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In existing criminology there are concepts: a criminal man, a criminal profession, a criminal society, a criminal sect, and a criminal tribe, but there is no concept of a criminal state, or a criminal government, or criminal legislation. Consequently, the biggest crimes actually escape being called crimes. This limitation of the field of vision of criminology together with the abscence of an exact and permanent definition of the concept of crime is one of the chief characteristics of our culture.

P. D. Ouspensky#6

JusticeLawPoliticsState power

About this quote

What does it mean?
Criminology lacks the concept of a criminal state, allowing large-scale crimes by governments to escape definition.
In plain terms
Big crimes by governments are not called crimes because criminology does not study them.
What can you take from it?
We must expand our definition of crime to include state actions.

Where it applies

  • policy analysis
  • legal theory
  • social critique

Putting it to work

  • audit government actions
  • reform legal definitions
  • critique state power

Questions to consider

  • Who defines what is a crime?
  • Why are state crimes excluded?

Another view

State actions are often judged by different standards than individual crimes.

More from P. D. Ouspensky

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  3. Philosophy is based on speculation, on logic, on thought, on the synthesis of what we know and on the analysis of what we do not know. Philosophy must include …

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