Marxist Theory of Crime

Marxist Theory of Crime

1. TRADITIONAL MARXISM

   • CRIMINOGENIC CAPITALISM
     • Crime is inevitable in capitalism because it is criminogenic - its very nature causes crime.
     • WORKING-CLASS CRIME
       • Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class for profit. As a result:
         • Poverty may mean crime is the only way some can survive.
         • Crime may be the only way of obtaining consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes, e.g. theft.
         • Alienation may cause frustration & aggression, leading to non-utilitarian crimes, e.g. violence, vandalism.
     • RULING-CLASS CRIME
       • Capitalism us a win-at-all-costs system of competition, while the profit motive encourages greed. This encourages capitalists to commit corporate crimes, e.g. tax evasion, breaking health & safety laws.
       • GORDON argues crime is a rational response to capitalism & thus is found in all classes.
   • THE STATE & LAW MAKING
     • MARXISTS see law making & enforcement as serving the interests of the capitalist class.
     • CHAMBLISS argues that laws to protect private property are the basis of the capitalist economy.
     • The ruling class have the power to prevent the introduction of laws harmful to their interests. Few laws challenge the unequal distribution of wealth.
   • SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT
     • While all classes commit crime, there is selective enforcement of the law.
       • REIMAN shows that crimes of the powerful are much less likely to be treated as criminal offences & prosecuted.
         • CARSON, in a sample of 200 firms, found all had broken health & safety laws, yet only 1.5% of cases were prosecuted.
           • By contrast, there is a much higher rate of prosecutions for the crimes of the poor.
   • IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF CRIME & LAW
     • Some laws benefit workers e.g. health & safety, however PEARCE argues that these also benefit capitalism by giving it a 'caring' face, they create false consciousness.
     • Because the state enforces the law selectively, crime appears to be largely working-class. This divides the working-class, encouraging workers to blame working-class criminals for their problems, rather than capitalism.
     • Selective enforcement distorts the crime statistics. By making crime appear largely working-class, it shifts attention from the more serious ruling-class crime.
   • CRITICISMS OF TRADITION MARXISM
     • NEO-MARXISTS TAYLOR ET AL criticise for its determinism; e.g. it sees workers as driven to commit crime out of economic necessity. They reject this view, along w/ other theories that claim crime is caused by external factors, e.g. anomie, blocked opportunities.
     • Not all poor people commit crime, despite poverty & alienation.
     • Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates e.g. Japan has much less crime than America.
     • FEMINISTS criticise for being 'genderblind'.
     • Ignores non-property crime & deviance.

2. NEO-MARXISM - CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY

   • VOLUNTARISM
     • TAYLOR ET AL take a voluntaristic view (the idea that we have free will): crime is a conscious choice often w/ a political motive, e.g. to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Criminals are deliberately struggling to change society.
   • A FULL SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVIANCE
     • TAYLOR ET AL aim to create a 'fully social theory of deviance' - a comprehensive theory that would help to change society for the better. This theory has 2 main sources:
       • TRADITIONAL MARXIST ideas about the unequal distribution of wealth & who has power to make & enforce the law.
       • LABELLING THEORY'S ideas about the meaning of deviant act for the actor, societal reactions to it, & the effects of the deviant label on the individual.
   • CRITICISMS OF NEO-MARXISM
     • Criticised by LEFT REALISTS for romanticising working-class criminals as 'Robin Hoods' fighting capitalism.
     • Criticised by FEMINISTS for being 'genderblind'.