Nov 6 (mid3)

Subjectivist: Critical Criminology

following slides

Conflict Theory

• views society as a struggle between groups competing for power

• some groups have privileged access to resources and power

• Karl Marx

Karl Marx

• witnessed exploitation of workers

• believed that capitalism was alienating; capitalism alienated people from each other and from the products of their labor

• believed that proletariat would eventually overthrow the capitalists to establish a communist society

• communist society: classless society; where the public owns the means of production and workers paid based on ability and need

Structural vs Instrumental Marxism

• Structural: not controlled by corporations but they play by their own interests to ensure their place prosper i.e. allowing cigarettes to be sold but having warning labels on cigarettes

• Instrumental: politicians are controlled by corporations so they make policies that mostly benefit corporations

Instrumental Theory of Deviance

• Richard Quinney

• Focused on inequality in decision-making of public policies and laws

  • the state and the legal system are direct instruments used by the ruling class to maintain their own power and wealth

  • crime is a political concept created and enforced by those who hold power to suppress those who do not

Differential Treatment Hypothesis

Three parts of the Differential Treatment Hypothesis:

1. Police often give closer attention to certain social groups (e.g., young, lower-class males) and minority group members disproportionately represented in group

2. Police surveillance higher in communities marked by high levels of unemployment, poverty and social disorder and minority group members disproportionately represented these communities

3. Race and ethnicity may influence police in determining whether to stop, search or arrest a suspect

Black Canadians Crime in Canada

• many Black Canadians report experiencing directly or knowing someone who was racially profiled by the police

• Toronto survey in 2005 found that Black high school students who were not involved in any deviant activity were 4-times more likely to be stopped and 6-times more likely to searched than their White colleagues

• Fitzgerald & Carrington: Indigenous, Black and West Asian youth were 3-times more likely to report contact with the police than other Canadians

Theory of African American Offending

• Unnever and Gabbidon

• “Nearly every African American believes that they will encounter racial prejudice and racial discrimination during their lives because they're black”… and many believe that they live in a systemically racist society

• This view is reinforced by experience with discrimination i.e. being watched while shopping; seeing many in their community go to jail; exposure to media stereotyping

• Injustices generate extreme negative emotions (e.g., anger, depression) contributing directly to criminal involvement or indirectly through weakening bonds to conventional institutions