marxism and critical criminologies (class and power)

Question 1

in a nutshell

Answer 1

• Marxists believe that crime is inevitable in a capitalist society because it encourages poverty, competition and greed
• although all classes commit crimes, the working class are largely criminalised for their actions because the ruling class control the state and can make and enforce laws in their own interests
• in this instance, white collar and corporate crimes are often ignored

Question 2

what is the Marxist analysis of criminal law?

Answer 2

• The Marxist analysis begins with the idea that laws are primarily designed to favour the ruling class. In this view, criminal laws are shaped to serve the interests of those in power.
• For instance, property ownership laws are seen as mainly benefiting individuals who own a substantial amount of property. While most people agree that controlling violent crime is essential, Marxists argue that the ruling class wants to dominate and exclusively authorise the use of violence through state institutions like the law, police, and the army.
• In summary, according to Marxism, criminal laws function to safeguard the wealthy and influential members of society.

Question 3

what is the ruling class ideology?

Answer 3

• a dominant pro-capitalist belief system
• a set of distorted beliefs that benefit the economically dominant class in society by portraying capitalist society as fair and based on equality of opportunity
• problems in society are depicted as being created by individuals or outside forces and not by the capitalist system and the inequality and injustice that Marxists believe it creates

Question 4

what produces a ruling class ideology?

Answer 4

• in capitalist societies, the ruling class impose their values that are beneficial to themselves- upon the mass of the population

Question 5

how does the ruling class impose their values?

Answer 5

• through a number of ideological agencies, such as the education system, religion and the mass media as well as criminal justice

Question 6

what is a real life example of the ruling class distorting ideologies?

Answer 6

• for example, the constant emphasis on ‘benefit scroungers’ distracts attention away from law-breaking by the rich and produces a distorted view of social reality.
• the public is encouraged to believe, for example, that laws about welfare payments are over-generous and poorly enforced so that it is easy to scrounge illegally off the state
• a YouGov poll in 2013 found that on average respondents thought that 27 per cent of social security was fraudulently claimed while research suggests the real figure is a mere 0.7 per cent

Question 7

how do the interpretation and the enforcement of the law differ between the working and the ruling class?

Answer 7

• the interpretation and enforcement of the law are biased in favour of the ruling class, meaning that the police and the judicial system will arrest and punish the working class, but tend not to enforce the law against the ruling class so rigorously.
• the much stronger enforcement of laws against benefit fraud than those against illegal tax evasion is a case in point
• tax evaders are much more likely to be given a warning or simply asked to repay the tax than to be prosecuted, whereas benefit fraud is likely to result in prosecution and sometimes imprisonment.
• there seems to be one law for the rich and powerful and another one, more rigorously enforced, for the poor and the powerless

Question 8

what are corporate crimes?

Answer 8

• not committed by individuals but by large companies (or corporations) in the pursuit of profit
• they might involve false accounting to exaggerate profits, price fixing, failing to pay the minimum wage or taking short-cuts with the health and safety of workers or the public to save costs

Question 9

what are white-collar crimes?

Answer 9

• committed by professionals and managers in the course of their occupations and might include fraud, overcharging customers, bribery and corruption to obtain contracts and stealing from employers.
• white-collar crimes are primarily designed to benefit the offender rather than the company concerned

Question 10

what is an example of how corporate crime can cause more crime than individual ‘street crime’?

Answer 10

• the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010
• an explosion at BP’s oil rig killed 11 people and over four million barrels of oil leaked into the sea before it was controlled.
• this caused health problems for some exposed to the oil, and enormous damage to the environment and to local industries such as fishing and tourism.
• BP had to pay out more than $40 billion in fines and compensation

Question 11

what is the prosecution rate like for corporation crime?

Answer 11

• generally very few prosecutions for corporate crime.
• between 1890 and 1969 under anti-trust legislation, less than 5% of corporate offenders were given a prison sentence and none of those imprisoned were business leaders
• although companies have been fined and have had to repay money to customers, so far only a handful of offenders have been prosecuted

Question 12

what are some examples of death followed by corporate crime?

Answer 12

health and safety executive figures:
- 2013-14
- 142 fatal injuries at work
- 629000 non-fatal injuries
- 2538 deaths from previous exposure to asbestos (long-term construction work)
- health and safety executive only prosecuted 547 of these cases

thalidomide:
- developed by not adequately tested
- given to pregnant women in the 1950s to combat morning sickness
- resulted in 10,000 infants being born with deformed limbs
- no individual has ever been prosecuted because of this affair

Question 13

why are white-collar crimes often not prosecuted?

Answer 13

• many are hard to detect
• the complexity of some offences involving fraud makes it difficult to mount successful prosecutions.
• bribery and corruption benefit both parties involved and so are unlikely to be reported, and the public at large (who are often the victims) may be unaware that they have been victims, or lack the resources to bring cases to court

Question 14

what is an example of a widely publicised white-collar crime?

Answer 14

• the MP’s expenses scandal of 2009
• MPs were found to be claiming excessive amounts in parliamentary expenses
• most MPs were simply required to repay some money and only four MPs were sent to prison

Question 15

the causes of offending

Answer 15

• William Chambliss (1975)
  capitalism is based upon competition, selfishness and greed and this forms people’s attitudes to life
• crime is therefore a perfectly normal outcome of these values, which stress looking after oneself at the expense of others
• people in all classes, from the working class to the ruling class, use any way they can to get on