Critical Criminology

Critical Criminology

Over the tears, there have been quite a number of theories that try to look at how power affects people in society.  Of all the theories, three have stood out the most, namely Marxist, postmodernist, and feminist criminologies. These theories the inequality of power is somehow linked to the problem of crime in society. The sources of power, however, differ for each perspective.

Marxist Criminology

Marxist was brought about by Karl Max. He was of the opinion that power lay in the ownership of means of production. He tried to relate the material forces of production and the relationship of people in society. Marx explained that in the beginning, social relations of production enhanced and were necessary for the progress of material forces of production.

However, these two forces were not similar in their levels of growth. While material forces were continuously growing, social relations remained stagnant for a long time. As a result, social relations began impeding the further development of material forces. Therefore, social relations had to undergo a sudden and violent restructuring so as to accommodate society’s capacity to produce material goods..

Marx, when proposing this theory, was trying to explain what will happen in the future based on Marxism. He stated that capitalism would be replaced by socialism, as social relations are restructured. Capitalism is a system characterized by private ownership of assets and business. On the other hand, socialism is a system that aims to distribute assets equally among its people and is highly controlled by the government.

Capitalism is based on the survival of the fittest, and those that show signs of weakness are brought down by the fit. In such a society, there tends to be a division into two categories. The first group is made up of the asset and property owners who grow richer and richer. The other group consists majorly of the poor guys who are wage laborers for the rich people. According to Marx, problems will arise because of mechanization. Jobs that were previously done by hand will soon be replaced by machines; therefore, there will be less need for wage laborers leaving people underemployed or unemployed.

The concept of demoralization was key to Karl when relating capitalist society to an increase in crime. He noted that each and every human has a need to be productive in life. With an increase in mechanization, there will be no work for the majority, and therefore, people will be more inclined to venture into crime. He termed this as ‘primitive rebellion,’ which can be explained as an unconscious form of rebellion against the capitalist economic system.

Another Marxist theorist, William Bonger, saw the justice system as a structure that treats crime differently based on whether one belonged to the rich or poor class. For the poor, the system criminalized their greed, while for the rich,it legalized opportunities for venturing into crime.  Marxist theorists also looked at crime from an instrumentalist view. The instrumentalist view pointed out that the rich acted as one to form rules that were used as instruments to take advantage of the other groups.

Other Marxist theorists, such as Greenberg, looked into the issue of strain theories and crime. Greenberg looked at class as a relationship to the means of production. He noted that in most societies, juveniles are excluded from the labor market, but ironically, this is the stage where they have a need for leisure activities. The juveniles respond by stealing so as to finance these leisure activities.  Another Marxist theorist, Friedrich, indicated that crime could be dealt with by breaking down social controls that govern capitalist societies. For a legal order to be fully effective, people must perceive and see it as ‘legitimate.’ In the USA, most citizens have no faith in leaders and government institutions, and as a result, there is a rise in illegal behavior.

Gordon, a Marxist theorist, saw crime as simply a way for the poor to make money in a society that did not accord them with chances to progress economically. He also said that the capitalist society made both the poor and the rich steal. The difference was only in the means of execution. The poor lacked the skills to be more sophisticated in their activities; they therefore resorted to violence. The rich, on the other hand, used pen and paper to perform crimes. Research showed that organized crimes in most states were as a result of a coalition between politicians and cartel leaders. The politicians needed money to sustain and retain their political powers, while organized crime lords needed a ‘legal’ way of selling their goods. A coalition between them will ensure that they both had money to do as they please.

Unfortunately, when societies catch up with such leaders, they simply replace them but do not put down strategies to reform the political-economic forces. This is simply dealing with symptoms of the disease without trying to figure out the root cause of the problem. The causes of the problems are the demand for illegal goods and the need for money by political figures. Therefore, for there to be a complete change, the fundamental structures of society must be changed.

While most Marxist theorists were focused on primitive rebellion and instrumental perspectives, others took a more realistic approach to the problems of crime. This group is called the left realism. They advocate for criminal justice systems should respond to crimes, regardless of the society is capitalist or socialist. They suggested regulation of prostitution instead of criminalizing it, reforming prisons, and addressing major health issues, among other ways of dealing with crime.

Postmodernist Criminology

The postmodernist theory states the source of power is in control over the language systems. Language is the center of it all. A language can make some points of view significantly more important than others, while at the same time can lower the value of other perspectives. Postmodernists are against the notion of modernists of giving the scientific language a dominant means in directing and controlling the world. They treat science equally to other languages. Some post-modernists go further than equalizing all languages and attempt to attack scientific thinking by deconstructing the beliefs held by people of it being a superior way of thinking.

The main purpose of postmodernism is to make societies aware of the structures of domination in regard to language. They do this by investigating how sense and meaning are constructed in different languages. They also look at the type of values, assumptions, and stereotypes that are implied in a particular language.

One area that is affected by power born from languages is the criminal justice system. The words spoken in the court do not fully express the reality of what happened. The language used is often twisted in a way that upholds the realities of the larger institution.

An example is in the cases of rape victims. In such a delicate case, the client is not often allowed to replay the attack as it really happened. Instead, he or she is tied down by certain ‘law’ terms that do not truly convey the extent of his or her story. Failure to adhere to this ‘lawyer’ talk will often lead to the victim not getting the deserved justice.

Therefore, postmodernists aim to spread the power to different parts of society by creating situations that allow for many different voices to not only be recognized but considered legitimate. The theory suggests that societies should establish replacement discourses that help, encourage, and support people to speak in a more authentic voice. It also advocates for people to always be aware of the authentic voices of other people.

This inclusion and acceptance of different voices will ultimately lead to a pluralistic culture characterized by liberation from dominant speech patterns. Consequently, there will be less crime committed as the role of citizens in the project of reducing crime will also be legitimized. Over time, there will be a shift in society as there will be less victimizing of other people by criminals and less official punishments of criminals by agents of the larger society.

Postmodernism is somehow linked to the perspectives of Marxism of appreciative relativism and communal celebration. The theory argues that crime, punishment, and war are all acts of violence. When people commit crimes, they are violent. In the same manner, violence is used to punish criminals. This simply means that the justice system believes that violence can overcome violence. Therefore, unless the system finds another way of dealing with violence, criminals will continue to act in the same manner.

Feminism and Criminology

According to the feminist perspective on criminology, power lies in patriarchy. This theory arose because feminists felt that traditional criminology failed to represent women and crime properly. The traditional criminology did not try to explain the criminal behavior of women. However, in the rare cases that it did, it was full of stereotypical, simplistic, and biased accounts of women. Most traditional criminology was gender-neutral and applied the same concepts to men as well as to women. There was also the factor of differences in the treatment of women in the justice systems. Feminists noticed that crimes committed by women that were violent in nature were treated leniently, while sexual offenders received harsh penalties.

One of the first feminists to cover this issue was Freda Adler. She talked about changes in social roles as the cause of the increase in women venturing into criminal activities. Women, because of liberation, now faced the same circumstances as men. Therefore, more and more women were using dangerous weapons and wit to establish themselves as capable of aggression as men. Another feminist, known as Rita, also saw social change as the cause of an increase in crime among women. The differences between the two women came in figuring out what criminal acts will be more predominant among women. Freda argued that violent crimes would take the lead, while Rita thought that property and white-collar crimes would be most common.

After these two radical works, feminists movements began to evolve. First, there was a liberal feminism. This type worked in the existing social structures. It simply focused on women’s issues by promoting women’s rights, increasing women’s opportunities, and transforming women’s roles in society.

Soon, there was another group that identified as critical feminists. They looked at the deeper, significant, and fundamental questions of factors that led to women playing the subservient role in society. This group aimed to transform society by teaching them about the many other roles that women can occupy in the community. One of the leaders of critical feminisms was Kate Millet. She stated that women begin taking up subservient roles at home, and this habit later spreads into other social institutions. At the end of the day, both men and women come to believe that men are superior.

At the same time, another group of Marxist feminists was slowly rising. The Marxists argued based on the power gotten from ownership of production. They felt that since the majority of assets, businesses, and properties were owned by men, it simply meant that they had more power. Men controlled the economy while women served them and their sexual needs. According to Marxist feminists, a criminal act is only defined as a crime when the act has threatened the capitalist-patriarchal system. Property crimes threaten men’s economic dominance, while sexual crimes intimidate men’s control over women’s bodies and sexuality.

There was also social feminism. These feminists were centered on control over bodies. Before birth control, women were at the mercy of the natural patterns of life, such as menstruation, childbirth, and menopause. Women were, therefore, more dependent on men as they stayed at home and took care of the babies.

Although there are many voices in feminist criminology, they follow the principle of appreciative realism. This means that all the voices are given a chance to be heard, recognized, and appreciated.  There are two main theories that attempt to explain why women engage in crime. They are generalizability and the gender ratio problem. The former looks at how the theories that explained male patterns of crime can be used to explain female patterns of crime. On the other hand, the former focus on why men are more likely to engage in crime than women.

The generalization theory was more restricting and misleading as it is hard to explain women’s nature of crime from a male perspective. The gender ratio perspective has more research and analysis, but the problem comes in if the research is not theoretical enough. It can be set aside as merely a case study and not tangible work explaining women and crime.

Christ-centered perspective

The bible also has many scriptures that support socialism as a way of living. The bible seems to ask communities and people to support the needy by giving some of their harvest to them. A good example is in Leviticus 23:22, the bible says that ‘and when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am the Lord your God.’ This scripture is obviously contrary to the capitalist society of ‘survival of the fittest.’ It is trying to ensure that those with nothing get something, not out of their hard work, but out of the goodness of those with more. In a capitalist world, the owners of the land would have gathered everything and gleaned and tried to make a profit by selling the harvest.

On the other hand, there are issues of capitalism in the bible. When God created man, he told him to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. It also has scriptures that talk about personal work and duty towards growing one’s wealth. In proverbs 14:23, it stays that in a toil, there is a profit, but mere talk only leads to poverty. This means that the bible supports capitalism because it encourages just the division of property and profits according to work rendered.

When it comes to feminist criminology, the bible created both man and woman in the image and likeness of God. ‘Let’s make humankind in our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion.’ (Genesis 1:26). This scripture implies that both the sexes were made equal to each other and that none is superior or inferior.

The bible also goes further to talk about the subduing of the earth. This command was also given by God to both sexes. Therefore, women, as well as men, have an equal opportunity in creating opportunities for them and tackling this world. In the same way, when it comes to the punishment of crimes, women should be treated equally to men and punished equally.

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