International State Crime Initiative
The International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) is a cross-disciplinary research centre comprising a community of scholars working to further our understanding of state crime. By state crime we mean state organisational deviance resulting in human rights violations. This includes crimes committed, instigated, or condoned by state agencies or by non-state entities that control substantial territory.
The concept of state crime includes but extends beyond legal categories of human rights abuse and international crime. Our focus is on victims as key actors in defining, exposing and challenging state violence and corruption. ISCI takes the term ‘crime’ to include all violations of human rights that are ‘deviant’ in the sense that they infringe some socially recognised norm.
ISCI is institutionally supported by King’s College London and partnered with Harvard University, the University of Hull, and the University of Ulster.
Please visit our website for further information.
Research
ISCI's primary areas of research include:
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Criminological approaches to the state and state crime
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Theories of resistance to state crime
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The role civil society in defining and censuring state violence and corruption
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Theories of state corruption
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Types of state violence
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The rise of global human rights
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The rise of transitional justice
In 2011 Professor Penny Green and Dr Tony Ward, ISCI's directors, were awarded an ESRC Standard Grant of £830,000 for a project entitled: ‘Resisting State Crime: A Comparative Study of Civil Society’ (ES/I030816/1). For further information on the project please see the ISCI website.
Staff
ISCI's permanent staff team is as follows:
Directors
Professor Penny Green (King's College London)
Dr Tony Ward (University of Hull)
Research fellow
Dr Kris Lasslett (University of Ulster)
ESRC research fellows
Thomas MacManus (King's College London)
Dr Ian Patel (King's College London)
Research and policy manager
Alicia de la Cour Venning (King's College London)
Publications
State Crime Journal
ISCI recently published the first issue of State Crime in conjunction with Pluto Journals.
State Crime is the first peer-reviewed, international journal that seeks to disseminate leading research on the illicit practices of states. The concept of state crime is not confined to legally recognised states but can include any authority that exerts political and military control over a substantial territory. The journal’s focus is a reflection of the growing awareness within criminology that state criminality is endemic and acts as a significant barrier to security and development.
The first edition includes Noam Chomsky's article 'Changing Contours of World Order', which he presented at the journal launch at King's last October.
For further information, including the contents of the first issue, and details regarding subscriptions and calls for papers, please see ISCI's website.
Contact us
International State Crime Initiative
c/o Penny Green
The Dickson Poon School of Law
Somerset House East Wing
King’s College London
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom