class power and crime - topic 3 Flashcards
criminogenic capitalism - marxism
cr inevitable bec capitalism criminogenic
capitalism damaging w/c wh may give rise to w/c
1 poverty so cr only way w/c can survive
2 cr way to obtain consumer goods
3 lack of control over lives may lead to frustration so non utilitarian cr
capitalism is competitive so m/c may commit white collar cr due to greed
gordon; cr stats ign m/c cr
the state and law making - marxism
marxists see law making as serving capitalism
britain’s economic interests in colonies where can produce tea, coffee and other plantations
brit intro tax and non payment results in punishable crim offence
cash earned by working on plantations wh served economic interest of capitalist plantation owners plus they brits got tax money
ruling class have power to prevent intro of laws wh threaten interest and regulate activities of business
selective enforcement - marxism
application of laws by CJS is selective
powerless grp criminalised while police/courts ign cr of powerful
ideological functions of crime and law - marxism
false class consciousness; sugg proletariat don’t recog they’re being exploited and contrib to own exploitation
laws occasionally r passed that ‘benefit’ w/c but acc they benefit r/c ex keeping workers fit for work
such laws r not rigorously enforced ie. law law on corporate homicide passed in 2007 but only 1 prosecution in 1st 8 yrs although homicide rates were high
state enforce law selectively so cr seen as w/c phenomenon
this encourages w/c to blame criminals and not capitalism
the media also portrays criminal as disturbed indiv concealing capitalism
evaluation of marxism
1 ign relationship b/w cr/non class inequalities ie. gender/ethnicity
2 deterministic/over predicts w/c cr as not all poor turn to cr
3 not all capitalist soc have high cr rates ex. homicide rate in japan only 1/5 of US
4 CJS sometimes acts against capitalism b marxists arg that is an ideological function to make sys seem impartial
4 LR arg marxists ign intraclass cr
anti determinism - neo-marxism critical criminology
taylor et al; arg marxism deterministic
takes voluntaristic view and considers that we have free will
sees cr as meaningful action/ conscious choice by actor
arg cr has a political motive to redistribute wealth fr rich to poor
a fully social theory of deviance - neo-marxism critical criminology
theory has 2 main sources ; marxists ideas about unequal distrib of wealth and ideas from interactionalism/labelling theory about meaning of deviance and its effects
complete theory of deviance needs 6 aspects; wider origins of deviant act, immediate origin of deviant act, act itself, immediate origin of societal reaction, wider origin of societal reaction and eff of label
taylor; 6 aspects must be understood tg
evaluation of neo-marxism critical criminology
1 feminists; arg ‘gender blind’ and focus excessively on male criminals
2 LR; theory romanticises w/c criminals as ‘robin hoods’ fighting capitalism and redistributing wealth when in reality crim prey on poor
3 don’t take cr seriously and ign eff on w/c victims
white collar and corporate crime - crimes of the powerful
sutherland; arg wh collar cr is “cr committ by pers of high social status in course of his application”
aim to challenge stereotype that cr is lower class phenomenon
2 diff types of cr; occupational cr - for employees own gain and corporate cr - by employees for pursuit of organisations goals
many harms caused by powerful does not break criminal law
pearce/tombs; widen definition of cr and inclu breaches of civil/administrative law
the scale and types of corporate crime - crimes of the powerful
white collar/corporate cr more powerful than street cr
tomb; corporate cr widespread and covers : financial cr, cr against consumers, cr against employees, cr against environment, state corporate cr, private companies and government wokeijg alongside ex in marketised public services
the abuse of trust - crimes of the powerful
high status prof can abuse trust ex. accountants/lawyers employed by criminal organisations to launder criminal funds into legitimate businesses
in uk dentists claim payments off nhs for treatments they haven’t done
ex GP harold shipman; convicted of 15 murders but acc thought to have done 200+, he obtained opiate pethidine by forgery/deception and obtained enough morphine 2 kill 360 people but he only received a warning and continued as a GP
sutherland; arg white collar cr is greater threat to soc than w/c cr of basic instit distrust
the invisibility of corporate crime - crimes of the powerful
upper class cr seen as invisible or not real cr
1 media gives limited coverage to corp cr, describes it in sanitised lang
2 lack political will and they focus more on street cr
3 cr often complex and staff are understaffed/resourced to investigate
4 delabelling as corp cr oft filtered out, ex. 3600 uk citizens holding swiss bank accounts to avoid tax
5 underreporting so oft soc and victim unaware or feel powerless against big organisation
evaluations of explanations of corporate crime - crimes of the powerful
1 strain/marxism over predict amount of business cr, ex. some businesses do want to maintain goodwill of other businesses
2 capitalism does not explain cr in non profit state agencies
3 law abiding may be +re profitable than law breaking, ex. US pharmaceutical company that complied with regulations were able to access lucrative markets in poorer countries
