| Abstrakt: |
On January 6th, 2021, a mob of more than 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capital—at his urging—in an effort to halt counting of electoral college votes from the 2020 Presidential Election. Vandalism, injury, and loss of life ensued. Although the actions of Trump and the insurrectionists were alarming, the structural factors that gave rise to this offense are arguably even more troubling. In this paper, we outline three "criminogenic antecedents" that provided individual actors an opportunity to incite insurrection: (1) a lack of clarity and consensus in conceptualizations of crime, which has resulted in an ambiguous, contentious, and limited foundation from which to respond to crimes of the powerful; (2) a resultant pattern of symbolic punishments that fails to control these offenses; and (3) Congressional deviance, which virtually ensures that this environment of nonfeasance will continue. We conclude the analysis by proposing policy ideas that will hopefully strengthen our democracy and reduce the risk of something similar happening in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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