Lec 7

Question 1

Conflict perspective

Answer 1

Assumes that societies are more divided by conflict than they are integrated by consensus

Question 2

What do conflict theories do

Answer 2

Question the assumption that laws represent the interest of society as a whole. Instead state laws are made and endorsed those that are the most powerful or dominant.

Question 3

4 Conflict theories

Answer 3

Cultural conflict theory
Group Conflict theory
Marxism
Left Realism

Question 4

Cultural Conflict Theory :Sellin

Answer 4

Diverse cultural groups maintain distinct conduct norms, thus there may be a cultural conflict between conduct norms of different cultural groups

Question 5

What is one sphere where culture conflict appears

Answer 5

In the legal sphere, especially criminal law

Question 6

According to Sellin criminal norms are..

Answer 6

Conduct norms codified into laws that represent the values of the dominant group

Question 7

Sellin’s cause of crime

Answer 7

Crime is the result of conduct norms of the dominant cultural group being extended over a group with different conduct norms

Question 8

Group Conflict Theory: Vold

Answer 8

Law making is a political process involving conflicts between competing interest groups

Question 9

Group conflict can result in criminal behavior

Answer 9

Crime occurs when there is a conflict between the behavior of a minority group and the laws of the dominant majority
Crime occurs from conflict between competing interest groups vying for power

Question 10

Marxism or Marxist Theories of Crime

Answer 10

Focused on social, political, and economic structures that give rise to crime
Stated that law and crime should be studied in connection with the whole of society and particularly the economic sphere

Question 11

Instrumental Marxism

Answer 11

The state and legal and political institutions are a direct instrument of control of the ruling/capitalist class

Question 12

Who controls the formation of law according to instrumental marxism

Answer 12

The ruling class, and the focus is on the coercive nature of the law

Question 13

The state and legal system are instruments of which class

Answer 13

The capitalist class

Question 14

Richard Quinney says (6)

Answer 14

American society is an advanced capitalist economy

The state is organized to serve the interests of the dominant economic class

Criminal Law is an instrument of control of existing social and economic order

Crime control is realized through state institutions and agencies controlled by the political class

The contradiction of advanced capitalism require that the subordinate classes remain oppressed through the legal system

Only with the collapse of capitalist society and creation of a new society based on socialist principles will there be an end to crime

Question 15

Case of Ferguson, Missouri

Answer 15

Town is 67 percent black but very high numbers of crime is put against them

Over policing was occurring (people were being charged for relatively minor issues such as manner of walking in roadway)

Black residents were 68 percent less likely to have their court case dismissed

The Department of Justice found that law enforcement in Ferguson was not to protect public safety but to facilitate fine collection

Question 16

Henry Davis

Answer 16

Beaten by 4 police officers and charged with destruction of official property for bleeding on uniforms

Question 17

Critiques of Instrumental Marxism

Answer 17

Wrongly portrays the ruling class as homogeneous

Ignores constraints on the powers of the ruling class

Ignores legislation that is contradictory to the position of the powerful capitalist class

Overly deterministic in the view that the economic base is the foundation of the superstructure

Question 18

Structural Marxism

Answer 18

Even though powerful capitalists influence the lawmaking or criminalization processes, the state has some degree of control and independence over them (relative autonomy)

Question 19

Laws not representing the immediate interests of the capitalist class

Answer 19

-The state creates laws meant to curb capital but are ineffective in design and implementation

-Laws that benefit the less powerful reflect the need to develop widespread consent for existing social order

Question 20

What must the state have to mediate between opposing capitalist class faction to preserve the long-term interests of the capitalist class

Answer 20

Relative autonomy

Question 21

Spitzer-Marxian theory of deviance

Answer 21

Criminalization of behavior is directed at problem populations that arise in capitalist societies

Question 22

Greenberg-Juvenile Delinquency

Answer 22

Juveniles as a class are excluded from access to income and become a surplus population

Delinquency occurs because the desire to participate in activities and the lack of legitimate means to finance these activities

Question 23

Crimes of the powerful

Answer 23

Profit maximization creates a strong motivation for corporations to commit crimes and enact other socially harmful behaviors

Question 24

Structural Marxism critiques

Answer 24

Too much emphasis on structure and not enough on humans ability to shape and direct the social world

Exclusive focus on class relations has precluded other considerations, such as gender oppression and race oppression

Question 25

Left Realism

Answer 25

Emphasizes the need to examine the square of crime

The relationship between
offender
victim
police
public

Question 26

Left realism test

Answer 26

Used crime survey of low income communities to measure working class victimization

Found that crime is disproportionately distributed among the working class, women, and racial minorities

Question 27

Victimization surveys help us

Answer 27

Focus on and examine problems in the working class

Question 28

Implication of left realism

Answer 28

Crime is a real problem for the working class and other people on the margins of society

Advocates for human crime control policies and for making the justice system more accountable to the people

Question 29

Conflict theories of crime-Critiques

Answer 29

Too much emphasis on the divisions of society

Class conflict is not always static

Classless of consensus society is a utopia