Interactive Case-Studies

The State Crime Testimony Project (SCTP) aims to enrich understandings of elite deviance through the provision of data and materials that is often marginalised, hidden or destroyed by those in power.

During the course of the 20th century newly emerging, and well established, states killed and plundered on a grand scale. However, these acts of barbarity have not met silence. Indeed, diverse communities of resistance around the world have, and continue to, censure domestic and foreign governments for trammelling fundamental human rights norms.

Although criminology has traditionally ignored the complex dialectic between state crime and resistance, this trend is now in remission owing to successive generations of state crime research.  On this website, state crime scholars – with particular regional expertise – present case studies on their research, in language that is free of disciplinary jargon. Each case study gives users access to a rich a range of annotated primary materials and multi-media resources that palpably brings the particular state crime event into focus.

The SCTP has received generous support from the King’s College London Teaching Fund and the Pluto Education Trust.

The State Crime Testimony Project can be accessed here.

Below are a list of selected case-studies and educational teaching materials:

 

Street Children In Apartheid
Draw and Tell: Street Children In Apartheid South Africa
Paga Hill
The Demolition of Paga Hill: Testimony Project
Torture At The Río Blanco Mine – A State-Corporate Crime? – Testimony Project
Torture At The Río Blanco Mine – A State-Corporate Crime? – Testimony Project
State Terror and The Bougainville Conflict
State Terror and The Bougainville Conflict: Testimony Project
Abidjan
Toxic Waste Dumping In Abidjan: Testimony Project
words-as-knives
Hate Propaganda: Words as Knives

Learning materials to aid the project’s use in class are provided below.

Teaching materials

The following exercises are designed so the SCTP case studies can be employed as tools for promoting critical inquiry and engagement during seminars.

Case StudyThemesExercise TypeExercise
Draw and Tell: Street Children in Apartheid South AfricaState crimes against children, race crimes, state terror, draw and tell methodologyClass assignment, group work, seminar discussionExercise – Analysing Children’s Drawings
Group workExercise – Developing new research methods with vulnerable children
The Demolition of Paga HillForced eviction, corruption, state terror, state-corporate crimeSeminar presentation, seminar discussionExercise – Forced Eviction Presentation
Group workExercise – Paga Hill Restorative Justice Conference
Torture at the Rio Blanco Mine – A State Corporate Crime?Resource grabbing, resistance, state-corporate crime, torture, state terrorSeminar presentation, seminar discussionExercise – Resource Grabbing Presentation
Group workExercise – Resisting Resource Grabbing
Toxic Dumping in AbidjanEnvironmental crimes, state-corporate crime, corruptionClass assignment, group workExercise – Researching the Trafigura Dumping
Class assignment, seminar discussionExercise – Analysisng Toxic Dumping using Kramer et al
War Crimes and the Bougainville ConflictState terrorism, war crimes, state-corporate crimeClass assignment, group workExercise – Prepare a Probation Report on Bougainville Copper Limited
Class assignment, seminar discussionExercise – The Bougainville Conflict and Kramer et al

Feedback

ISCI welcomes feedback and suggestions from teachers and students. SCTP’s editor, Dr Kristian Lasslett, can be contacted via email: kak.lasslett@ulster.ac.uk