Pearce argues that the majority of laws in Britain and America work in favour of capitalism. He states that even laws, which appear to benefit the working class, are passed because they also benefit the upper class in some way, such as factory legislation. This keeps the vicious cycle of false class consciousness a float because it gives the workers an impression that their bosses actually care for them.
Sneider points out that no laws are ever developed which could threaten profitability for large business corporations. Chambliss agrees with sneider’s argument, he argues that the main focus of laws is to protect private property and the interests of the ruling class. Marxists also say that the upper class have the power to prevent issues from being discussed and never becoming a law, as it enables the ruling class to carry on making immoral profits and exploiting their workers.
Some laws are set to only benefit the working class, such as the minimum wage. This has no effect on the rich community. Laws are also passed which do have an affect on the higher classes, otherwise too many crimes like fraud would be carried out and left alone so that corporate and white collar crime would spiral out of control and our society would not benefit from this. Functionalists look at crime differently and say that our society is run using a value consensus, where rules are not imposed but everyone has a general agreement on what is right on wrong.
Another way in which Marxists contribute to our understanding of crime is by explaining how the upper class controls the criminal justice system. All classes in the hierarchy commit crime yet the working class are more likely to be caught and punished due to working class crimes such as burglary and drug offences tend to take place in the public domain and are easier to police. The police also tend to focus on working class areas as the official statistics suggest that the working class commit more crime than any other class. Sutherland argues that white collar crimes and corporate crimes tend to go unnoticed as these crimes are never committed within the public domain. If these types of crimes get found out, it’s probable that the situation will be portrayed by the media. The police and the public often view these crimes in a very different light to how they would view a working class crime. The home office statistics probably underestimate the extent of middle and upper class crime more than they underestimate crime from a general perspective.
Left realists argue that the damage created by working class crimes should not be ignored, violent street crime is far from what is seen as normal in our society and is still a growing problem. The media focuses more on street crimes as they are easier to sensationalise, but if a middle class crime makes it on screen and in print it will usually be equally reported by media corporations. The Marxist perspective of crime also ignores other relevant aspects such as ethnicity. Cicourel says that policing is also affect by someone’s ethnicity. Mark Daley’s covert observation of the Manchester police force found that a minority of police officers are still institutionally racist.
Marxists believe that the upper class receive more lenient treatment if punished through the criminal justice system. Sutherland found that middle class criminals are rarely prosecuted and have a chance to reform. This is due to judges being middle class. They tend to have a similar background. Pearce states that any middle class prosecutions are to maintain false class consciousness. White collar crimes are never on government agendas because usually these crimes are dealt with by employers to save creating negative news about the business which could affect profitability.
Jeffrey Archer, found guilty of two counts of perjury and two of perverting the course of justice, was let of very lightly by the courts and was not treated as a ‘real criminal.’ Upper class crimes tend to be difficult to pin blame on the criminal.
Marxist Gordon believes that capitalism encourages greed, materialism and competition so crime is inevitable. It is also believed that capitalism creates a dog eat dog attitude. Crime is seen as a rational response to breakdown in a capitalist society. Crime is not an activity that is only seen in a capitalist type of society, communistic run governments will also experience crime. Switzerland is also a capitalist society yet experiences one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
Neo Marxists accuse Marxists of economic determinism, arguing that human behaviour is determined by the economic system, plus ignoring the ability of humans making rational choices, determining their own fate.
Also, many working class citizens do not commit crime; they go about life using legitimate means. Marxists tend to focus on the link between crime and class, yet they ignore influences such as ethnicity and gender.
The Marxist view of crime has been very influential and highlights some important issues present in the criminal justice system. It is difficult to criticise the Marxist perspective of crime, as a lot of it can be explained by false class consciousness. However, it has been criticised as being a one sided debate and ignored other social variables that are relevant and should be included. The Marxist view also tends to ignore real causes and damage. The Marxist perspective of crime is still useful as class is still relevant in today’s society and reveals that middle class crime may be largely underestimated.
