Political crimes

In criminology, a political crime is one involving overt acts or omissions (where there is a duty to act), which prejudice the interests of the state, its government or the political system. It is to be distinguished from state crime when it is the states that break both their own criminal laws and/or public international law. States will define as political crimes any behaviour perceived as a threat, real or imagined, to the state's survival including both violent and non-violent oppositional crimes.