MARXIST THEORY OF CRIME

CAPITALISM IS CRIMOGENIC AND ENCOURAGES CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

THE LAW BENEFITS THE ELITE AND WORKS IN THEIR INTERESTS

1) capitalism encourages individuals to pursue self-interest rather than public duty:

  • GORDON says capitalism is a 'dog eat dog' system where each individual & each company is encouraged to look out for their own interests before others: greed & self-interest mentality present
  • the capitalist system recommends we engage in the self- interest pursuit of profit is good, and we learn its accept to hurt others in the process
  • there is immense competitive pressure to make more money, be more successful, and to make more profit because in a competitive society this is the only way to ensure survival
  • breaking the law can seem insignificant compared to the pressure to succeed - this affects everyone from investment bankers to unemployed gang members

2) Capitalism encourages individuals to be materialistic consumers making us aspire to an unrealistic and often unattainable lifestyle:

  • it encourages us to want thing we don't need and cant afford
  • for those who lack the legitimate means to achieve the materialist norm through working this can breed feelings of failure, inadequacy frustration at the fact they are working but not succeeding
  • is can result in utilitarian crimes such as they to obtain the consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising

3) Capitalism generated massive inequality and poverty, conditions which are correlated with higher crime rates:

  • At the top we have the superclass, and at the bottom we have the underclass
  • Marxists argue the visible evidence of the bourgeoisie's Wealth( gated communities, private jets etc) give the proletariats a sense of injustice , anger, and frustration they aren't sharing the wealth being flaunted on them
  • As a result, violent street crimes and utilitarian crimes happen
  • poverty may mean that crime is the 0nly way the working class can survive

  • SNIDER - argues capitalist states are reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns and which might threaten profitability:
  • having tried so hard to attract investment the last thing the state wants to do is alienate the large corporations
  • the state is reluctant to pass or enforce laws against things such s pollution, worker health and safety and monopolies
  • however in most of Europe, there are many laws protecting the environment and health and safety but fines for them are relatively low
  • until 2007, no individual member of a corporation could be prosecuted dot damaging the environment of endangering worker safety through corporate practice

CHAMBLISS argues laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy:

  • property law clearly benefits the wealthy more than those with no property
  • the rights of private property owners to keep their properties empty are put before the rights od the needy to shelter
  • evident from the fact that 100 000 people are recognised as homeless in the uk and there are 300 000 houses lying empty

People have unequal access to the law:

  • having the money to hire a good lawyer can delay trials meaning the difference between being found guilty or not guilty and influence the length of ones sentence and the type of prison they go to
  • for marxists, punishment for a crime may depend and vary according to the social class of the perpetrator
  • poorer criminals tend to receive harsher punishments than rich criminals

WHITE COLLAR CRIME AND CORPORATE CRIME

Marxists argue that although they are hidden from view, the crimes of the elite exert a greater economic toll on society than crimes of the 'ordinary people'

  • SNIDER points out that the cost of white collar crime and corporate crime to the economy far outweighs the cost of street crime.by 'typical' criminals
  • Both white collar crime types (Fraud and health and safety infringements) sound terribly complex & uneciting
  • means people are generally uninterested in hearing about them and the lack of public interest is something that helps the elite get away with an incredibly high level of criminality
  • WHITE COLLAR CRIME: crimes committed by a person of respectability and high status often to further their own
    interests -


  • CORPORATE CRIME: commited by employees for their corporations in pursuit of its goals - drive is usually desire to increase personal profits


  • OCCUPATIONAL CRIME: commited by employees simply for their own personal gain often against the corporation they work for e.g stealing from the company

SELECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT

  • GORDON argues the police mainly focus on policing working class areas and the justice system mainly focuses on prosecuting working/underclass criminals
  • the system ignores the crimes of the elite and middle classes although both are just as likely to commit crime
  • GORDON argues the disproportionate prosecution of working class criminals serve to maintain ruling class power and their ideology

  • Selective law enforcement benefits the capitalist system in 3 ways:


    • 1) by punishing individuals and making them responsible for their actions, defining them as 'social failures' we ignore the failings of the system that lead to the conditions of inequality & poverty that create the conditions which lead to crime


    • 2) the imprisonment of selected members of the lower class neutralises opposition to the system


    • 3) the imprisonment of manymembers of the underclass also sweeps out of sight the 'worst jetsam[junk] of capitalist society such that we cannot see it


    • 4) all the police, court & media focus on working class street crime means all our attention its diverted away from then immorality and greed of the elite classes

EVALUATION(A03)

  • largely ignores relationship between crime and non-class inequalities such as ethnicity & gender
  • too deterministic and over predicts the amount of crime in the working class: not all poor people commit crime despite the pressures of poverty
  • not all capitalist societies have high crime rates
  • the criminal justice system doers sometimes act against the interests of the capitalist class e.g prosecutions for corporate crime do happen
  • left realists argue marxism ignores intra-class crimes ( where both the criminals and the victims are working class) which cause great harm to victims
  • Useful explanation of relationship between crime and capitalist society-shows link between law making and enforcements and the interests of the capitalist class