Table Of ContentRevisiting Crimes of the Powerful
Frank Pearce was the first scholar to use the term “crimes of the powerful.”
His ground-breaking book of the same name provided insightful critiques of
liberal orthodox criminology, particularly in relation to labelling theory and
symbolic interactionism, while making important contributions to Marxist
understandings of the complex relations between crime, law and the state
in the reproduction of the capitalist social order. Historically, crimes of the
powerful were largely neglected in crime and deviance studies, but there is now
an important and growing body of work addressing this gap. This book brings
together leading international scholars to discuss the legacy of Frank Pearce’s
book and his work in this area, demonstrating the invaluable contributions
a critical Marxist framework brings to studies of corporate and state crimes,
nationally, internationally and on a global scale.
This book is neither a hagiography nor a review of random areas of social
scientific interest. Instead, it draws together a collection of scholarly and original
articles which draw upon and critically interrogate the continued significance of
the approach pioneered in Crimes of the Powerful. The book traces the evolution
of crimes of the powerful empirically and theoretically since 1976; shows how
critical scholars have integrated new theoretical insights derived from post-
structuralism, feminism and critical race studies; and offers perspectives on how
the crimes of the powerful – and the enormous, ongoing destruction they
cause – can be addressed and resisted.
Steven Bittle is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of
Ottawa, Canada.
Laureen Snider is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University,
Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Steve Tombs is Professor of Criminology at The Open University, UK.
David Whyte is Professor of Socio-legal Studies at the School of Law and
Social Justice, University of Liverpool, UK.
Crimes of the Powerful
Gregg Barak
Eastern Michigan University, USA
Penny Green
Queen Mary University of London, UK
Tony Ward
Northumbria University, UK
Crimes of the Powerful encompasses the harmful, injurious and victimizing
behaviours perpetrated by privately or publicly operated businesses, corporations
and organizations as well as the state mediated administrative, legalistic, and
political responses to these crimes.
The series draws attention to the commonalities of the theories, practices, and
controls of the crimes of the powerful. It focuses on the overlapping spheres and
inter-related worlds of a wide array of existing and recently developing areas of
social, historical and behavioural inquiry into the wrongdoings of multinational
organizations, nation-states, stateless regimes, illegal networks, financialization,
globalization and securitization.
These examinations of the crimes of the powerful straddle a variety of related
disciplines and areas of academic interest, including studies in criminology and
criminal justice; law and human rights; conflict, peace and security; economic
change, environmental decay and global sustainability.
Uncovering the Crimes of Urbanisation
Researching Corruption, Violence and Urban Conflict
Kristian Lasslett
State-Corporate Crime and the Commodification of
Victimhood
The Toxic Legacy of Trafigura’s Ship of Death
Thomas MacManus
Market Criminology
State-Corporate Crime in the Petroleum Extraction Industry
Ifeanyi Ezeonu
Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful
Marxism, Crime and Deviance
Edited by Steven Bittle, Laureen Snider, Steve Tombs and David Whyte
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Crimes-of-the-Powerful/book-series/COTP
Revisiting Crimes of the
Powerful
Marxism, Crime and Deviance
Edited by Steven Bittle,
Laureen Snider, Steve Tombs
and David Whyte
First published 2018
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Steven Bittle, Laureen
Snider, Steve Tombs and David Whyte; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Steven Bittle, Laureen Snider, Steve Tombs and David
Whyte to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bittle, Steven, 1968– editor. | Snider, Laureen, 1944–
editor. | Tombs, Steve, editor.
Title: Revisiting crimes of the powerful : Marxism, crime and
deviance / edited by Steven Bittle, Laureen Snider, Steve Tombs
and David Whyte.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series:
Crimes of the powerful | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018006415 | ISBN 9780415791427 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315212333 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Commercial crimes. | Corporations—Corrupt
practices. | Organized crime. | State crimes. | Political corruption.
Classification: LCC HV6768 .R485 2018 | DDC 364.16/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018006415
ISBN: 978-0-415-79142-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-21233-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to Frank Pearce: friend, teacher,
colleague and inspiration.
Contents
List of figures x
List of contributors xi
Foreword by Frank Pearce xviii
Acknowledgements xxxii
Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful: an introduction xxxiii
STEVEN BITTLE, LAUREEN SNIDER, STEVE TOMBS AND DAVID WHYTE
SECTION I
Theoretical and conceptual excursions 1
1 Conceptualization, theoretical practice and Crimes of
the Powerful 3
JON FRAULEY
2 Law: ideological whitewashing and positive enabling
of coercion 20
HARRY GLASBEEK
3 Underworld as servant and smokescreen: Crimes of the
Powerful and the evolution of organized crime control 32
MICHAEL WOODIWISS
4 Shadow boxing against the crimes of the powerful 45
MARGARET BEARE
5 Between force and consensus 60
VINCENZO RUGGIERO
viii Contents
6 Developing Pearce’s new materialism 73
NICK HARDY
7 Theorizing fiscal sacrifices in zombie capitalism:
a radical Durkheimian approach 87
RONJON PAUL DATTA
8 Power, crime and enclosure: capital accumulation in
the twilight of the neoliberal SSA 102
RAYMOND MICHALOWSKI
SECTION II
Crimes of the powerful research: empirical dimensions 117
9 Marx reloaded for the 21st century: capitalism, agency
and the crimes of the powerful 119
KRISTIAN LASSLETT
10 The imaginary social order of corporate criminal liability 131
LIISA LÄHTEENMÄKI AND ANNE ALVESALO-KUUSI
11 Global capital, the rigging of interbank interest rates
and the capitalist state 143
GREGG BARAK
12 Pipelines, presidents and people power: resisting
state–corporate environmental crime 157
ELIZABETH A. BRADSHAW
13 Pesticideland: Brazil’s poison market 174
STÉFANIE KHOURY
14 No criminology of wage theft: revisiting “workplace
theft” to expose capitalist exploitation 188
PAUL LEIGHTON
15 Prying into the pockets of public figures 202
SCOTT POYNTING
16 The crimes of the powerful and the Spanish crisis 217
IGNASI BERNAT
Contents ix
17 Crimes of globalization and Asian dam projects:
powerful institutions and slow violence 231
DAVID O. FRIEDRICHS
SECTION III
New developments in crimes of the powerful research 243
18 An extension of Frank Pearce’s work on crimes of the
powerful: “demystification” and the role of our consent 245
DAWN L. ROTHE AND VICTORIA E. COLLINS
19 Debtfarism, predatory lending and imaginary social
orders: the case of the U.S. payday lending industry 257
SUSANNE SOEDERBERG
20 Failure to protect: state obligations to victims
and state crime 270
LAURA FINLEY
21 “Punitive reformation”: state-sanctioned labour
through criminal justice and welfare 283
JON BURNETT
22 Imperialism: the general theory of crimes of the powerful 297
BIKO AGOZINO
23 Frank Pearce and colonial state crimes: contributions
to a research agenda 309
JOSE ATILES
24 Organized irresponsibility, corporations and the
contradictions of collective agency and individual
culpability 322
DEAN CURRAN
Index 335
