ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the study of state crime by including the actions of state-run educational institutions based on their role as reproducers of the social order. It describes that several behaviors, including the effects of unaccountability, negligence in revealing the meritocratic myth, intellectual marginalization, reinforcement of coercive social control, and use of a biased curriculum, are state crimes. They cause social harm such as minimizing individual's life chances and preventing them from realizing their potential. The chapter discusses crimes of omission committed by institutions of higher education. The economic and ideological functions of schools have been in place since the establishment of mass public education in Western industrialized societies. Transgressions committed by educational institutions have not been called crimes per se. Nevertheless, there has always been a belief that our educational system needs change. Educators should become acquainted with various discipline-specific ways to teach students to be critical about the material for which they are responsible.
