Political Authority and the Dilemma of Justifying Crimes against the State; a Theory of Crimes against the State

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Crimes against the state cannot be justified in the same way as other legal crimes. Each and every crime and punishment are created by the law which political authority passes and justification of such punishment is dependent on the issuing authority. A punishment is justified only because it is issued by an authoritative legislature. However, justification of laws which are protecting political authority itself needs arguments beyond this common response. Such arguments are an integral part of theory of political authority. Prevalent punishment theories are in contrast, ethical theories based on proving subordinate citizens duty to obey the political authority orders because of their ethical supremacy. While, instead of ethical judgment on subjects, the commander should be judged. Why can he issue order and compel punishment? As a result, we defend a theory based on political equality that can justify authority without ethical judgment on subjects. The theory was titled “Participation Theory” in this paper and based on political rights that guarantee interference of all citizens in making and changing political system all times. Only a criminal system which defines itself in accordance with these political rights could be justified

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