Chambliss - The Laws Purpose & Enforcement

What did Chambliss suggest about the Purpose and Function of the Law?

In Capitalist Societies, laws are primarily designed to protect property and wealth of capitalists, not people

• e.g. Tough penalties for theft or vandalism, but cooperate crimes that harm large numbers of people go unpunished

Reflects capitalist priority of protecting wealth and ownership

What two examples does Chambliss use of how Capitalists use the Law to Protect their Wealth and Property

• Vagrancy Laws (1349)

• East Africa

Chambliss: Law Purpose & Function - Vagrancy Laws (1349)

• After Black Death - shortage of labour

• illegal to give money to any person of sound mind or body who was unemployed

• forced the poor to work for landowners

• threatened with imprisonment if they refused work offers from landowners

Chambliss: Law Purpose & Function - East Africa

• British colonised East Africa - economy of the natives was not based on money

• wanted to use the population as cheap labour: working on tea and coffee plantations - introduced tax

• population could pay tax to work on plantations

• wages were kept low so the workers could not earn enough to consider quitting before the harvest season was over

What did Chambliss suggest about the Selective Enforcement of the Law?

Most laws are property law - primarily protects people who own property (MC)

• the criminal justice system was not there to catch them; nominally universal laws were applied selectively to control the working class whilst protecting the rich 

What did Chambliss' 1978 study of Seattle propose about the Enforcement of the Law?

Selective!

• members of the ruling class were part of a crime group who used their wealth and influence to bribe officials and avoid punishment

Is Chambliss a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Traditional Marxist