Marxist views on crime

What do Marxists believe about capitalism?

Capitalism is criminogenic

Why is capitalism criminogenic?

Capitalism is based on exploitation of the working class and give rise to crime e.g unattainable consumer goods, poverty survival and alienation.

What was Gordons (1976) quote?

“Crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and is found in all social classes”

William Bonger

Capitalism by design causes crime

Willian Chambliss

Crime is universal but working class have limited means of achieving false needs whereas upper class have a broader range of options such as white collar and corporate crime.

What were David Gordons explanations of crime?

Inequality in distribution of wealth (WC crime is a rational response to inequality), Ideology of capitalism (shares values of greed and selfishness means of crime), Sense of Hierarchy (crime may compensate for the humiliations of poverty), Alienation (lack of job satisfaction leads to exaggeration of power in sexual and domestic sphere)

What are Marxists key ideas of the cause of crime?

Inequalities in the process of creating laws & Inequalities in the enforcement of law

Snider (1993)

The capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of business or threaten their profitability

Stephen box

Ruling class have the power to prevent laws being passed when are not in their interest e.g death of workers due to infringement of health is a civil law not a criminal law.

Althusser

The CJS functions to socially control minorities, the law is an idealogical state apparatus which functions in the interests of capitalists to maintain class inequality

Riemann (2001)

Street crimes such as assault and theft are far more likely to be reported and pursued by the police than white collar crimes like fraud. The more likely a crime is to be committed by the higher class the less likely it is to be criminalised.

Gordon (1976)

Selective enforcement of the law helps to maintain ruling class power and reinforce ruling class ideology, giving the impression that criminals are located in WC

What are the strengths of Marxist views?

Identifies root cause (capitalism), offers solution, can be used to explain many different types of crime, crime rises during times of recession.

What are the weaknesses of Marxism?

Crime still occurs in communist societies, overlooks gender and ethnicity, deterministic