Marxism

• What are the three key theory's?

  - criminogenic nature of crime

  - Selective law enforcement

  - Law reflecting RC interests
• What is criminogenic capitalism(and who said it)?


  Bonger (1916) suggests society is criminogenic by nature, capitalism causes crime because of greed and personal gain.

  Capitalism causes the rich to get richer forcing the poor to become poorer - therefore they turn to crime to afford basic necessities.
• Give 2 examples of criminogenic capitalism?

  Sweatshops - profits over safety

  Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, killing over 1,134 died including children. Workers forced to still work after finding cracks in walls

  Grenfell tower - 24 story flat burnt down, 72 residents died. Cladding placed on tower, cuts were made and cladding was made from cheaper combustible plastic and safety checks weren't made
• What is selective law enforcement?


  laws exist to protect the interests of the ruling class, and law enforcement are only interested in controlling the proletariat, and protect the RC

  Chambliss - "one rule for the rich and another for the poor". Under class are less likely to be prosecuted eg. tax fraud
• Give an example of selective law enforcement?


  Bhopal factory - factory which makes pesticides containing harsh chemicals overtime cuts were made making the factory unsafe to run. Eventually all systems failed and poisonous gas spread throughout the surrounding villages 120,000 people died.

  No prosecution for the company
• What is Law making in the interests of the RC?


  Laws exist to protect the interests of the ruling class. Power is held by those who create the laws so laws don't apply the RC.

  Pearce - Some laws are made to look like they protect WC workers however are just used to boost capitalism.

  Box - says 'serious crime' identified as poverty and violent crimes is socially constructed to look worse than they are. The real crime is white collar crime but no-one looks at that.
• What did Snider say about law making?


  Occasionally a white collar crime is identified and prosecuted to provide a smokescreen of fairness
• Evaluation of Marxist views on crime


  Positive:

  it offers a useful explanation of the relationship between crime and capitalism

  it ignores the relationship between crime and other inequalities such as gender and ethnicity

  Corporate crimes are prosecuted against commonly

  Left realists argue Marxism ignores inter-class crimes (WC victims)