Crime and Deviance - Marxism

Introduction to Marxist theories of crime

• Traditional Marxist theories explain crime in relation to power inequalities created by the capitalist system.

• The inequalities and injustices within Capitalism generates crime.

• Class based analysis - both classes commit crime, the crimes of the elite are more harmful.

• The Bourgeoisie - have economic power and because of this control the criminal justice system - they defined their own harmful acts as legal and are less likely to be prosecuted for the crimes they commit.

• Historical period (for Marxist criminology) - mostly the 1970s.

Criminogenic Capitalism

• Crime is a consequence of the economic structure of capitalism.

• Capitalism is harsh exploitative and breeds inequality materialism and selfishness, which combined make crime in Capitalist societies inevitable.

• David Gordon - “dog eat dog society”

The Elite make the law in their own interests

• William Chambliss - at the heart of the capitalist system lies the protection of private property.

• Laureen Snider - many nation states are reluctant to pass laws which restrict the freedom of Transnational Corporations to make profit.

• There is unequal access to the law - the more money you have, the better lawyer you can get.

• Harmful and exploitative acts in capitalist system are not formally labelled criminal if these harmful activities make a profit - e.g. Colonialism/Numerous Wars/Pollution.

All Classes Commit Crimes and the Crimes of the Powerful are of particular interest to Marxist Criminologists

• White collar crime - individual middle class/elite crime in a company, Corporate -institutional crime.

• Typical examples - various types of fraud and negligence regarding health and safety at work.

• The economic costs of corporate crime are greater than street crime (Laureen Snider/corporate watch)

• High profile corporate crimes - Bernie Madhoff, the Enron $100bn fraud and the 20,000 dead people as a result of Union Carbide’s corporate negligence in Bophal, India.

• Despite being more costly to society, the crimes of the elite tend to go unpunished - as research by Tombs and Whyte suggests.

The ideological functions of selective law enforcement

• Gordon - ‘selective law enforcement’ benefits the capitalist system in three major ways:

  1. It means people ignore the failings of the system that lead to the conditions of inequality which generate crime.

  2. The imprisonment of selected members of the lower classes neutralises opposition to the system.

  3. It sweeps out of sight the ‘worst jetsam of Capitalist society’ such that we cannot see it.

Overall Evaluations of Marxism (positive)

• ‘Dog eat dog’ explains both working-class and elite crime.

• Lots of corporate studies and stats support the view that Corporate Crimes are harmful - Bhopal.

• Tombs and Whyte’s research supports the idea that all class commit crimes.

Overall Evaluations of Marxism (negative)

• Crime has been decreasing in the UK in the last 20 years, yet we’re increasingly ‘neoliberal’.

• Crime existed before capitalism and in communist societies.

• Recent research shows the underclass doesn’t really exist and working-class culture is more complex.

• Consensus theories argue most people have private property, so most people are protected by the law.

• It’s unfair to compare corporate crimes such as fraud to street crime, the later has a more emotional toil.

• Some corporate criminals are punished e.g. (Madhoff).