Marxists theories of crime Flashcards
Marxists beliefs of crime
- agree with labelling theorists that the law is enforced against the w/c compared to the m/c
- the capitalist economic structure of society encourages crime e.g w/c receive less money - believe the law and the CJS is another tool used by the criminal justice system used by the r/c to help them maintain power
Reasons for crime - crimogenic capitalism
Crimogenic capitalism (Gordon) - gives rise to blue collar crime as:
- argue most crime is a response to economic deprivation - the w/c have feelings on hostility towards the wealthy
- low income and status can lead status frustration can lead to crimes of power
- use mertons strain theory to further prove point
- gordon argues that the crimes of the m/c are underpoliced and go unrecognised within official statistics- this is because the m/c hold more social and economic power which leads to the perception that they dont commit crimes
- also hold the power to bribe police etc. due to money that the w/c do not have
- this encoruages crime to happen within the m/c as they know they will get away with it
Reasons for crime - selective law enforcement (Reiman)
-argue that although all classes commit crime when it comes to the enforcement of the law they can be very selective because:
- those that hold power are reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses that allow them to get profit which benefits the r/c as they own businesses and do not work for other people e.g big business that have gone under law suits due to this
- while the powerless groups such as the w/c and ethnic minorities are criminalised, the m/c get to go free as the CJS tend to ignore their crimes due to wealth
- they have much more influence and connections which can lead to influence of legal processes
-Reiman argues that crime by the higher class is less likely to be treated as a criminal offence
- shown through statistics as the proportion of w/c that gets prosecuted is much higher and less serious crimes by the w/c are punished - r/c commit crimes that are morally and ethically wrong but still run free
- this is because the w/c are less likely to have good defences to help them within court due to lack of wealth so they are prosecuted much more harshly
- lack of money leads to them becoming more targeted as they have no defence
Reasons for crime - the r/c and law making
-marxists see law making as only serving the interests of the r/c and they only prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests
chambliss (1975)
- english tax law was introduced into east african countries that had to be paid by everyone, those who could not afford it had to work for the British on their tea/coffee plantations
- this in turn gave the ruling class cheap labour
- benefits the r/c as they still hold power and shows how the w/c have a lack of wealth to have a good defence, those that hold the power are reluctant to pass the laws that would regulate the activities of their business
Ideological functions of crime and law
- the law, crime and criminals perform an ideological function for capitalism which creates false consciousness
- laws to benefit the w/c
- false impression given to the w/c that some laws are there to help and protect them e.g health and safety
-crime is a working class phenomemon
-laws are selectively enforced and they largely ignore the crimes of the r/c so it makes it seem like the w/c commit most of the crimes
- not just a w/c problem - multi millionares companies are still very greedy and have broken laws as they are in competition with thousands of other companies e.g car companies saying they have lower fuel emissions
- criminals are disturbed individuals
- the media exaggerate the crimes of the w/c and show them as disturbed individuals who do not fit into society - creates a moral panic
- creates a divide as they are already labelled so they form an SFP and keep continuing these acts and crimes
Reasons for crime - class inequality/ economic deprivation
marxists argue capitalist values such as
- competition
- consumerism
- individualism
- self- seeking
- greed
all of these create a society where people do not care enough about each other so commit crime to meet these values
- less community based values so we tend to be more greedy and commit crimes without thinking about the consequences
- those who are economically deprived aim to meet these values so they do not have to work for the r/c and provide for themselves
- more hostile towards the wealthy so crime allows them to express this emotion
Evaluation of marxists theories
- provides a useful explanation of the relationship between crime and the capitalist society
-prosecution against companies and the r/c do happen however marxists would say it is only done occasionally to perform ideological functions
- very deterministic as not all w/c commit crimes and over-predict the amount of crime in the w/c
- left realists argue that marxism focuses largely on the crimes of the powerful and ignores intra class crimes (where both the criminals and victims are w/c such as burglary)
