The Law is Ideogical (Box, Pearce & Reiman)

ideology

a set of ideas and beliefs that are dominant in society and are used to justify the power and privilege of the ruling class

According to Box, why is the law ideological?

• reflects and reinforces the dominant ideas of the ruling class

• does not serve society as a whole

• gives the illusion of fairness

• mainly protects capitalist interests (e.g., property & business) instead of protecting everyone equally

According to Box, how does the definition of the law protect capitalists?

• allows the actions of capitalists to avoid being labelled ‘criminal’

• e.g., avoidable deaths in the workplace due to the employer failing to ensure safe working conditions are often labelled ‘accidents’

• e.g., an avoidable death on the street due to a fight is often labelled ‘murder’

• produces mystification

• spreads the belief that white-collar crime is less harmful to society

mystification

making the working class seen more ‘criminal’ than the capitalist class

According to Pearce, how is the law ideological?

• laws that appear to be in the interests of the working class actually exist to benefit capitalists

• laws keep workers fit for work

• e.g., health and safety laws at work give capitalism a ‘caring face’ and produce false class consciousness 

• laws make workers think that capitalists care about their welfare

What is transgressive criminology?

• is the employer who is paying the poverty wages or the worker who is trying to feed their family the real criminal?

• someone who is interested in both illegal acts and legal acts that cause harm

• seeing laws as something that are created by the ruling class to serve the needs of capitalism

• legal acts may be harmful, but sections of sections of society may consider some technically illegal activies harmless or even admirable (e.g., revolutionary activism)

What does Reiman argue about how likely a crime is to be treated as a criminal offence?

• the more likely a crime is to be committed by higher class individuals, the less likely it is to be treated as a criminal offence

• crimes more likely to be committed by the working class are more likely to be prosecuted

• the criminal justice system takes a more forgiving view of crimes committed by the higher classes (e.g., tax evasion, health and safety breaches)

• white-collar crime, corporate crime, and state crime are controlled much less than petty crime and anti-social behaviour