Critical Theory
Variations of Critical Theory




Conflict Theory
Marxist/Radical Theory
Left Realism/Peacemaking
Feminist Criminology/Gender and Crime
Pluralistic Conflict—Explanation of the Law
and Criminal Justice
George Vold Group Conflict
 Multiple groups in society with varying levels of power
▪
Political interest groups
▪
Social movements
▪
Broad segments of society
▪
Political parties
 Those who win conflict get control over the law and
coercive power of the state
Empirical Evidence
 The formulation of law
 Interest groups’ influence on law-making
 Research on consensus over laws
 The operation of the CJS
 Research on “extra-legal” variables
 “Legal” = prior record, offense seriousness
 “extra” = RACE, CLASS, GENDER
 Demeanor?
Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice
 After controlling for legal factors, race-CJS studies are
all over the board
 Especially if one controls for demeanor (Reiss, 1966
observed police)
 Research issues
 The meaning of prior record and demeanor
 How to isolate and study bias
 Different stages of the legal system
Race and Justice II
Racial profiling
▪
▪
▪
Difficult to determine
Minorities more likely to live in high-crime areas
Alfred Blumstein
▪
Racial disparity in incarceration due largely to
disparities in arrest rates
▪
Blacks at a disadvantage in the criminal justice
system, especially for less serious crimes
Where the Evidence is Clear
 Race and Capital Punishment
 Victim x Race interactions
 Race and Drug Prosecutions
 Long history of connecting drugs to “dangerous” populations
 Chinese  Opium
 Mexicans  Marijuana
 African Americans  Crack Cocaine e
 “Crack Multiplier”
 Enforcement patterns for drug offenses
Conflict: An Explanation
of Street Crime
 Thorston Sellin (1938)
 Cultural conflict theory
 Gist: violate laws of the majority simply by following the
norms of one’s own reference group
 George Vold (1958)
 Group conflict theory (crime that results from conflict)
 Labor strife, protest-related crime
Karl Marx



Communist Manifesto
Means of production determine the structure of
society
Capitalism:
•
•
Owners of the means of production (capitalists)
Workers = proletariat, lumpen proletariat
Capitalism will Self-Destruct
 The laboring class produces goods that exceed the
value of their wages (profit)
 The owners invest the profit to reduce the workforce
(technology)
 The workers will no longer be able to afford the
goods produced by the owners
Wilhelm Adrian Bonger
▪
Early attempt to tie Marx and Crime Together
▪
▪
▪
▪
Altruism as a defining characteristic of society and
human nature
Egoism characterizes capitalist society
Capitalism builds social irresponsibility and creates
a climate of crime
Solution: socialism (which allows altruism to
flourish)
Marxist/Radical Criminology
 Instrumental Marxist Position
 Hard line position
 Crime and the creation and enforcement of law the direct result
of capitalism
 Structural Marxist Position
 Softer Position
 Governments are somewhat autonomous
 Over time, the direction of the law (creation and enforcement)
will lean towards the capitalists
Instrumental Marxist Criminology
 Richard Quinney (1980)
 All Conflict is organized around capitalist versus the poor
 Either you are an oppressed lackey or a capitalist
 Anyone who does not realize this (or identifies with capitalism) has
false class consciousness
 The real power and authority is exclusive to the ruling class
Quinney (1980) cont.
 Primary goal of capitalists? Maintain Power!
 To do this, must trample rights of others
 But, also must portray an egalitarian society
 Accomplished by controlling media, academics
Implications for Law
 Capitalists control the definition of crime
 Laws protect the capitalists (property, $)
 Laws ignore crimes of the capitalists (profiteering)
Implications for the Criminal
Justice System
 CJS is the tool of the capitalists; used to oppress (not
protect) the working population
 Crimes of the rich treated with kid gloves
 Property crimes strictly enforced
 “Street crimes” are enforced only in poor neighborhoods
 Incarceration to control surplus labor
Implications for Crime?
 Crimes of the Capitalists (must control)




Economic Domination
Crimes of the Government
Crimes of Control
Social Injuries (should be crimes)
 Crimes of the Lower Class
 “Rebellion”
 Crimes of “Accommodation”
POLICY IMPLICATION?
 The policy implication of Marxist Criminology is clear.
 Dismantle the capitalist structure in favor of a socialist
structure.
Criticisms Radical/Marxist
Criminology
 An “underdog theory” with little basis in fact
 Are “socialist societies” any different?
 Other capitalist countries have low crime
rates
 Most crime is poor against poor—Marxists
ignore the plight of the poor.
Jeffrey Reiman
▪The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison
▪
Key point = harmful acts of the rich are often ignored
(unneccesary surgery, environmental harm, etc.)

White collar crime less serious and less likely to be
enforced
▪
▪
Pollution, Hazardous work conditions, Unsafe products,
Insider trading, Embezzlement, Fraud
Even wealthy people who engage in street crime are
less likely to be formally charged and better able to
avoid sanctioning
Elliot Currie—Slightly Less
Radical
▪
Only some forms of capitalism encourage crime
▪
Market economy (compassionate capitalism)


▪
▪
Japan (Top down)
Scandinavian (Bottom up)
Market society (high levels of inequality and poverty)
Solution: softer, gentler capitalist society
Elliot Currie
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Mechanisms that link market societies to high
rates of violence
Destroys livelihoods
Tendency toward extremes of inequality
Weakens public support
Erodes informal social support
Promotes a culture of competition and
consumption
Deregulates the technology of violence
Weakens alternative political values and
institutions
Gender and Crime
 Feminist Criminology
 Relationships between gender, crime, and the
criminal justice system
 Gender Ratio and Generalizability
Feminist Criminology
▪
▪
Emphasizes equal opportunity and
importance of sex-role socializations
Focus on “patriarchy”—male dominance
exerted over females through financial and
physical power
▪
Types
▪
▪
▪
Liberal feminism
Socialist feminism
Radical feminism
Feminist Criminology
 Good example of conflict theory in action
 Feminists responsible for shaping the law and law
enforcement
 Marital Rape
 Intimate Partner Violence
 Feminists also largely responsible for the recent focus
on gender/crime issues
Gender-Crime
▪
Gender ratio (Gender Gap)
▪
Males account for the vast majority of delinquent
and criminal offending
▪
▪
UCR, NCVS, self-report
Gender gap shrinking?


Liberation hypothesis (Not supported by research)
WHY is gender ratio so large?


Can traditional theories explain? (Social bond,
delinquent peers, etc.)
Masculinity & sex roles
Gender and Crime II
 Generaliziblity issue
 Can “Male” theories explain female offending?
 Many theories blatantly sexist (See, Cohen)
 Many theories simply ignore females
 Mainstream theories do explain male and female
offending similarly
 Could we do better explaining female criminality?
 Salience of sexual/physical abuse among delinquent girls
Daly’s Typology of female offending
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Street women
Harmed-and-harming women
Battered women
Drug-connected women
Other women
Gender and the
Criminal Justice System
▪
Research findings
▪
When gender effects are found, females are
treated more leniently




Chivalry Hypothesis
Paternalism Hypothesis
Seriousness of offense differs in ways that most
research doesn’t count
Sort-of-legal-factors (“familied”)