{"id":3048,"date":"2020-10-08T10:03:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T15:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=3048"},"modified":"2020-10-08T10:03:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T15:03:03","slug":"can-your-country-be-a-criminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2020\/10\/08\/can-your-country-be-a-criminal\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Your Country Be a Criminal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Police form a line in riot gear. Violence against citizens by police is often perceived as legitimate. Image via Flickr.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Can your country be a criminal? Until recently, the legal answer has often been no. Today, sociologists answer: it depends. For instance, this past summer, the federal government resumed executing<\/a> death row inmates, and more recently, officer-involved shootings have drawn attention to how police officers are entrusted with violent force as part of their duty to protect and serve the people. In many circumstances, these killings are defended as legal or legitimate forms of violence. But many other kinds of killing, such as genocide or murder, are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early sociologist Max Weber argued that countries have historically been defined by the power and right to exercise \u201clegitimate violence,\u201d or violence that is normalized and legal. Although they are entrusted to use violence  to protect their citizens from violence, countries routinely use violence against their own citizens.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n