Leid Stories - State Crimes Against Democracy: When Conspiracies Are More Than Theories - 08/07/14
There was no legal classification for the type of crime top lawmakers in Florida committed in 2000, when they blocked a recount of the vote in the presidential election. But it got Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration and policy at Florida State University, to thinking that there ought to be.
In 2006, he coined the term, “State Crimes Against Democracy (SCADs),” and since then has been on a mission to codify political criminality in high office.
SCADs, deHaven-Smith says, are a particularly pernicious type of governmental corruption. Far more dangerous than “regular” corruption for personal gain, SCADs essentially are conspiratorial and anti-democratic in nature, and involve the subversion of political institutions, branches of government, and even the entire government.
Scratch a conspiracy theory, and you very likely will find SCADs, he says.
Dr. deHaven-Smith, the author of 16 books, including Conspiracy Theory In America, joins Leid Stories for an eye-opening discussion on elite political criminality in the United States and the special challenges it poses in preventing and prosecuting such crimes.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free