traditional marxist view on crime and deviance

marxist view

crime is inevitable in capitalism as capitalism is criminogenic (causes crime)
- all social classes commit crime but due to selective law enforcement, working class are overrepresented in official statistics - powerless groups are criminalised and courts ignore crimes of the powerful

how is capitalism criminogenic?

- utilitarian - power divide - working class exploitation - suffer from poverty so commit crime to survive
- non-utilitarian - alienated as theres no money - violence and frustration due to lack of control over life - working class exploitation - suffer from poverty so commit crime to survive

why might middle class commit crime?

- capitalism encourages greed and self interest
- need to win at all costs or will go out of business, also a desire for self enrichment which encourages crime and corporate crime (breaches of health and safety laws)

lauren snider

'many of the most serious, anti-social and predatory acts committed in modern industrial countries are corporate crimes - they do more harm than street crimes'
- corporate crimes cost more in money and lives than street crimes but penalties are often small

william chambliss

- crime occurs throughout all social strata
- differences between classes in types of crimes committed and nature of law enforcement
- 70% of arrests for public drunkenness yet major crime syndicate was made up of leading business men, political leaders and law enforcement officers

david gordon

- crime is rational - individuals must fend for themselves in a 'dog eat dog' society in order to survive
- so by imprisoning the powerless and keeping on the right side of the powerful the social class system is maintained

laws

- laws generally benefit ruling class and few are introduced to benefit the subordinate class
- many laws which benefit working class (health and safety at work etc) are not rigorously enforced - 1.5% of cases result in prosecution

role of the media

* portray criminals as disturbed individuals
* movement away from real problem of crime which is capitalism

evaluation of marxist perspective

- believe cause of crime lays within nature of capitalist system - assumption that of you end capitalism you end crime - not seen in cuba (socialist society with high crime rate)
- feminists - ignore role of patriarchy in rule creation and social control
- left-realist - focus too much on corporate crime
- puts labelling theory into wider context
- argued that corporate crime is under-policed and rarely prosecuted