Crimes Against the State

This study by Michael Head (law, U. of Western Sydney) critically examines laws in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia established to protect the stability and security of prevailing political, economic and social orders. The focus is on high crimes--such as treason, terrorism, sedition, mutiny, conspiracy, espionage, unlawful assembly, riot and rebellion--over more easily integrated crimes that nonetheless affect the State such as tax-evasion, corruption, interference with judicial system, etc. He argues that legal neutrality is a myth and that prosecuting crimes against the State is guided by extra-legal motives; that there is a decidedly class-character to who is targeted as criminals against the state; that the range of crimes against the State has grown over time and employs petty offenses as excuses to trigger prosecution; that courts have allowed executive branches of government to determine "the interests of the State" over and against popular protest; that human rights provide little protection; and that legal and defense campaigns against State prosecution should reach out to the public and not focus too much on legal or evidentiary processes. Head has written for those interested in the intersection between law history and politics, and its practical import, but not necessarily an academic audience. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr Michael Head, B.Juris, LL.B. (Hons) (Monash), LLM (Columbia), Ph.D. (UWS), is Associate Professor in law at the University of Western Sydney. He is an established name in the fields of law and civil liberties. Over the past ten years, he has had a substantial range of publications in leading law journals. Head is also the author of Calling out the Troops - The Australian Military and Civil Unrest (Federation Press 2008), Administrative Law: Context and Critique (Federation Press, 2nd ed, 2008), Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal (Routledge-Cavendish, 2008) and co-author with Dr Scott Mann of Law in Perspective: Ethics, society and critical thinking (UNSW Press, 2nd ed, 2008) and Domestic Deployment of the Armed Forces: Military Powers, Law and Human Rights (Ashgate 2009).