Term Paper on "Criminology the Purpose of Karl Marx's Class"

Term Paper 4 pages (1262 words) Sources: 0 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Criminology

The purpose of Karl Marx's class conflict and the law is to outline his theory on how the fundamental cause for criminal behavior is the class system. In other words, according to Marx, criminal behavior is an outgrowth of the lower classes being unfairly treated compared to the ruling classes. Thus, in order to prevent crime, one should not turn to the laws but should turn to restructuring society's class systems.

The central question that directs Marx's theory is "What is the cause and answer to crime." As previously stated, Marx's hypothesis is that crime is caused by inequalities.

To support his hypothesis, Marx turns to history, showing that in all societies there has been inequalities, as has there been crime. Likewise, all criminal behavior is typically committed by deprived individuals as a way of trying to get what they are being deprived of.

Inferences: From reading this article, it can be inferred that the answer to the question of criminal justice is to overthrow the ruling class and to distribute power evenly. Interestingly, to do this would involve overthrowing the criminal justice system itself, as this is controlled by the ruling class.

Reasoning: In order to understand this argument one needs to understand the political background of Marx's era. It was during this time that the distance between the haves and have nots was great and the occurrences of peoples revolutions common.

Assumptions: The author is taking for granted the fact that white-collar crime also occurs, being committed by people who have everything.

Implications: If were to accept the author's reasoning, we would have to view the criminal justice system as part of the cause that perpetuates the problem of crime in society.

Point-of-View: I think Marx has some interesting and well-grounded points in that much crime is caused by social-economic status, either directly or indirectly.

Purpose: Richard Quinney's Class, State and Crime takes a similar approach to Marx's theory of criminal behavior, arguing that crime is a reaction against a depriving state that has created a class system in society. Thus, the purpose of this article is to argue that the criminal justice system exists as a mechanism for managing this class system by protecting the haves from the criminal acts of the have nots.

Question: The driving question behind this article is what is the purpose of the criminal justice system. The author's hypothesis is that the criminal justice system was set up by the ruling class to protect their powers and position.

Information: The author substantiates his argument with data and case samples showing the trend of who creates the laws vs. who breaks the laws. In other words, the trend is that the ruling class creates laws in order to "manage" the lower classes which, in effect, creates more ways for rules to be broken.

Inferences: The main conclusion of the argument is that the criminal justice system is now needed as a result of itself.

Reasoning: In order to understand this article, one needs to have a general understanding of Marxist philosophy. According to such philosophy, society is divided between the ruling class and the ruled class. However, whereas Marx argues that at some point the ruled class will rise up, this article argues that such an uprising is impossible because the criminal justice system forbids it.

Assumptions: The author assumes that the criminal justice system will be viewed as fair. However, this was not the case during the civil rights movement and thus, during that time one witnessed uprising from the ruled class.

Implications: If we were to accept the author's reasoning, one would have to believe in the criminal justice system not out of a sense of justice, but out of a sense of necessity.

Point-of-View: I tend to agree with the… READ MORE

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