ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly covers the definitional debate that continues within the field of state crime before introducing the preferred terms used throughout this book, that of state-perpetrated gender-based violence and state-perpetrated violence against women. Gender-based violence is a term used to describe abusive and harmful behaviors that are perpetrated against an individual or group of individuals based on their gender – i.e., the socially constructed differences between males and females. Gender-based violence includes a broad variety of behaviors that occur during times of peace and conflict. Direct forms of state-perpetrated violence against women are easier to conceptualize than indirect forms as they include overt acts, such as the punishment of the Girl of Qatif with 90 lashes by the Saudi Arabian state for being alone with a man after reporting her gang rape to the police, or the rape and sexual assault perpetrated against women during times of conflict under the authority of high-ranking state officials.
