Chapter 8 Social Conflict and Crime

1. Chapter 8 Social Conflict and Crime Lee Ayers-Schlosser, Southern Oregon University

2. Chapter Objectives (1 of 2) • Understand the difference between consensus and conflict view of society, and the core themes of critical theories. • Recognize how conflict among different interest groups shapes the content of the law and the operation of the criminal justice system. • Understand the evidence regarding the relationship between race, class, and criminal justice outcomes.

3. Chapter Objectives (2 of 2) • Know how radical criminologists explain the law, criminal justice system, and criminal behavior. • Recognize extensions of radical theory, including peacemaking criminology and left realism. • Appreciate how gender may shape both criminal justice processing and theories of crime. • Link specific critical theories with their policy implications.

4. You Are the Criminologist (1 of 2) What Is a “Serious” Crime? • A. Stephanie Pratt • Needed money to support crack addiction • Robbed local gas station and injured clerk • B. Jeffco Seatbelt Company • Designed faulty seatbelt that was projected to result in many deaths and injuries • Shredded engineering documents • Did not notify the public or recall the product

5. You Are the Criminologist (2 of 2) • Who is the most serious criminal? • How should individuals in each scenario be punished? • How might they be punished in the real world? • Does the cover-up in Scenario B qualify as murder? • Who made the most rational decision to engage in crime?

6. Introduction (1 of 2) • Critical criminology (or new criminology) • Why are certain acts illegal while others are not—regardless of the harm they may cause?

7. Introduction (2 of 2) • Crime as a political concept • Groups in power affect • Content of the law • Law enforcement • Sources of inequality and power • Race • Class • Gender • Solution: create a more equitable society

8. History (1 of 3) • 1960s • Criminology dominated by strain theories • Cloward and Ohlin • Broad social reforms and reduction of poverty necessary to reduce crime • Mobilization for Youth program • War on Poverty

9. History (2 of 3) • 1970s • Social context changed dramatically • Crimes of the powerful ignored • Focus on violations of victimless crimes (e.g., drug use, vagrancy) • Corrupt economic/political system had created class differences

10. History (3 of 3) • Labeling theory • Crime as social construction • Government intervention made delinquency worse • Connection between criminal justice system and economic order

11. Conflict Theory (1 of 2) • Consensus model (previous model) • Societal consensus on law and law enforcement • Common agreement on fundamental values • Shared interests of the vast majority • Law as a mechanism to resolve conflicting interests and maintain order • The state as a value‑neutral entity • Lawmakers resolve conflicts, police enforce the law, courts arbitrate • Any bias is temporary and unintended

12. Conflict Theory (2 of 2) • Conflict model • Law as the result of battles between people with different levels of power • Control over the state as principal prize in the social conflict • Bias in the criminal justice system as conscious and intentional

13. Conflict Theory and Law (1 of 3) • Those in power define laws to promote their interests. • Sources of power • Group membership (e.g., gender, social class, race) • Resources (e.g., money, organization, media access)

14. Conflict Theory and Law (2 of 3) • Public support for most laws • Disagreements • Public order offenses • Public drunkenness • Regulation of consensual sex • Prostitution • Punishment for law breaking

15. Conflict Theory and Law (3 of 3) • Influences on the law • Political interest groups • Social movements • Broad segments of society • Political parties

16. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (1 of 12) • Austin Turk • Criminalization depends less on particular behaviors of people and more on their relationship with authority. • Factors influencing conflict • Organization • Sophistication • Relative power • Cultural and social norms

17. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (2 of 12) • William Chambliss and Robert Seidman • Dispute resolution • Reconciliation and rule enforcement • Police sanctioning to maintain order • Dominance of middle-class values • Bureaucratic, biased legal system

18. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (3 of 12) • Do less powerful groups receive harsher treatment from the criminal justice system? • Minorities overrepresented at every stage • Male incarceration dramatically higher than female incarceration • Lower class individuals more likely to be involved in serious crime

19. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (4 of 12) • Do extra-legal factors (e.g., race, class, and gender) affect decision making? • Legal factors are the strongest predictors • Offense seriousness • Prior criminal record

20. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (5 of 12) • Reiss’s 1966 observational study • Race did not influence police decisions to arrest • Black suspects more likely to be arrested because they were • Suspected of more serious crimes • More hostile toward police • More likely to have complainants demanding official action • Subjected to a stronger police presence • Additional studies—findings complex and often contradictory

21. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (6 of 12) • Racial profiling • Difficult to determine • Minorities more likely to live in high-crime areas • Alfred Blumstein • Racial disparity in incarceration due to disparities in arrest rates • Blacks at a disadvantage in the criminal justice system

22. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (7 of 12) • Joan Petersilia • Offender‑Based Transaction Statistics (OBTS) • Minority suspects more likely to be released • Minority offenders more likely to receive long prison sentences following felony conviction • Rand prisoner survey • Minorities not overrepresented in the arrest population • Minorities not more likely to be arrested

23. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (8 of 12) • Klein, Petersilia, and Turner • Black and Latino offenders more likely to go to prison, especially for assault and drug offenses • Other factors eliminated this bias • William Wilbanks • No systematic racial bias • Racial threat hypothesis • As minority populations increase, punitive measures will increase

24. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (9 of 12) • War on drugs • Historically criminalized the “drug of choice” of less powerful classes • Example: crack cocaine

25. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (10 of 12) • Capital sentencing—Furman v. Georgia • Arbitrariness in the application of the death penalty • Blacks more likely to receive a death sentence • Whites more likely to have death sentences commuted to lesser sentences • Race of the victim also influenced sentencing

26. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (11 of 12) • Capital sentencing—Gregg v. Georgia • Guided discretion statute • Bifurcated trial (verdict, then sentencing) • Delimited specific aggravating circumstances juries would consider during sentencing • Automatic appeal of all death sentences to the state supreme court

27. Conflict Theory and the Criminal Justice System (12 of 12) • Capital sentencing—U.S. GAO • Race is still a dominant factor. • Blacks who kill whites have the greatest probability of receiving the death penalty.

28. Conflict Theory as an Explanation of Criminal Behavior (1 of 3) • Less powerful group adheres to its group norms while simultaneously violating those of another group • Frederic Thrasher • Gang study • Orgiastic behavior (drinking, gambling, smoking, and sex)

29. Conflict Theory as an Explanation of Criminal Behavior (2 of 3) • Thorsten Sellin • Culture conflict (ethnic groups) • Primary conflict (cultures) • Secondary conflict (subcultures)

30. Conflict Theory as an Explanation of Criminal Behavior (3 of 3) • George Vold • Political crimes • Political protest • Strife between management and labor unions • Attempts to change or upset the caste system that enforces racial segregation • Criminality depends on which side wins the conflict • Jim Crow laws

31. Critique of Conflict Theory • Fails to explain core of legal code that benefits society. • Vast amount of delinquent and criminal behavior is not political. • Most crimes occur within groups.

32. Radical Criminology • Uses Karl Marx’s theories of social structure to explain • Nature and extent of crime in society • Content and enforcement of criminal law • Links criminality to capitalism

33. Karl Marx (1 of 2) • Unequal distribution of wealth, power, and control cause class conflicts • Crime as a function of class conflict • Socioeconomic classes • Capitalists—own means of production, exploit the labor of others • Bourgeoisie—middle class • Proletariat—working class • Lumpenproletariatdispossessed under class

34. Karl Marx (2 of 2) • Law enforces the ideology of the capitalist ruling class • Superstructure of social institutions • Law • Education • Politics • Solution: change the unjust economic system which causes crime

35. Friedrich Engels • Crime as a form of revolt • Society as the offender depriving and oppressing the under class • Solution: social revolution

36. Wilhelm Adrian Bonger • Crime as an immoral act against prevailing social structure • 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)

37. George Rusche andOtto Kirchheimer • Crime is an outgrowth of unemployment and poor social conditions. • Imprisonment reflects economic conditions. • The state is selective about whom it punishes.

38. Richard Quinney (1 of 2) • Criminal justice system as the last supporting prop for a slowly decaying capitalist social order • Law enforcement exists primarily to control members of the lower class

39. Richard Quinney (2 of 2) • Typology of crime • Crimes of domination • Crimes of control • Crimes of government • Crimes of economic domination • Social injuries • Crimes of accommodation • Predatory crimes • Personal crimes • Crimes of resistance

40. Law and the Criminal Justice System (1 of 2) • Instrumental Marxism • Law and the criminal justice system are tools to control the lower classes. • However, many laws are not in the interest of the capitalist class. • Structural Marxism • Some laws may run counter to the desires of the capitalist class. • Capitalists are not portrayed as a single, homogenous group.

41. Law and the Criminal Justice System (2 of 2) • Jeffrey Reiman • White collar crime less serious and less likely to be enforced • Pollution • Hazardous work conditions • Unsafe products • Insider trading • Embezzlement • Fraud • Wealthy people are less likely to be formally charged and better able to avoid sanctioning

42. Historical Support for Marxist Criminology • William Chambliss • English vagrancy law of 1349 • Enacted to provide a pool of cheap labor and combat the collapse of the feudal system • Anthony Platt • U.S. juvenile court system • Formed to control immigrant youths and instill discipline

43. A Radical Critique of Traditional Criminologists • Mainstream criminology fails by • Concentrating on the behavior of the offender • Accepting legal definitions of crime • Ignoring that crime is created by political authority • Focusing on street crime and ignoring white-collar crime • Criminologists as agents of the state • Providing information that the government uses to manipulate and control those who threaten the system

44. Critique of Radical Criminology(1 of 2) • Polarizing, personalized, and narrow • Offers nothing new • Only politicized traditional criminological theories • Has not clearly defined the ruling class • Idealized view of the deviant as a rebel • Can’t explain failure of communism and low-crime capitalist countries • Dependent on historical analysis (which is difficult to test)

45. Critique of Radical Criminology (2 of 2) • Has forced criminologists to broaden their perspective • Has highlighted the difference in sanctioning between crimes of the powerful and crimes of the poor • Acts as a conscience for the discipline of criminology

46. Extensions of Radical Criminology 1. British (“left”) realism 2. Elliot Currie (United States as market society) 3. Criminology as peacemaking

47. British Realism • Practical solutions to street crime • Street crime as working class problem • Questions conservative crime policies that emphasize • Deterrence • Military‑style policing • Increasing use of prisons • Suggests minimal policing and police accountably to local communities

48. Elliot Currie (1 of 2) • Only some forms of capitalism encourage crime • Market economy (compassionate capitalism) • Market society (high levels of inequality and poverty) • Solution: softer, gentler capitalist society

49. Elliot Currie (2 of 2) • 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

50. Criminology as Peacemaking • Draws on many religious traditions • Crime as a form of suffering (both criminal and victim) • Policy implications • Mediation • Reconciliation • Confronts issue like • Homelessness • Sexual assault • Use of prisons • Criticism: rejects any effort to scientifically study crime or crime control