Although Western criminology has given some attention to state crime, it often conveniently represses its implications. Genocide and mass political killings have been perpetrated by the governments of Turkey, Nazi Germany, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Burundi, Bengal, Paraguay, East Timor, Uganda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Government denial has three stages, starting with saying the killings did not happen, continuing by saying that what happened was something else, and finally saying that what happened was justified for the protection of national security or some other purpose. Currently denial, passivity, and indifference exist in Israel with respect to the government's response to the uprising of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Literature that can aid the understanding of denial focuses on the psychology of denial, the role of bystanders and rescuers, and neutralization theory. The three forms of denial are denial of the past, literal denial, and implicatory denial. Notes and 27 references