery also occurs in police departments. Examples include the Boston Police Department and the LAPD, but in the 1980s more than 100 law enforcement drug-related bribery cases came before state or federal courts. Judges and lawyers are also involved in bribery. The text notes examples related to drunk driving and drug trafficking.

2. Election fraud involves illegal voting, false registration, stuffing ballot boxes, and so on. Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter all led campaigns that were affected by these fraudulent strategies. In the 2000 presidential election between Vice President Al Gore and Texas governor George W. Bush, the outcome was determined by the vote in Florida. Investigations of the voting process in Florida revealed the strong possibility of fraud. Bush won through the preemption of counting tens of thousands of Democratic votes, slanting the military votes, and blocking the Florida recount. Fraud in the 2004 presidential election between incumbent Bush and Senator John Kerry included over four million phantom votes, tampering with voting machines, and using defective machines.

3. Corrupt campaign practices involve widespread use of influence and favors. Examples include Bob Dole’s reversal on tax loopholes for more than 300 commodity traders in Chicago, the Watergate scandal, and the 1980 presidential election “October Surprise” (see Box 13.1). “Reagan people” might have requested that the Palestine Liberation Organization stall the release of the U.S. hostages in Iran until after the election in November. The hostages were released on Inauguration Day in January 1981, symbolizing the “freedom” represented by the Republican Party and at the same time hiding the corruption of the Reagan campaign strategy to delay the release of the hostages. Six months after the hostages were released and Reagan was sworn into office, $100 million worth of U.S. arms were sold to Iran through Israel. The allegations were investigated, but no credible evidence was found for the secret deal. Questions remain however, given that the activities of Reagan’s campaign manager, William Casey, were not adequately substantiated due to his “missing” passport and missing crucial pages from his loose-leaf calendar.

State Political Repression

State political repression is illegal or unethical conduct by state officials or agencies for the purpose of repressing domestic political dissent. Since its inception in 1938, the FBI has been involved in a variety of illegal activities related to the repression of political dissent. The COINTELPRO arm of the FBI has been the primary location for most of this activity. Some examples include investigations of the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers Party in the United States, and the activities of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. FBI operatives harassed and threatened the civil rights leader for several years before his assassination. There are many unanswered questions regarding the FBI’s role in his death—especially since the FBI, in March 1968, was instructed to “neutralize” him out of fear that he might become a “messiah” who could “unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement.” The FBI even had a “successor” selected when King was assassinated: Samuel R. Pierce was an extreme conservative who would be the “right kind of leader” (from the FBI’s perspective). COINTELPRO was officially abolished in 1971, but suspect FBI activities continued. One example is the investigation into the activities of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), under the premise that the group was a terrorist organization. When the FBI’s own investigation failed to turn up evidence, they said the organization was a “front group” hiding a program so covert that even its members were unaware of its existence. The “front group” and “cover programs” rationales allowed surveillance to continue. The FBI also cooperated with right-wing groups to infiltrate and disrupt CISPES. Investigators of the CISPES surveillance and harassment characterized it as a domestic program designed to disrupt organizations critical of U.S. government policy. In January 1988, 22-year FBI veteran Jack Ryan was fired—10 months before retirement—for his refusal to participate in the program.

Box 13.1 discusses the so-called October Surprise, the fear that President Carter would win the election by managing to free the U.S. hostages being held in Iran. The Reagan-Bush election team is alleged to have committed various acts that prevented the release of the hostages until after the election.

Box 13.2 discusses the case of Leonard Peltier, an AIM leader and activist framed for the murder of two FBI agents and currently serving a life sentence in federal prison. Before his trial, Peltier fled to Canada seeking political asylum. The U.S. extradition request included fabricated eyewitness testimony, but Peltier was returned for trial. In his final appeal in the Eighth District Circuit, judges recognized “improper conduct” by some FBI officials but blocked further inquiry. Peltier’s case has raised concerns throughout the world. Support for a retrial has come from members of the Canadian Parliament, the U.S. Congress, Spain’s Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, and over 14 million worldwide signatories to petitions requesting a new trial.

During the George W. Bush administration, nearly four dozen antiwar groups and various interfaith organizations for peace and justice were surveilled by the FBI. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush signed a secret order establishing a “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” The TSP authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to engage in warrantless eavesdropping of phone and computer communications, in violation 1978’s FISA (which requires warrants). NSA was also given unsupervised access to telecommunication fiber-optics. The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by Congress six weeks after September 11, 2001. The act limits speech and association, denies entry to noncitizens on the basis of ideology, and grants widely enhanced surveillance powers. Only two months after passage, the Department of Justice admitted to detaining more than 1,200 immigrants, none of whom were ever charged with terrorism. In 2006 the Justice Department found more than 10 violations of the USA PATRIOT Act during 2004 and 2005 alone. The Center for American Progress has documented “Intimigate,” a pattern of firing, defaming, or intimidating administration officials who challenged the official position on the Iraq War. Targeted officials included advisor Larry Lindsey, General Anthony Zinni, former ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, and his wife, Valerie Plame (a covert CIA officer whose name was leaked to the press). Lewis “Scooter” Libby, assistant to President Bush and chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted in 2007 of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements for his role in Intimigate.

State Corporate Crime

State corporate crime generally is understood as illegal or socially harmful acts that occur at the intersection of state agencies and private corporations. There are two major types: (1) when a state agency utilizes a private corporation to achieve a state goal in an illegal or socially harmful way, and (2) when omissions by a state agency allow a private corporation to pursue illegal or socially harmful acts. The text notes two examples of each type, including the 1986 explosion of the Challenger space shuttle; in 2005, Unocal’s assisting the Burmese military in rape, torture, and murder; the deadly explosion and fire at the Imperial Food Product plant in 1991; and the explosion and fire aboard ValuJet Flight 592 in 1996. The Challenger tragedy occurred due to a technical failure and decision-making processes within NASA and MTI that prioritized “staying on schedule.” In Burma, Unocal’s own consultants alerted the company about the crimes, and both the U.S. State Department and the United Nations documented the atrocities. The latter two cases involve failures to enforce safety regulations by OSHA and the FAA, respectively, both of which resulted in numerous deaths.

13.3 Transnational Political Crimes by the State

Transnational political crimes by the state are conducted under the auspices of the U.S. government by taxpayer-supported agencies. With the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council (NSC) in 1947, the U.S. government embarked on a long history of covert policies in foreign countries. Many of these policies and activities, discussed in the text, have violated international law, including Articles 2(3) and 2(4) of the UN Charter. Because these violations of international law entail force or violence to intimidate, coerce, or change a government or civilian population for political reasons, they are examples of state terrorism.

State Terrorism

There are many examples of state crimes from the United States and other countries. In Iran the CIA toppled the elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, who had nationalized several oil companies. The U.S. government then supported the reinstatement of the Shah, Reza Pahlavi, who allowed U.S. oil companies to take over nearly 50 percent of Iran’s oil production. Political prisoners numbered as high as 100,000 per year under the Shah. In 1957 the CIA set up the Iranian secret police, SAVAK, who were trained at military bases in the United States. SAVAK, which earned a worldwide reputation for brutality and torture, helped keep the Shah in power. In return, the United States sold arms and military supplies to Iran. Under this system, Iran was found to be the one of the most serious offenders of human rights violations. The Shah was overthrown in 1979, leading to the subsequent rise of Khomeini, the hostage crisis, and the Iran Contra scandal, which can all be seen as direct outcomes of the 1953 U.S. state policy regarding Iran. Similar U.S. involvements include the following:

1. Overthrowing the democratically elected president of Guatemala in 1954 after his land nationalization program threatened the interests of U.S.-based United Fruit Company. For the next 30 years, the United States provided weapons and training for Guatemalan military leaders.

2. Assassination attempts against Fidel Castro (from 1959 on) after he forced U.S. syndicate figures and dictator Fulgencio Batista off the island. In 1961 Cuba was unsuccessfully invaded. The CIA-directed JM/WAVE program continued the assassination plots and engaged in repeated terrorist attacks on Cuban infrastructure.

3. CIA involvement in the production and distribution of heroin in Laos and the Golden Triangle (see Figure 13.2). The heroin ultimately made its way to U.S. GIs serving in Vietnam. It is estimated that as many as 20 percent of the troops were addicted during their tours of duty. Between 1965 and 1970 the estimated number of active heroin users in the United States grew from 68,000 to 500,000.

4. From 1972 on, the United States was involved in covert operations in Chili, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Box 13.3 describes the Iran Contra scandal, which emerged from long-established covert operations in Central America. Similar to the Iranian revolution in 1979, the people of Nicaragua revolted against the Somoza regime. The Contras were organized as a paramilitary force against Nicaragua and were supported by the U.S. military and the CIA. In 1981, the Boland Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act terminated the legal use of U.S. public money to fund the Contras. Nevertheless, the Reagan administration continued to generate covert funds for them. Oliver North worked with others to build a private funding and supply network for the Contras. One way was to secretly sell arms to Iran, and the money from those sales would be diverted to the Contras in Nicaragua. As the textbook illustrates, it was a very complex and dangerous plan. Further complicating the situation was the international drug trade, from which profits were also shipped to fund the Contras. Some of the specific laws that were violated by the U.S. government include the U.S. Constitution, the Boland Amendment, the Arms Export Control Act, the U.S. Neutrality Act, and the UN Charter.

The most current example of the United States’ political, economic, and military approach to directing policy in other parts of the world are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan in the 1980s contributed to the international terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. As the CIA moved its base of operations from Southeast to Southwest Asia, opium production also shifted from the Golden Triangle to the Golden Crescent (see Figure 13.3). When Soviet troops withdrew in 1989, President George H. W. Bush “decided to pull completely out of Afghanistan.” The ensuing civil war ended with the Taliban in control. The Taliban formed an alliance with Osama bin Laden; Al Qaeda then used Afghanistan as a base of operations for attacks against U.S. embassies in Africa. Once it was determined that Al Qaeda and bin Laden were behind the September 11, 2001, attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan. It is estimated that in the first two months 3,600 civilians were killed—more than the number killed in the World Trade Center attacks. The U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then became a makeshift prison to detain “enemy combatants,” who were held without charges or access to legal representation. According to Human Rights Watch, detainees have suffered cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. Despite the new Afghan constitution, the Taliban continues to rule much of the country. Strict laws regulating women’s conduct have been reinstated, and the drug economy is flourishing. In 2004 Afghanistan became the leading producer of opium in the world.

The U.S. relationship with Iraq and Saddam Hussein was not always adversarial. At one time, the United States supported Hussein in his war with Iran (from 1980–1988). During this time, Iraq was using a variety of tactics against its own people, especially the Shiites and the Kurds. U.S. support of Iraq lasted until August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait. Through the 1990s, United Nations weapons inspection teams continually inspected Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq under the guise of looking for weapons of mass destruction. No credible evidence of mass weapons has ever been found, nor have connections been made between Al Qaeda and Hussein. The invasion and occupation to overthrow the government are violations of the UN Charter. The war also violated domestic and international law. The occupation of Iraq by the U.S. military is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. The text describes five examples: failure to provide public order and safety, unlawful attacks, unlawful detention and torture, failure to protect the rights to health and life, and self-interested privatization. By 2009 more than 4,000 soldiers had been killed in Iraq. By March 2013 it was estimated that 330,000 Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani people—two-thirds of which are civilians.

Box 13.4, “Torture, U.S. Style,” gives a brief history of developments in international law regarding torture. It also presents a “torture timeline” regarding then President Bush’s support for waterboarding. In 1948, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It later became the foundation for the four antitorture Geneva Conventions, ratified by the United States in 1955. Common Article 3 describes minimal protections for noncombatants; humane treatment is required, and cruel treatment and torture are prohibited, as are “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.” The CIA nonetheless has been involved in torture since its 1947 inception (e.g., the MKUltra program), outsourcing torture and training foreign officials in torture techniques, and implanting electrodes in the brains of Vietcong prisoners (who were later shot and their bodies burned). The timeline concerns 2002 events related to waterboarding, a technique that involves simulated drowning, starting with Bush’s executive order denying Geneva protections to Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees and ending with the multiple waterboardings of Abu Zubayda and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The box ends with five insights from McCoy’s (2006) analysis of torture. Among them, states that sanction torture allow it to spread beyond the initial targets, and states persist in torture despite evidence of its limited utility and grave moral and political consequences.

The State, Terrorism, and Globalization

Transnational political crimes by the state must be understood in terms of their global context. Some scholars of globalization argue that transnational corporations are not simply an “important aspect” of the global order but actually have supplanted states as the major actors in the world. The U.S. state has increased its power on a global scale. One of the most significant driving forces of globalization has been the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and in countries previously under its sphere of influence. The negative aspects of “globalization from above” have generated both types of “globalization from below”—antiglobalization movements and international terrorism—and both have made use of globalization to fashion their unique responses.

CLASS EXERCISES

1. Have students read the details from Box 13.2 and write a short reaction paper to this case. In what ways is the Peltier case an example of state political repression? If you were a juror on this case, what questions would you explore before you could decide on the verdict?

2. Show the film Carla’s Song (by director Ken Loach) and discuss the views of the former U.S. soldier and his knowledge of the activities in Nicaragua. Also, use it as a platform for discussing the Iran Contra scandal from a Nicaraguan angle.

3. Show the PBS Frontline video titled “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” about the Iran Contra scandal. Ask students to reflect on the evidence in the case and relate it to the impeachment proceedings of President Clinton. Develop some hypothetical explanations as to why presidents Reagan and Bush were not impeached for blatant violations of the law in this situation.

4. Have the class read two separate accounts of the war in Iraq—one from Time and one from the Nation. Divide the class into groups and have each one outline the different issues about the conflict in Iraq.

TEST BANK FOR CHAPTER 13

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The definition of political crimes involves all of the following, EXCEPT

a. domestic and international violent crimes by the state.

b. the assassination attempt against President Reagan.

c. nonviolent political crimes against the state.

d. violent political crimes against the state as a protest of social conditions.

2. Political crimes against the state represent

a. neither the will of the people, nor the will of the government.

b. the political views of radicals only.

c. a long historical tradition of rebellion and protest in the United States.

d. evil.

3. Political crimes against the state differ from most other types of crime because they are done for political purposes rather than for

a. personal gain.

b. profit.

c. power and control.

d. revenge.

4. The American Revolution (1775–1783) was essentially a political crime against the state because it violated the law against

a. spying and coercion in the pursuit of political goals.

b. sheltering fugitives from justice.

c. taxation without representation.

d. treason, or waging war against the king.

5. In the battle of Little Big Horn, General Custer and his troops were intent on securing the Black Hills for the U.S. government because

a. the natives were defacing the land.

b. gold was discovered there.

c. native peoples were under assault from white settlers.

d. iron deposits were plentiful.

6. Native Americans killed General Custer and his troops as a protest against what they saw as

a. fierce and unregulated competition between tribes.

b. another example of U.S. government violation of a legally binding treaty.

c. a violation of the sanctity of the Black Hills.

d. both b and c.

7. During Shays’ Rebellion in 1787, poor farmers had been forced to take out loans at very high interest rates against their future agricultural production, and farmers rebelled against the state by freeing debtors and blocking foreclosures by force. Eventually, however, their rebellion was

a. a success in that the farmers needs were met.

b. forcibly put down by the state militia, leaving 11 men dead and many wounded.

c. a mixed success that led to compromise and fairer lending practices.

d. squashed by the U.S. military, but without the use of force.

8. Women’s rights groups have engaged in violent political crimes against the state by

a. breaking windows, setting fires, and vandalizing buildings to protest for the right to vote.

b. bombing pornography shops to protest the objectification of women.

c. protesting abortion rights.

d. both a and b.

9. Which of the following events is NOT considered a political crime against the state?

a. The assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy.

b. The attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981.

c. The assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

d. The attempted assassination of President Truman in 1950.

10. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murray Federal building by McVeigh and Nichols in 1995 has been linked to

a. Middle Eastern terrorist groups.

b. religious fanatics protesting against the separation of church and state.

c. radical anti-abortion activism.

d. antigovernment paramilitary right-wing militia movements.

11. Political crimes against the state are most often

a. violent.

b. nonviolent.

c. successful.

d. unsuccessful.

12. During the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, activists were engaged in a specific form of nonviolent political crime against the state, known as

a. civil disobedience.

b. standard political protest.

c. freedom of expression.

d. trial and error.

13. According to Martin Luther King, Jr., there are two types of laws: just and unjust. The unjust laws, such as segregation,

a. give the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.

b. are morally wrong and sinful.

c. must be deliberately violated—openly, lovingly, and with responsibility.

d. all of the above.

14. State corruption is defined by the text as the

a. illegal or unethical use of state authority for personal or political gain.

b. illegal use of state authority for personal or political gain.

c. illegal or unethical conduct by state officials or agencies for purposes of repressing domestic political dissent.

d. illegal conduct by state officials or agencies for purposes of repressing domestic political dissent.

15. State political repression is defined by the text as the

a. illegal or unethical use of state authority for personal or political gain.

b. illegal use of state authority for personal or political gain.

c. illegal or unethical conduct by state officials or agencies for purposes of repressing domestic political dissent.

d. illegal conduct by state officials or agencies for purposes of repressing domestic political dissent.

16. Political bribery refers to accepting of money or property by state officials

a. in return for favors.

b. for personal gain.

c. for political power.

d. in return for silence.

17. The ABSCAM case, which was an FBI “sting” operation in the early 1980s, is an example of

a. election fraud.

b. political kickbacks.

c. political bribery.

d. corrupt campaign practices.

18. Election fraud has been part of the “democratic” process in which of the following high-profile elections?

a. John F. Kennedy for president in 1960

b. Lyndon Johnson for Senate in 1948

c. Jimmy Carter’s California primary campaign in 1976

d. All of the above

19. The 1972 Watergate scandal is an example of

a. election fraud.

b. political kickbacks.

c. political bribery.

d. corrupt campaign practices.

20. During the 1980 presidential campaign, the “Reagan people” urged Iranian leaders to keep the American hostages in custody until after the November election, at which time they would receive more arms shipments from the United States through Israel. This scandal became known as the

a. Iran Contra scandal.

b. October Surprise.

c. Arms for Hostages deal.

d. French Connection.

21. Officially, the CIA has no domestic law enforcement responsibility, yet the agency has

a. opened and photographed the mail of more than one million private citizens.

b. broken into homes and offices, stealing documents and installing illegal surveillance devices.

c. equipped, trained, and supported local police forces.

d. all of the above.

22. The FBI is responsible for crimes of political repression against all of the following EXCEPT

a. youth groups.

b. organized labor.

c. Christian fundamentalist groups.

d. black groups.

23. The FBI’s counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) is officially restricted to

a. hostile foreign governments, foreign organizations, and individuals connected to them.

b. all foreign governments and organizations.

c. all immigrants who seek political asylum in the United States.

d. hostile domestic fringe groups and their allies.

24. When COINTELPRO “investigated” the civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King, Jr. in particular, they decided to do what was needed to __________ King.

a. assist

b. advocate for

c. neutralize

d. kill

25. Before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, the FBI had already chosen Samuel R. Pierce, a conservative, as his successor because Pierce

a. would carry on the work of King.

b. would be the “right kind” of leader.

c. would also advocate nonviolence.

d. was more radical than King.

26. COINTELPRO’s activities were largely targeted at disrupting political organizations that

a. held close secrets about their leaders’ identities.

b. were Islamic fundamentalist in their theology.

c. were right-wing militia radicals.

d. were leftist in their orientation.

27. The case of Leonard Peltier illustrates that state political repression can sometimes lead to

a. people being framed for criminal acts as a means of controlling or disbanding their groups.

b. vindication of the innocent from incarceration.

c. catching the “bad guys” through these terrorist tactics.

d. innocent people being left alone.

28. In the case of Leonard Peltier, three people were killed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Two were FBI agents and one was a Native American member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). What was the result of the investigation into the death of the AIM member?

a. The two dead FBI agents had shot and killed the AIM member.

b. Nothing—there was no investigation into his death.

c. Two other Native Americans were convicted of that killing.

d. Another FBI agent legally shot and killed the AIM member in self-defense.

29. In the Leonard Peltier case, the federal appeals court found that evidence of “improper conduct” by the FBI

a. was sufficient to indicate that Peltier was innocent and should be released from prison.

b. was not necessarily “illegal” conduct.

c. was not sufficient to overturn the conviction or sentence imposed on Peltier.

d. should be enough to argue for abolishing the FBI.

30. The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) was heavily investigated by the FBI by

a. record checks—for example, police, school, and medical records.

b. physical surveillance of people, places, and demonstrations.

c. monitoring radio programs and gathering license plate numbers from vehicles near demonstrations.

d. all of the above.

31. International law can be found in

a. United Nations agreements, treaties, and customary practices.

b. the International Criminal Code.

c. the United Nations criminal code.

d. none of the above.

32. What agencies were created when President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947?

a. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

b. The National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

c. The Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.

d. The Central Intelligence Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

33. To establish more favorable oil trade with Iran in 1953, the CIA participated in the overthrow of a democratically elected leader and

a. participated in the democratic elections that followed.

b. installed the Shah as Iran’s new leader.

c. killed thousands of civilians in the process.

d. developed diplomatic ties with Jordan.

34. When the Shah of Iran was in power and supported by the U.S. government, he permitted U.S. oil companies to take over nearly __________ percent of Iran’s oil production.

a. 20

b. 30

c. 40

d. 50

35. The Iranian secret police (SAVAK), trained at U.S. military bases and supported by the U.S. government,

a. conducted sensitive investigations into the activities of the anti-Shah citizens.

b. stalked Iranian dissidents and engaged in sadistic torture of those dissidents.

c. served more as a police service than a police force.

d. participated in arming citizens for the 1979 revolution against the Shah.

36. During the Shah’s time in power, Iran was known for having the

a. highest rate of death sentences in the world.

b. most progressive health care system in the world.

c. worst human rights record in the world.

d. both a and c.

37. In the early 1960s, the CIA had a Cuba policy that included a plan to

a. provide educational materials to Cuban children.

b. assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

c. control the government of Cuba’s access to international trade.

d. restrict Cuba’s access to American culture.

38. When reading about the international political crimes by the state, it appears that a connection exists between these activities and

a. collective embezzlement.

b. standard white-collar crime.

c. conventional violent crime in the street.

d. syndicated crime, especially the drug trade.

39. In 1968, the Vietnam War began government tactics that involved the deliberate torture and murder of more than 40,000 people in Vietnam. This program lasted for more than three years and was called

a. Operation Phoenix.

b. Operation Desert Storm.

c. Operation Success.

d. Operation Desert Shield.

40. The Iran Contra scandal violated the Boland Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act because

a. it was a covert operation that had not been announced to Congress.

b. it provided a system for funding the anti-Sandinista group.

c. it advocated toppling a foreign government.

d. the United States was not taking a neutral stance regarding the internal problems in another country.

41. In the early 1980s, the CIA funded and participated in the mining of Nicaraguan harbors, which resulted in

a. legal challenges to the U.S. Neutrality Act.

b. freedom for the Nicaraguan people.

c. two small fishing boats detonating the mines, beginning the series of damage.

d. thousands of people killed on shores near the harbors.

42. Which law was violated when the U.S. government participated in the overthrow of democratically elected presidents in Chile and Guatemala?

a. the U.S. Neutrality Act

b. the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

c. the UN Charter

d. the Boland Amendment

43. Because the UN Charter prohibits __________, the Iran Contra scandal was a clear violation of this law.

a. any state from intervening in the internal or external affairs of any other state

b. the use of economic, political, or any coercive means to obtain the subordination of its sovereign rights from a foreign state

c. efforts to organize, assist, foment, finance, incite, or tolerate subversive, terrorist, or armed activities directed toward overthrowing the regime of another state

d. all of the above

44. Which of the following comments best characterizes the U.S. relationship with Iraq?

a. The United States has always opposed the leadership in Iraq.

b. The United States has sometimes supported the leadership in Iraq.

c. The United States was sometimes silent about the tactics of the leadership of Iraq.

d. Both b and c.

45. Why were Yippie leader Abby Hoffman and President Carter’s daughter Amy acquitted of trespass even though they admitted occupying several buildings at the University of Massachusetts?

a. President Carter intervened and pressured the judge to issue a directed verdict.

b. The prosecution made a serious procedural error.

c. They argued that although they acted illegally, their actions were justified to prevent more dangerous crimes by the CIA ( the defense of “necessity”).

d. To avoid embarrassing the administration, the Secret Service suppressed evidence that most likely would have led to conviction.

46. In 2009 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning against increased right-wing extremism related to

a. fear and anxiety about the economy.

b. fear and anxiety about President Obama.

c. fear and anxiety related to the return of U.S. military veterans.

d. all of the above.

47. What is FISA?

a. A secret order enacted by then President George W. Bush that allows wiretapping and eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.

b. A congressional act that recommended the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by 2010.

c. A congressional act passed in 1978 that requires warrants for wiretapping and eavesdropping on U.S. citizens.

d. A congressional resolution that censored Lewis “Scooter” Libby for interfering with the investigation into “Intimigate.”

48. Which of the following prohibits torture, including techniques such as those applied by the United States to Abu Zubayda and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

a. The 1949 UN Declaration of Human Rights.

b. The U.S. Constitution.

c. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

d. Both a and c.

49. Which of the following is a false statement about the USA PATRIOT Act?

a. It allows the U.S. government to conduct nationwide roving wiretaps on citizens.

b. It allows the U.S. government to track e-mail and Internet use of citizens.

c. It allows the U.S. government to monitor citizens’ financial records, library records, and personnel records.

d. It requires the U.S. government to obtain warrants to exercise any of enhanced surveillance powers.

50. Who are Chelsea Manning and Andrew Snowden?

a. The authors of the four antitorture Geneva Conventions.

b. Two U.S. citizens charged under the Espionage Act for leaking classified documents.

c. The two CIA interrogators convicted for torturing suspected Al Qaeda members.

d. The White House Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted the “torture memo” that claimed waterboarding was not torture.

51. Which of the following is not an example of domestic terrorism?

a. Throwing Molotov cocktails at Planned Parenthood buildings.

b. The “stinkbombing” of Seattle adult bookstores and porn theatres by feminist antipornography activists.

c. Actions by the Weather Underground in the 1960s.

d. None of the above (all of the above are examples of domestic terrorism).

True or False Questions

1. _____ Political crimes against the state involve intentional violations of criminal law for political purposes, not personal gain.

2. _____ The American Revolution is an example of domestic terrorism that resulted in the successful prosecution of the colonial organizers.

3. _____ The FBI and the CIA protected Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during his civil rights’ activities.

4. _____ The assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan cannot be seen as a violent political crime against the state because the shooter was not motivated by a desire to change the political and social conditions.

5. _____ The FBI’s counterintelligence program is responsible for freeing Leonard Peltier from federal prison.

6. _____ U.S. government agencies routinely harass and monitor the activities of U.S. citizens whom they suspect to be involved with protest organizations, such as the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador.

7. _____ During the Iran Contra scandal, President Reagan was unaware of the dealings of his administration and was later deeply shocked and dismayed to discover their activities.

8. _____ While George H. W. Bush was director of the Central Intelligence Agency, from 1976 to 1980, he kept Manuel Noriega on the CIA payroll despite his involvement in the international drug trade.

9. _____ The Boland Amendment prohibited the use of U.S. military and economic resources to overthrow the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

10. _____ Oliver North was never convicted of any crimes for his role in the Iran Contra scandal; in fact, he went on to have a very successful political career in the Republican Party.

11. _____ The United States is the only country to engage in political crimes.

12. _____ Political assassination is the most common form of terrorism in the United States.

13. _____ Political bribery is the acceptance of money or property by state officials in return for favors.

14. _____ Corrupt campaign practices appear to occur rarely in the United States.

15. _____ The FBI and the CIA have often been accused of conducting illegal activities.

16. _____ Although they are sometimes verbally intense, thus far anti-abortion protests in the United States have been nonviolent.

17. _____ In 2004 Afghanistan became the leading producer of opium in the world.

18. _____ A 2002 White House legal counsel memo asserted that 10 CIA interrogation “escalating techniques,” including waterboarding, were not torture.

19. _____ The Occupy protests that began on Wall Street and eventually spread to other U.S. cities are examples of violence against the state.

20. _____ Because he received political asylum in Russia, Edward Snowden was not charged with violating the Espionage Act.

Essay Questions

1. The United States has a history of illegal involvement in international presidential politics. Illustrate your understanding of such involvement as a form of political crime by explaining why such actions are seen as illegal (that is, what international laws did the actions violate?), identifying the type of political crime the actions represent, and briefly discuss one example.

Required content:

1. These acts violate Article 2(3) of the United Nations Charter.
2. Article 2(3) obliges member states to settle disputes peacefully.
3. These acts violate Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.
4. According to Article 2(4) no state has the right to use force or the threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state.
5. These acts are examples of “state terrorism.”
6. Example (any one of the following): CIA involvement in the overthrow of Iranian President Mossadegh; CIA reinstatement of the Shah of Iran; CIA training of SAVAK (the Iranian secret police); the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbez of Guatemala (“Operation Success”); the overthrow of President Allende of Chile.

Additional content:

1. Sometimes these actions also violate international treaties.
2. Sometimes these actions violate domestic U.S. laws.
3. Oftentimes these actions relate to U.S. corporate interests that are threatened by policies enacted by the elected leader.
4. CIA attempts to overthrow the Castro government after it ousted Batiste in Cuba are similar, that is, they are actions against a foreign government (e.g. “Operation 40,” “Brigade 2506,” the Bay of Pigs invasion, or JM/WAVE).

2. The authors provide a tripartite classification of political crime. Briefly explain what political crime is, and then identify and define the three major forms of political crime stated in the text, and name at least one subtype of each major form.

Required content:

1. Political crime is a broad category that refers to various acts committed in relationship to political activities and/or group struggles over power.
2. The first major type of political crime is political crimes against the state.
3. Political crimes against the state are classified as either violent or nonviolent (only one of these is required).
4. The second major type of political crime is domestic political crimes by the state.
5. Subtypes of political crime by the state include state corruption, state political corruption, and state-corporate crime (only one of these is required).
6. The third major type of political crime is transnational political crimes by the state.
7. Subtypes of transnational political crimes by the state include violations of international law and state terrorism through foreign policy (only one of these is required).

Additional content:

1. Criminologists rarely use the category of political crime.
2. When criminologists do use the category they tend to think only of political crime committed against the state.
3. But the state often initiates illegal attacks on legally functioning groups.
4. By not labeling such acts as crime, criminologists obscure the nature of these acts.
5. Political acts by the state often violate domestic and/or international law.

3. Although people often think of political crime as criminal actions taken against the government, the U.S. government also engages in political crime against its own citizens. Write an essay that describes the various types of crimes that may be committed by the U.S. government against its own people.

Required content:

1. The various actions of a government against its own people are collectively known as domestic political crime by the state.
2. One form of domestic political crime by the state is state corruption: the illegal or unethical use of state authority for personal or political gain.
3. Political repression of citizens is illegal or unethical state conduct to suppress political dissent.
4. State-corporate crime is socially harmful or illegal activity by state agencies and private corporations.

Additional content:

1. State corruption takes various forms, including election fraud, political bribery, and corrupt campaign practices.
2. Any example of political repression, such as infiltration of groups, surveillance, or assassination, for example, FBI action against the labor movement, COINTELPRO (e.g., against Socialist Workers Party, SDS, Puerto Rican independence, CISPES, Leonard Peltier and AIM, Martin Luther King, Jr..), Bush’s Terrorist Surveillance Act, USA PATRIOT Act, and Intimigate.
3. An example of state-corporate crime where a state agency uses a private corporation to achieve a state goal, for example, the Challenger explosion, and Unocal in Burma.
4. An example of state-corporate crime where a state agency failure allows a corporation to act illegally and cause social harm, for example, OSHA and the Imperial Food Products fire, and ValuJet Flight 592 and the FAA.
5. An example of political bribery (e.g., ABSCAM, Abramoff, LAPD antigang officers, Cook County Circuit Court judges), election fraud (e.g.. Truman, John Kennedy, Johnson, Bush v. Gore), or corrupt campaign activity (e.g., Watergate).

4. In everyday life “terrorism” has multiple, politicized, and sometimes contradictory meanings. Terrorism has very specific meaning in criminology—yet deciding what is or is not terrorism may still be problematic. Explain what terrorism is from a criminological perspective, identify and illustrate the different forms terrorism can take, and comment on why “terrorism” remains a contested category despite its specific meaning.

Required content:

1. Terrorism is the use of force or violence to intimidate, coerce, or change a government or civilian population for political reasons.
2. Terrorism may be committed by individuals or groups against the state.
3. Types of terrorism by individuals against the state include (must note one type): assassination of state officials, acts of domestic terror by U.S. citizens, and acts of international terror.
4. Terrorism may be committed by the state against other states.
5. Examples of terrorism by the U.S. against other states include (must note one example): CIA actions in Iran (overthrow of Mossadegh; reinstatement of the Shah; training Iran’s secret police); overthrow of Arbez of Guatemala (“Operation Success”); overthrow of Allende in Chile; antigovernment actions in Cuba (Operation 40, Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs, or JM/WAVE); Operation Phoenix in Vietnam; Operation Condor; actions in Laos (Meo secret army; heroin activities in the Golden Triangle); support for the Afghan rebels versus the Soviet Union.
6. Terrorism is still a contested category, in part because the line between freedom fighter and terrorist depends on one’s perspective.

Additional content:

1. Example of assassination (any of the following): Lincoln, McKinley, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, the attempt against Truman.
2. Example of domestic terrorism by U.S. citizens against the state: McVeigh and Nichols’ bombing of the Murray building, the bombing of the Boston marathon by the Tsarnaev brothers.
3. Example of international terrorism against the United States: bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, 9/11.
4. From the British point of view the American Revolution was an act of terrorism.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

And Justice for All (1979): Drama. A Baltimore defense attorney disgusted by rampant corruption is asked to defend a judge he despises or face disbarment.

In the White Man’s Image (2007): Documentary.

Mayer, Jane. 2008. The Dark Side: How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals. New York: Doubleday.

Three Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation (2006): Documentary.

War Made Easy (2007): Documentary.

The Weather Underground (2004): Documentary.

What I’ve Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy (2002): Documentary.

Wounded Knee: Pine Ridge and the Sioux (2005): Documentary.