Citation

Ward T. Br. J. Criminol. 2005; 45(4): 434-445.

Affiliation

Department of Law, University of Hull (a.ward@hull.ac.uk)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/bjc/azi031

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A central task for a criminology of state crime is to explain why the cruelty and destructiveness of regimes of terror so often seem to exceed anything required by the rational pursuit of organizational goals. This article explores competing explanations of terror through a case study of the Congo Free State (1885–1908) and argues that 'excesses' are committed in circumstances where it is rational for organizations and individual actors to minimize the moral costs of cruelty.