Marxist views of crime Flashcards
William Chamblis
The Saints and Roughnecks
negative labelling combined with selective law enforcement was often based upon perceptions of social class.
> despite commiting similar deviant acts, the middle class background of ‘Saints’ meant they got away with prosecution and justice.
> ‘Roughnecks’ with working class backgrounds faced more swift and severe law-enforcement
Chambliss argues that this shows the law serves the interests of Capitalism
Hazel Croall (1993)
white-collar crimes do not ‘fit’ the ‘social construction’ of what ‘typical’ crime is.
> she claims in capitalist societies interests of the power like the government create the ‘illusion’ that crime is a working class issue.
> this means middle class crimes go unnoticed.
> there is indirect victimisation in white-collar crimes such as fraud meaning the victim does not realise they are a victim until the crime has been committed - in blue-collar crimes there tends to be a direct victim (such as an assault victim) therefore it is alot easier to create the impression of a ‘typical’ offender.
> Croall says this is dangerous for society as middle class crimes can go unnoticed.
EXAMPLE - Case of “who wants to be a millionairre” he did get prosecuted but escaped prison and only got a fine.
Janice Goldstraw-White (2010)
interviews 41 convicted white-collar criminals across 5 different prisons, finds:
> many offenders in her interviews felt ‘morally justified’ by their actions, especially where it was felt ‘nobody had been harmed’ by crime.
> criminals in her study felt that they were a ‘breed apart’ from working class street criminal.
> one said ‘its not like im a real criminal’
concludes that crime is socially constructed as a working-class problem.
EVAL - didnt involved an overly large sample and problems relating to the interviewer effect may damage the validity of the conclusions she drew.
Laureen Snider (1993)
looks at corporate crime in greater depth.
> corporate crims cause more harm and cost in terms of money and human life than any working class crime.
> around 20,000 people murdered every year in USA compared to a 100,000 people who die due to job-related causes.
> she claims that corporate crims are harder to pin-point who is to blame for the crime therefore prosecutions are rare.
EXAMPLE - 2015, Volkswagen installing software in 1.1 million diesel cars that could conceal true levels of emissions - no substantial prosecutions followed.
EVAL - Marxist overlook where white-collar crimes do face justice, even MP can be prosecuted for these crimes.
Neo-marxism
Taylor, Walton and Young (1973)
- nobody is born into crime, crime is a ‘rational choice’ - a deliberate intention on behalf of the offender to do wrong.
- there are often political motives behind crime. For example, burglary is often considered in the eyes of the criminal to be a means of ‘re-distributing wealth’ more fairly.
EXAMPLE - 2011 London riots after Mark Duggan was shot by police, caused riots complaining about working class conditions. - radical criminology claims that the contribution of ‘labelling theory’ is crucial in providing a ‘fully social theory of deviance’ - it is often the material disadvantages that enable powerful labels to be formed.
Stuart Hall (1978)
Policing the crisis`
Hall highlights Marxism and labelling theory can be combined to appropiately explain crime.
> media reports of a rise in ‘mugging’ during the 1970s successfully focused on creating a ‘folk devil’ of young, black men living.
> the ‘negative label’ led to an increase in ‘stigma’ leading to a rise in ‘stop and searches’
> this artificially increased representation of black men from deprived areas in crime statistics.
EVAL - Hall lacks firm evidence to support his research
Problems with radical criminology
EVAL - is crime really linked to forms of political resistance, most working class victimise fellow working class people.
EVAL - Left Realists accuse Radical Criminologists of ignoring victims - ignoring the impact of the crime on the victim.
