Critical Theories

1. Critical Theories Can’t we all just get along?

2. Critical Theories in Context • In 1950-1960s = strain • Policy = provide opportunity to those who lack means for achieving legitimate success. • Turmoil of 1960s  criminologists become more skeptical • Politicians and other interests groups lack will to make real changes • Cloward and Ohlin story • Many groups actively oppose providing opportunities

3. Consensus vs. Conflict • Law reflect shared belief about what is wrong • Law resolves conflicts and maintains order • The state is “neutral” • Bias is temporary and unintentional • Law is an end process in a conflict over values • Bias is built into the law (winners punish losers) • The state (CJS) responds to the needs of those in power (not neutral) Consensus Conflict

4. Critical Theory • Central Themes • Emphasis on “inequality” and “power” • Crime as “political” concept • CJS serves interests of powerful • Solution to crime is more equitable society • EXPLANATION OF LAW and CJ SYSTEM rather than crime

5. Variations of Critical Theory • Conflict Theory • Marxist/Radical Theory • Left Realism/Peacemaking • Feminist Criminology/Gender and Crime

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Conflict: An Explanationof 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

12. Karl Marx • Communist Manifesto • Means of production determine the structure of society • Capitalism: • Owners of the means of production (capitalists) • Workers = proletariat, lumpen proletariat

13. 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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Implications for Law • Capitalists control the definition of crime • Laws protect the capitalists (property, $) • Laws ignore crimes of the capitalists (profiteering)

19. 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

20. 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”

21. POLICY IMPLICATION? • The policy implication of Marxist Criminology is clear. • Dismantle the capitalist structure in favor of a socialist structure.

22. 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.

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Gender and Crime • Feminist Criminology • Relationships between gender, crime, and the criminal justice system • Gender Ratio and Generalizability

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. Daly’s Typology of female offending ▪ Street women ▪ Harmed-and-harming women ▪ Battered women ▪ Drug-connected women ▪ Other women

32. 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”)