Critical Criminology

Crime and Power

Conflict Theory
George Vold 1958
EXPLAINATION FOR 4 TYPES OF CRIME:

Arising from political protests

Resulting from labor disputes
Arising from disputes between and
within competing unions
Arising from racial and ethnic clashes

Karl Marx

Capitalism
Mode of
Production
Bourgeoisie
Proletariat

Law in Capitalistic
Societies

Emphasizes & preserves private

property, which belongs to the ruling
class.

Appearance of promoting legal equality

to pacify the powerless by making
them feel good about the status quo &
obscuring the true nature & extent of
their oppression.

10 Building Blocks to
Marxism
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Historical
Materialism
Theory & Praxis
Dialectic
Class Conflict
Theory of
Surplus
Value

6. Exploitation
7. Law & The
State
8. Alienation
9. Fetishism of
Commodities
10. Structural
Analysis

Instrumental Marxism

Law, law enforcement agencies,

and government are instruments
of the ruling class to maintain
their advantageous position in
society and to control those who
pose a threat to that position.

The Social Reality of

Crime (1970)
Richard Quinney
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

6.

Definition of Crime
Formulation of Criminal Definitions
Application of Criminal Definitions
Development of Behavior Patterns in
Relation to Criminal Definitions
Construction of Criminal
Conceptions
The Social Reality of Crime

Richard Quinney
1. Advanced capitalist economy is the
foundation of American society.
2. The state works to serve the
interests of the capitalist ruling
class.
3. Criminal law is merely an
instrument of that class to
perpetuate the current social and
economic order.

Richard Quinney
4. A variety of institutions run by governmental
elites representing the interests of the ruling
class, are utilized for crime control with the
purpose of establishing domestic order.
5. The coercion and violence of the legal
system are necessary to maintain the
required oppression of the subordinate
classes, because of the inherent
contradictions of advanced capitalism.
6. A new society based on socialist principles is
a necessary part of the solution to crime
control. This cannot occur without the
collapse of the capitalist society. (Quinney,
1974.a/p.16).

Structural Marxism

Law as an attempt to resolve

societal crises precipitated by the
inherent contradictions of capitalism
Disparity between the written law
and the law in action
Position in the social class hierarchy
determines opportunities

William Chambliss
Law, Order, and Power

Legal norms show the

importance of interest-group
activity, not the public
interest
Judges rely on their personal
values when they make
decisions in trouble cases
Law enforcement agencies
process a disproportionately
high number of the politically
weak and powerless

The Law of Vagrancy

(1964)

Before 1340s no law in England

prohibiting begging.

1348 Bubonic plague

1349 Passage of the first vagrancy

law