Both the studies in this chapter relate to illegal internment and the illicit treatment of those interned. The first case study explicitly shows how the criminal and immoral behaviour that is problematic and prevalent at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre can be graphic examples of State crime, State– corporate crime and political crime within a Nation State. All of which, also illustrate the immorality or inexcusable ignorance of those in power. In spite of this, the study reveals that these explanations on their own have been insufficient to hold the State accountable for their part in a variety of atrocious examples of mistreatment.

Unfortunately, as the study demonstrates, none of the more traditional criminological definitions have held governments responsible for failing to exercise their power not only to stop the appalling treatment of the women incarcerated but also for the lack of action to cease the detention of vulnerable individuals in the first place. On a more optimistic front, the study's use of the concept of social harm provides an alternative lens to encompass the reality of the harms that exist in a capitalist, neoliberal contemporary society and the injurious effects the powerful can perpetrate. Social harm can thus expose how the activities in Yarl's Wood were politically justified and, as a result, went unpunished. Only through this revelation, the study postulates, can the tools be provided to hold the State fully accountable.

The second study looks at the Magdalene Laundries which were institutions or ‘asylums’ administered by the Catholic Church and condoned by the State (in the main, that of Ireland) to ‘house’ ‘fallen’ women. As with Yarl's Wood, breaches of human rights predominated. Despite State efforts to legitimise their actions and avoid responsibility, the case study reveals that there was a growing public concern over the 1933 discovery of a mass grave and numerous reports of endemic rape, incest, illegitimacy and sexual abuse within the Church-State Laundries. Nonetheless, when looking at the case through the lens of human rights and social harm, the study concludes that the actions of the Irish State can be successfully realised as a domestic State crime.