Crimes of the American Nuclear State at Home and Abroad.

• Author: Ferrall, Bard R.
• Position: Review

DAVID KAUZLARICH & RONALD C. KRAMER, CRIMES OF THE AMERICAN NUCLEAR STATE AT HOME AND ABROAD (Boston, Northeastern University Press, 1998) 195 pp.

The authors present three case studies of American state action regarding nuclear weaponry, and argue that these can properly be understood as state crimes which are best explained using the principles and substantive content of criminology. While no behavior or action can be examined as a criminological question if that action has not been defined as a crime, and criminology can therefore study state action only if that action is a criminal violation within some pre-existing legal framework, the criminological definition of "crime" should not be limited to codes promulgated by individual nation-states. The authors, therefore, first set out the legal framework for their analysis, discussing various international standards, including customary international law, clauses of the U.N. Charter and the Nuremberg Charter, treaties, and other agreements. In the first case studies, the authors examine the events surrounding and leading up to the Eisenhower Administration's threat to use nuclear weapons to bring a negotiated settlement to the...