Marxist theory of crime and law

Question 1

What are 2 causes of crime?

Answer 1

exploitation of the working class drives many people into poverty so crime is only way to survive, capitalism pushes consumer goods at people through advertising resulting in utilitarian crimes

Question 2

What are 2 other causes of crime?

Answer 2

inequality causes feelings of alienation and frustration resulting in non-utilitarian crimes, capitalism is dog eat dog system and the profit promotes greed this encourages capitalists to commit corporate crimes to gain an advantage

Question 3

What does Chambliss argue about law making?

Answer 3

Laws are made to protect the private property of the rich

Question 4

What is the selective law enforcement?

Answer 4

law is enforced selectively against the working class but not the upper class, corporate crime is often punished less severely

Question 5

What do Marxists argue the ideas about crime and law are?

Answer 5

an ideology- a set of ideas that conceal the inequality of capitalist society

Question 6

What are the ideological functions of crime and law?

Answer 6

selective enforcement makes it look as if crime is the fault of the working class, divides them and encourages workers to blame them for their problems instead of capitalism, shifts attention away from much more serious ruling class crime

Question 7

What are the strengths of this theory?

Answer 7

shows how poverty and inequality can cause working-class crime and how capitalism promotes greed and encourages upper-class crime, shows how both aw-making and law enforcement are biased against the working class and in favour of the powerful

Question 8

What are the limitations of this theory?

Answer 8

focuses on class and largely ignores the relationship between crime and other inequalities, over-predicts the amount of working-class crime