Conflict Theories
Understanding Conflict
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Conflict is a natural disagreement resulting
from individuals or groups that differ in
attitudes, beliefs, values or needs
What is conflict?
Conflict Theory
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Opposite to the consensus theory
There is little agreement on basic values
Society is made up of many competing
groups, each with different interests
Law is a weapon that the powerful use to
enforce their private interests, often at the
expense of the public interest
Conflict Theory
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Class conflict
Different social classes can be distinguished
by inequalities in such areas as power,
authority, wealth, working and living
conditions, life-styles, life-span, education,
religion, and culture
Law and Justice
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Vehicles for controlling the poor
They help powerful and rich to impose their
particular morality and standards of good
behavior to the entire society
Laws protecting private property may actually
be designed to preserve the dominance of a
ruling elite
“Stand Your Ground” law
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Law authorizes the use of defensive force by
anyone who is not engaged in an unlawful
activity and who is attacked in the place
where he or she has a right to be (inside their
home, the backyard, detached garage, or a
pole building) and when a person reasonably
believes it necessary to prevent the
commission of a "forcible felony“ without
fear of criminal or civil consequences
“Stand Your Ground” law.
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The following three valid reasons to use
deadly force apply to all situations:
1.
2.
3.
Fear of Death
Fear of Serious Bodily Injury
Fear of Forcible Sexual Penetration
Fatal incident (October 17, 1992)
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Yoshihiro Hattori went dressed in a tuxedo in
imitation of Travolta from Saturday Night
Fever
The boy mistook the Peairs' residence for the
intended destination due to the similarity of
the address
Hattori was shot in the chest at close range by
the owner of the house
The Criminal Trial of Peairs
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At the trial, Peairs said: "It was a person, coming
from behind the car, moving real fast. At that point, I
pointed the gun and hollered, 'Freeze!' The person
kept coming toward me, moving very erratically. I
remember him laughing. I was scared to death. This
person was not gonna stop, he was gonna do harm to
me.“ "I had no choice," he said. "I want Yoshi's
parents to understand that I'm sorry for everything."
The Criminal Trial of Peairs
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The trial lasted seven days. After the jurors
deliberated for three and a quarter hours,
Peairs was acquitted under Louisiana's "Kill
the burglar "statute.
In a later civil action, the court found Peairs
liable to Hattori's parents for $650,000
damages.
Louisiana’s “Kill the carjacker” statute
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Considering the amount of time people spend
in their automobiles, the vehicle is viewed as
an extension of the home
“Kill the burglar” statute was applied to
carjacking to permit the use of deadly force
against actual or attempted carjacking.
“Kill the Carjacker” statute (1997)
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The statute justifies homicide committed by a
passenger or driver inside the vehicle against
an individual who is attempting to unlawfully
enter the vehicle, if the passenger or driver
“reasonably believes” that deadly force is
necessary either to prevent the individual’s
unlawful entry or to force the individual out of
the vehicle (note: no imminent danger of death
is mentioned)
The law is controversial
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Some call it “a license to kill”
Others view it as an important form of protection for
innocent automobile drivers
Many think that the statute will become “lynch law”
because they believe the most carjackers-the
potential victims of the ”Kill the Carjacker” statuteare Black persons.
The Louisiana legislature prioritized the value of an
automobile over the value of human life
“Kill the Carjacker” is dangerous
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It justifies homicide for the sake of protecting
mere personal property
The Statute puts anyone approaching a
vehicle at risk of being shot and makes
motorists under age of twenty-one, who
cannot carry concealed weapons, primary
targets of carjacking
The poor are driven to crime because…
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A natural frustration exits in a society where
affluence is well publicized but unattainable
to the majority of citizens
A deep-rooted hostility is generated among
members of the lower class toward a social
order that they are not allowed to shape and
participate in it
Richard Quinney: Class, State, and
Crime (1980)
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Crime is an inevitable response to the material
conditions of capitalism
Crimes of working class: “crimes of
accommodation” or “crimes of resistance”
Crimes of accommodation are predatory
crimes, such as burglary and robbery
(reproduce the capitalistic system) and violent
crimes, such as murder, assault, and rape
committed by those who are “brutalized” by
capitalism
Richard Quinney: Class, State, and
Crime (1980)
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Crimes of resistance include both nonrevolutionary, unconscious reactions against
exploitation and crimes deliberately
committed by proletariat as acts of rebellion
against capitalism
Alcoholism, destroying property, fighting, etc.
Quinney on the ruling class
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Crimes committed by the ruling class are the
result of the capitalistic system as well
“Crimes of domination and repression”
committed by capitalists to protect their
interests
Examples: corporate crimes (price fixing, bid
rigging, security violation)
“Crimes of control” are committed by
criminal justice personnel (protection the
ruling class’s effort to ensure its continued
domination)
Policy Recommendation
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There can be no solution to crime under
capitalistic society
All classes are affected by the egoism and
greed produced by capitalism
Change the society/make it more humane
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
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Control theorists focus on the factors that
“restrain” the behavior of individuals
Tittle made an innovation by arguing that
people are not only objects of control but also
agents of control
Each person has a certain amount of control
that she/she is under and a certain amount of
control she/he exerts
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
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Tittle sought to have a “General Theory” and thus to
explain all forms of deviance
For some, the relative amount of control is in
balance (Control Balance )
Some suffer from deficit of control and others
experience a control surplus (Control Imbalance)
Control balance is associated with conformity and
Control imbalance tends to be associated with
deviance
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
Submission
Defiance Predation Balance Exploitation Plunder Decadence
Conformity
Repression
Autonomy
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
vandalism
Submission
Serious forms of
crime
White-collar
crimes
Defiance Predation Balance Exploitation Plunder Decadence
Conformity
Repression
Autonomy
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
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Predisposition to deviance is in each of us
Human nature has a strong urge for autonomy (to
escape the control that others wish to impose on us)
Motivation appears when two conditions transpire:
a person becomes aware of his/her control
imbalance and realize that deviant behavior can
change this imbalance and person must experience"
negative emotion” of being humiliated or denigrated
Tittle’s Control Balance Theory
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Once motivation has emerged, deviant
behavior still might not occur
Opportunity must be present
Constraints (fear of being caught, moral
ambitions, social bonds) also must be
overcome