FINAL EXAM non cumulative Conflict Criminology Opposition to Mainstream Criminology o Sutherland s definition of the field The systematic study of 1 The processes of making the law 2 Break of law 3 Reaction to breaking the law o Asking where does the law originate Focuses on 1st part of definition Results from a political process not moral Moses Looks at etiology of criminal law Could criminality be reified o Somebody ought to make a law Somebody is upset so they should do something Two ways which law comes about Consensus law is accurate representation of the majority of the Conflict focuses on givers takers winners losers looks at division population of people in society o V I Lenin who whom Who is subjecting whom to the law Victimization important to him Karl Marx Fredrich Engels o Industrial revolution Urbanization From agrarian to manufacturing oriented economies Upsets fundamental relationships they are now less integrated Now you fit a role in society no matter your personality situation etc Filth Degradation What happens due to increase ex child labor Exploitation they are in need and what do we give them We indebt them to society Zero sum assumption of wealth distribution Suggests that we live in a world where gross output is fixed no matter the population This means if one person wins someone else MUST lose Marxist theory of value flawed Amount of value something has is directly related to the amount of time labor put into it Challenges the social contract theory The source of the Problem Capitalism o Class divisions bourgeoisie proletariat surplus labor boom and bust cycle leaves many unemployed and demoralized o Internal contradictions of capitalism Bourgeoisie own all of production so everyone else realizes their power of people Imbalance will eventually produce revolt Class consciousness will precipitate this Capitalism will eventually be replaced by collective ownership and elimination of private property Caused by collapse of society revolt Lumpenproletariat criminal underclass Some dispute whether criminals can be viewed as class warriors ex Robin Hood stole from rich and gave to poor Foci Fundamentals of Critical Criminology o Inequality unequal application of the law especially white collar crime o The role of the state corruption on the part of the officials o Interest groups push agendas to change laws to benefit more people o Economy access to resources o All crime is political you can t have a criminal if you don t have an infraction of the law o Marxist inspired thinking attempts to explain what perfect society should look like social harmony o Critical criminologists reject positivism not Culture Conflict Sellin 1938 o Conduct norms differ cross culturally We can now define one class of people as criminal where before we could Honor killings Blood feuds Suttee indian practice of burning wife when husband dies o In urban environments many cultures proliferate Melting pot issue o Conflict in defining orienting values ensues o Conflict is mediated by the state o One group assumed the right to impose its values on others o Resistance results This produces a constant process of law application and adaptation to the law If law pushes people push back Reemergence of Radical Criminology 70s o Movement fed by suspicion of government in the wake of Watergate and success of anti war and civil rights movement o Turk s theory of criminalization taking formerly legal acts and making them the more offensive the act the more severe the law crime Relative power of enforcers and resisters Realism of the conflict motives unrealistic aims produce criminalization o Quinney s social reality of crime Society is organized into segments Those w more organizational capacity have more freedom to act and power in defining laws The Behavior of law Black 1976 o Attempts to locate the correlates of how law is applied o Makes no normative statements does not say what is right wrong or what society should be o Law is organized on 5 dimensions of social geometry Vertical stratification measured in wealth Informs how much you are the definer of the law Horizontal morphology relational distance integration The more integrated you are the more informed you are with the decisions Culture symbolic aspects religion education science Those who have more education have more culture Organization capacity for collective action The more able to organize easier to manipulate the system Social control responses to deviance can include ethics custom etiquette law is greater where informal control is weak The more integrated you are the more you can use the law instead of Post Modernism the Role of Voice being used by it o Moves from economic to knowledge production o Contends that science should not be privileged Should not be politicized to advance parties o Focus on deconstructing discourse challenging primary assumptions Going behind the science to the truth o Recognition that some argument more privileged than others especially that offered by those with wealth and power o Those with a role in the system assume a discursive subject position in which they advance their position within the larger structure Solution establish replacement discourses inclusivity diversity of communication i e qualitative research Policy Implications o Collectivize the means of production Expand the social safety net feed clothe and educate citizens o Prison reform or abolition punishment violence o Localize law enforcement functions o Prosecute white collar crime more vigilantly o Decriminalize certain behaviors for victimless crimes Legalize and regulate instead Modern Strain Theories Criticism of early anomie theory o Does a good job of explaining conformity not deviance o 50s and 60s booming economy yet more crime Legitimacy must be questioned o Low expectations low aspirations is associated with crime while theory suggests that people w high ambition goals will be the ones to deviate to attain success Crime and the American Dream o Instiutional Anomie Theory Messner Rosenfeld argue that Achievement orientation dominates o Monetary worth net worth o Earn at any cost o No stopping point to earning Individualism is the means o Success is earned by oneself o Others are competitors o Everyone is expected to compete those who don t are Restraints looked down on Social institutions are designed to maintain norms and values in order to regulate conduct o Economy rewards good behavior punishes bad o Polity electorate we
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