British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on April 19, 2005
British Journal of Criminology 2005 45(4):582-597; doi:10.1093/bjc/azi039
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The British Journal of Criminology 45:582-597 (2005)
© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Truth Commissions and the Recognition of State Crime
* University of Wellington, NZ; elizabeth.stanley{at}vuw.ac.uk.
This article seeks to analyse the conditions by which state crime comes to be recognized or mis-recognized, particularly through truth commission proceedings. Truth commissions, established in transitions to democracy, often provide the most authoritative documents on state crime. While this recognition of state crime presents an opportunity to challenge popular perceptions and power relations, this approach is commonly detached from the linked imperative of social justice. Building on the work of Nancy Fraser (1997; 2000; 2003) and the authors own primary research, the article details that while truth commissions expose a partial truth of state crime, they inhibit recognition of status subordination that would allow a challenge to institutionalized patterns of inequality, discrimination and oppression.