Usefulness of Traditional Marxism in explaining Crime and Deviance

In contemporary society, property law does not protect the ruling class alone

LIMITATION

• vast majority of people in a society like the UK own some property

• laws about theft or burglary are not only bourgeois

Criminal justice system would take property crimes against the rich more seriously

STRENGTH

• response to claim that property law does not protect the ruling class

• acknowledges that property crimes are not seen as seriously by the poor, both in terms of the rigour that police would investigate and the sentence handed down

The existence of crime in non-capitalist societies

LIMITATION

• Soviet Union in the 20th century or modern-day Cuba - challenge this concept of capitalism being criminogenic

• These countries did not get rid of crime!

• Some capitalist societies still have low crime rates (e.g. Japan)

Present working-class criminals as passive

STRENGTH

• Acknowledges people who cannot help but commit crimes because of their economic circumstance

LIMITATION

• Neo Marxists - challenged this idea, arguing that crime is a conscious choice

Significant debate within Marxism

LIMITATION

• Most criminal laws are not controversial: consensus about the vast majority of crimes

• Non-Marxists would point out that in modern democracies law-makers are elected by over 18’s and include people from a range of political positions and social background