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CONFLICT THEORY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
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Defines & examines conflict theory & view that crime is inevitable result of social conflict. Human nature, social order, logic of theory, legal policy & practice.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Defines & examines conflict theory & view that crime is inevitable result of social conflict. Human nature, social order, logic of theory, legal policy & practice.
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Conflict Theory in Criminal Justice
Abstract
Conflict theory in criminal justice is based on the assumption that society is grounded in inherent conflict that cannot be resolved. Conflict theorists argue that those who hold power and wealth in a capitalist economy force the less-powerful to abide by their established rules with the purpose of protecting their own property and physical safety. The theory relies on a Marxist interpretation of the function of a capitalist society. It argues for a broader definition of crime to include offenses and actions intended to maintain the ruling structure. The theory and models of punishment based on the theory would require an understanding of criminal justice that took into consideration the social and pol
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Tunnell argues that it is only by taking sides and declaring one'sbias does it become possible for critical social scientists to participatein positive social change.[xlv] Such social change will then have moreimportant implications than simply explanatory research on crime andcriminals. Rather, he argues that the way we as asociety write and enforce laws and the way the media write about crime andcriminals, i.e., the myth-making of crime in our culture, determines whatis defined as a crime and who gets branded as a criminal. The capitalist class, therefore, now has the power to define what isconsidered criminal conduct, including crimes of domination such ascorporate price fixing and pollution, all in the effort to maintain theirstatus and the capitalist order. "Justice as Restoration," Peace Review 9 (1997): 541-548. Nevertheless, Quinney's concept raises the questionof what is the best way to treat and eliminate crime. Bibliography............................................................... Yeager & Reed argued that such conspiracies against knowledge havetraditionally served to insulate offending actors from guilt andresponsible superiors from culpability and, as such, they were potentcontributors to criminogenic cultures. [xviii] Thus, heargues crime is in fact only a set of arbitrary social constructs that bearno necessary relation to harm or evil.[xix] Conflict theory maintains thatthe present capitalistic-social construct is destructive to human nature.The theory emphasizes the significance of human action as a means ofbringing about changes in society.[xx] Conflict theory relies on Marxist theory concerning human behavior andsocial institutions as its basis for analyzing criminal activity.[xxi]Quinney has argued that a Marxist analysis is crucial to exposing the"basic rottenness" of the system that wrote laws against crime and pursuedoffenders.[xxii] He argues that such an analysis allows for aninvestigation of true human nature by examining those structures thatobstruct our lives. The new criminologists,who were forming the basic tenets of conflict theory, argued that to avoidthe restrictions on the study of crime and criminal behavior to whichtraditional views of criminology were subject, a conception of crime basedon a human rights perspective was needed.[v] The new criminologychallenged the prevailing social and political structures as supportive ofa capitalist system in crisis and viewed existing theory and research aslittle more than ideological justification for a political economy thatsupported the status quo in American society.[vi] Conflict theory in criminal justice theory is organized around theperception that society is based upon conflict that most likely cannot beresolved. One of the more significant is based on thefear that the perpetrators of crime will rely more heavily on inappropriateexcuses for their actions, such as larger social issues and effects. 11 7. These critics called for areplacement of the approach to crime control with one that took intoconsideration the capitalist political economy and its exploitative socialrelations.[iii] Consequently, the new criminology born during theseturbulent times emphasized the inherent conflict and politics of everydaylife. Sarre, Rick. Table of Contents 1. 15 8. ........................................................................ 6 4. Tunnell, "Silence of the Left: Reflections on CriticalCriminology and Criminologists," Social Justice, 22 1 (1995): 89.[xlv] Ibid.[xlvi] Ibid.[xlvii] Ibid.[xlviii] Ibid.[xlix] Ibid.[l] Ibid.[li] Richard Quinney, "Socialist Humanism and the Problem of Crime:Thinking about Erich Fromm in the Development of Critical-PeacemakingCriminology," Crime, Law and Social Change, 23 2 (1995): 147.[lii] Sarre, 544.[liii] Quinney (I), 296[liv] Sarre, 544.[lv] Ibid.[lvi] Ibid.[lvii] Ibid.[lviii] Ibid.[lix] Ibid.[lx] Ibid.[lxi] Ibid.[lxii] Ibid.[lxiii] Ibid.[lxiv] Ibid.[lxv] Ibid.[lxvi] Ibid.[lxvii] Ibid.[lxviii] Cardarelli, 518. The law as we know it is the tool used by the powerfulto gain more power and to authorize their activities. History and Definition of Conflict Theory................................................... Endnotes -----------------------[i] Albert P. Restorative models of justice offer several practical ways to addressthe issues of crime and criminality in society. One way is throughoffender and victim reconciliation, which conflict theory arguesestablishes a mediation process to generate "right" relationships ratherthan imposing pain as a deterrent.[lviii] The mediation between theoffending and offended parties seeks to repair the social injury caused bythe offense and encourage a greater bond between the involved parties.Such a process encourages offenders to understand their crime's impact andto take responsibility for it.[lix] The process also allows the communityat large to become an "active facilitator" of negotiations toward apositive peace.[lx] Another model supported by conflict theory is the family groupconference. 161. Duelargely to its basis in Marxist theory, conflict theory perceives humanexistence as characterized by suffering with the event of crime as ademonstration of that suffering.[lxvii] Conflict theorists argue againstthe positivistic mode of inquiry in favor of a social theory of deviancethat would be able to bring politics back into the discussion of what werepreviously technical issues and address the need to deal with society as atotality.[lxviii] While it is unlikely that the totality of conflict theory, which isstrongly informed by a reliance on alternative methods of punishment, willbe given much credence in the foreseeable future, criminal justice canstill benefit from the assumptions and assertions and particularly thecritical inquiry of conflict theory. However, Quinney argues that criminology must move beyond thetraditional to ask "what it is to be human and how we can live a decentlife in this world."[liii] This would indeed be a bold move forcriminology to make. Group conflict rises as each particulargroup tries to gain political power, which it will use to assure itseconomic primacy. & Hicks, Stephen C. The incorporation of Marxist ideas into conflicttheory was a natural progression for a theory based on the concept that asociety based on the power relations of capitalism does not operate for thebenefit of the less powerful.[xxiii] Quinney argued that society's worst offense was the oppression of theless powerful by the capitalist ruling class.[xxiv] Rather than being theoffenders, the people we put in prison and label "criminals" are in factvictims.[xxv] A Marxist analysis of the roots of crime necessarily focuseson the inherent contradictions of a capitalist economy, in which manylaborers (the proletariat) provide profits of a few (the bourgeoisie).Marxism argues two inevitable outcomes of such an economy: a surplus oflabor, and the alienation of the laborer from the work (s)he produces. Tunnell, Kenneth. Informal community mechanismssupplement criminal justice professionals, which allows victims to becomeinvolved as parties in their own right and reduces the monopoly held bystates over the response to crimes. It argues for a broader definition of crime to include offensesand actions intended to maintain the ruling structure. Thus far, this mode of conference has been limited to thejuvenile justice systems in the United States and Canada because opponentsfear that criminal justice objectives will suffer if offenders have analternative to adequate punishment.[lxi] The idea of restitution isprobably the best known of alternative punishment models supported byconflict theory. Thesurplus of labor, and the domination that ensues causes the social illsthat decompose the system that produced them. Such links can help criminologists as well associety at large to explore the assumptions of morality that inform theprocess by which we define, excuse, and punish law breaking.[lxvi]Evaluations Conflict theory argues that rather than view crime in society as aviolation against the state by an offender or offenders, criminologistsneed to expand their views and definitions of crime and criminality. ... He argues that any policy of criminal justice mustinclude steps that help society to overcome its alienation, to embraceindividual inner peace, and to foster personal awareness.[lii] Theseideas, of course, have not traditionally been within the realm ofcriminology. They are also now able to legitimizecrimes of control, such as surveillance measures and denial of due process.Social injuries such as sexism, racism, and economic exploitation are alsolegitimized. Conflict theorists argue that government-sanctioned laws,government agencies and those that hold power and wealth in America forcethe less-powerful to abide by their established rules with the purpose ofprotecting their own property and physical safety.[vii] The theory assumesthat diversity based upon differences in gender, ethnicity, sexualorientation and social class pervade society and conflict is inevitablebecause of these diversities. First suggested by Quinney, peacemaking arguesthat understanding and preventing crime has as much to do with spiritualrenewal as anything else. Some criminologists argue that conflict theory should be viewed as a"different construction of reality" that applies an alternative discourseand perspective to interpretations of social control rather than merely atheory.[viii] They argue that it is a method or approach to inquiry thatrejects the limitations of traditional criminology and instead critiquesthe assumptions of criminology in a way that allows for the ability toexplore "alternative meanings without constraint."[ix] Thus, conflicttheory is based upon a method of inquiry that questions the very meaning ofknowledge and perception and reality.Human Nature Generally, traditional theories of criminal justice view crime as aviolation against the state.[x] Consequently, these theories regard crimeas something that occurs between the state and an offender.[xi] Conflicttheorists argue that these theories focus on issues of blame, deterrence,and punishment and define offenses in purely legal terms, ignoring themoral, social, and political dimensions of crime.[xii] Rather, they arguecrime is a function of conflict between people and should treated assomething that occurs between individuals.[xiii] Reality is constructed through human perception, conflict theoristsmaintain. "Of Corporate Persons and StrawMen: A reply to Herbert, Green, and Larragoite," Criminology 26 (1998):885. Nonetheless, peacemaking suggests the possibilityof linking criminal justice solutions to other fields, namely religion,mediation and psychotherapy. In addition, restorative themes ofcriminal justice have a broader value for modern communities, many of whichare clearly in crisis despite the reliance on traditional methods ofcriminology and punishment. History & Definition of Conflict Theory Before the 196 s, most criminology research and theory was conductedunder the rubric of structural-functionalism, which assumed the primacy ofthe social system and the inter-relationship of social institutions withoutmuch focus or consideration for the individuals or groups who made up theinstitutions.[i] However, critics of these theories argued that byminimizing the social conflict and tension inherent within society, thesetheories supported a politically conservative agenda within sociology andcriminology.[ii] The social and political unrest of the 196 s allowed critics todemonstrate clearly the conflict within society as well as the politicalnature of society and the individual. Inother words, the capitalist class now has the power to control the waysociety thinks, i.e., society's definition of right and wrong, andappropriate and inappropriate behavior. "Radicalism in Law andCriminology: A Retrospective View of Critical Legal Studies and RadicalCriminology," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 84 (1993): 5 2-553. ........................................................................ Managers commonlystated that they could not discuss ethical problems with their superiors--public indiscussibility--and also exhibited a tendency to deny wrongdoingto themselves even in the face of clear violations of law--privateinadmissibility.[xli] Such studies prove that no action is value-neutral;rather, an action may appear superficially value-neutral because it is soingrained in the dominant culture. Cardarelli & Stephen C. However, even conflict theorists note that the evidencefor restitution's rehabilitative effects is mixed.[lxii] Nonetheless, theymaintain that while restitution may not affect an adult offender'ssubsequent criminality, its ability to restore society to an equivalent ofits former position should not be overlooked.[lxiii] One alternative based on the assumptions of conflict theory that hasbeen adopted by many municipal governments in the last twenty years iscommunity policing. Conflicttheorists argue that those who hold power and wealth in a capitalisteconomy force the less-powerful to abide by their established rules withthe purpose of protecting their own property and physical safety. Cardarelli, Albert P. Richard Quinney argues that the human connection to our largerworld operates through myth.[xiv] He defines myth as "our reference forthe creation of our own personal and collective identities."[xv] He arguesthat rather than being falsehoods, as we tend to conceive of myths in ourmodern culture, myths are the true stories of our existence. The results of such work combined with the conflict theorist'sinherent commitment to positive, humanist change could then contribute to"making this a saner, safer, and more humane society within which tolive."[xlvi] Conflict theory requires that serious and significant inquiry intosolving the problem of crime must be radical in that it must question theexisting social, economic and political order.[xlvii] Conflict theoristsmust advance a more inclusive definition of "crime" and "criminal" thattakes into consideration the host of offenses currently considered to beeither merely good business or "the way things are" in a capitalisteconomy. Yeager & Reed arguethat such acts are socially constructed in organizational systems whereupper-level executives socialize lower-level managers not just on theirtechnical competency but also on their ability to undergo "normativedevelopment," where normative development is the managers' ability tolearn, negotiate, and reproduce the dominant values and operative rules oftheir workplace.[xlii] Yeager & Reed concluded that based on the logic ofthese standard processes, it was not surprising that so much of theevidence on organizational offending suggested a normative basis for suchacts rather than an impulsive one.[xliii]Criminal Justice Policy As discussed earlier, the constraints placed on critical criminologyby the assumption of value-neutrality has limited the exploration andunderstanding of criminal behavior within the fields of criminology andsociology. [xxvi] Human activityin a capitalist society is economic: Workers sell themselves to acquire thepurchasing power to consume.[xxvii] However, Marxist analysis argues thatthe act of selling one's labor rather than what one produces has broughtabout profound changes throughout society. Thetheory relies on a Marxist interpretation of the function of a capitalistsociety. "Socialist Humanism and the Problem of Crime: Thinkingabout Erich Fromm in the Development of Critical-Peacemaking Criminology,"Crime, Law and Social Change 23 (1995): 147-156. Quinney, Richard. Thus, the 196 s allowed the critics of criminology at the time tochallenge structural-functionalism by raising the issue of conflict withinsociety to a level of theoretical importance.[iv] Under traditionaltheories of criminology, `crime' was defined and limited according tobehavior defined as criminal by those in power. Pepinsky, "An Overview of Richard Quinney on Law andCrime," Legal Studies Forum 9 3 (1985): 3 2.[xix] Ibid.[xx] Cardarelli, 514.[xxi] Joseph Bute, Jr., "Practicing from Theory: Work with Youths andReflections on Radical Criminology," Crime and Delinquency 27 1 (January1981): 1 8.[xxii] Pepinsky, 3 3.[xxiii] Cardarelli, 514.[xxiv] Pepinsky, 3 2.[xxv] Ibid., 3 2.[xxvi] Bute, 1 8.[xxvii] Ibid.[xxviii] Ibid.[xxix] Quinney, 295.[xxx] Ibid.[xxxi] Cardarelli, 517.[xxxii] Ibid.[xxxiii] Ibid.[xxxiv] Ibid.[xxxv] Peter Yeager & Gary Reed, "Of Corporate Persons and Straw Men: AReply to Herbert, Green, and Larragoite," Criminology, 36 4 (1998): 885.[xxxvi] Ibid.[xxxvii] Ibid.[xxxviii] Ibid.[xxxix] Ibid.[xl] Ibid.[xli] Ibid.[xlii] Ibid.[xliii] Ibid.[xliv] Kenneth D. These models also conceptualize crimeas injury and not merely law breaking.[lvii] However, there are argumentsagainst such forms of justice. Conflict Theory and Criminal Justice Policy.............................................1 6. Restorative models of justice as suggested by Quinney treat crime as aviolation of one person by another and emphasize prevention through problemsolving, dialogue, and restitution.[liv] These models also promote therepair of social injuries and offer the strengthening of community bondsthrough possibilities for repentance and forgiveness.[lv] Offenses areunderstood as having a range of moral, social, and political dimensions andthe expected end result of the treatment is that communities andindividuals will be empowered to deal with their problems and to influencecriminal justice so that formal punishment and incarceration become lessrelied upon sanctions.[lvi] In restorative justice models, the individual and the community sharethe responsibility for resolving crime. Quinney, R. However, the conspiracies ofignorance are provided for and allowed by the general nature of acapitalistic society that rewards or, at the least, turns a blind eye tocorporate misadventure in the quest for profitability. Yeager, Peter C., & Reed, Gary E. Causal Logic of Conflict Theory.................................................................. "Reassessing the Critical Metaphor:An Optimistic Revisionist View," Justice Quarterly 6 (1989): 143-162. Conflict theorists argue the state, which iscontrolled by the capitalist class, maintains order through its laws.[xxix] These laws have now evolved into the means of control for the capitalistsociety to quell any threats to its system of exploitation and repression.However, the means of control exceed the mere application of the laws.Rather, the existence of the law has the larger effect of controlling theconscience and parameters of thought of the people that it controls. Thomas, Jim & O'Maolchata, Aogan. Conflict theory argues thatalienation, inequality, poverty, unemployment, and spiritual malaise are by-products of the capitalist political economy. "An Overview of Richard Quinney on Law andCrime," Legal Studies Forum 9 (1985): 3 1-3 5. Critical social scientists have challenged, and should continueto challenge, this doctrine by committing themselves to human action ratherthan to simply sterile research.[xliv] As observers of social behavior,criminologists and professionals within criminal justice are necessarilymorally involved in their field of study. "Practicing from Theory: Work with Youths andReflections on Radical Criminology," Crime and Delinquency 27 (January1981): 1 6-121. Conflict Theory and Criminal Justice Practice.................................... ........................................................................ In 1995, theyconducted interviews in two large companies to attempt to determine theroots of such "ignorance."[xl] The managerial responses to their questionssuggested that corporate management of such "conspiracies of ignorance"were often quite subtle but not generally questioned. Pepinsky, Harold E. The theory andmodels of punishment based on the theory would require an understanding ofcriminal justice that took into consideration the social and politicalcauses of crime, particularly models of treatment based on a concept ofrestorative justice. "Myth and the Art of Criminology," Legal StudiesForum 9 (1985): 291-299. Bibliography Bute, Jr., Joseph. Human Nature.................................................................. Undoubtedly many criminologists will resist theidea of a "touchy-feely" approach to events that can have such devastatingeffects on individuals. "Silence of the Left: Reflections on CriticalCriminology and Criminologists," Social Justice 22 (1995): 89-1 4. Social Order.................................................................. Asevidence, critics can offer infamous defenses made to crimes in recenttimes, such as the sleepwalking defense or "road-rage" and "race-rage"defenses. Hicks, "Radicalism in Law andCriminology: A Retrospective View of Critical Legal Studies and RadicalCriminology," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 84 3 (1993): 51 .[ii] Ibid.[iii] Ibid., 514.[iv] Ibid., 511.[v] Ibid.[vi] Ibid., 512.[vii] Ibid., 513.[viii] Jim Thomas & Aogan O'Maolchata, "Reassessing the Critical Metaphor:An Optimistic Revisionist View," Justice Quarterly 6 143 (1989): 145.[ix] Ibid., 147.[x] Cardarelli, 513.[xi] Rick Sarre, "Justice as Restoration," Peace Review 9 4 (1997): 544.[xii] Ibid.[xiii] Ibid.[xiv] Richard Quinney, "Myth and the Art of Criminology," Legal StudiesForum 9 3 (1985): 293.[xv] Ibid.[xvi] Ibid., 295.[xvii] Ibid.[xviii] Harold E. Conflict theorists withinthe criminal justice field have the ability to initiate public discussionon these issues.[xlix] Criminologists have an obligation to raise criticalquestions among the general public that may in turn agitate a reappraisalof crime beyond the narrow confines of current disciplines.[l]Criminal Justice Practice Quinney has argued that the criminal justice system stresses the useof "negative peace, the threat and application of force to deter or processacts of crime," instead of "positive peace, the elimination of thestructural sources of crime and violence within society such as, poverty,inequality, racism, and alienation."[li] Thus, rather than rely solely onpunishment as a means of eliminating crime, conflict theory would requirecriminal justice to consider more restorative and rehabilitative models totreat criminal behavior. ........................................................................ Evaluation.................................................................. 7 5. Quinney has suggested the restorative potential of creative criminaljustice policies. The most significant of thesechanges is that products and their value are controlled almost exclusivelyby corporations rather than by individual men and women.[xxviii] Thus, in a capitalist system, the capitalist class exploits the laborsof the working class. Community policing encourages substantial andsignificant community involvement in law enforcement, even allowing forcommunity input into the means and methods of such enforcement.[lxiv] Itsefficacy is demonstrated by the fact that academics in South Africa, forexample, have praised the possibilities in that country for a vision thatgives less emphasis to police forces and more emphasis to community self-policing capacities.[lxv] The final model of restorative justice is based in the idea ofcriminology as peacemaking. Conflict Theory in Criminal Justice AbstractConflict theory in criminal justice is based on the assumption that societyis grounded in inherent conflict that cannot be resolved. ............... Conflict theorists can make a substantial contribution by raisingpublic consciousness about larger social harms, governmentaltransgressions, and governmental unresponsiveness to social problems suchas homelessness, institutionalized racism, sexism, and poverty.[xlviii] In addition, conflict theory can aid the development of a moreinclusive criminology even if state-sanctioned definitions of crime do notadvance beyond those commonly recognized today. He alsoargues that crime is one of the predominant myths of our contemporaryculture.[xvi] Furthermore, he maintains that criminologists, the public,the police, the courts, and the prisons are an integral parts of the myth,insofar as they reify the structure of the myth.[xvii] In his theory of the social reality of crime, Quinney has also arguedthat crime does not exist because of the personal quirks of the offenders,which the traditional views of crime as a violation against the state by anoffender or offender support. 2 2. These acts are not defined as criminal because they work todevelop a capitalist political economy.[xxx]Causal Logic of Conflict Theory Conflict theorists share a deep commitment to transforming traditionaldiscourse and political practice through an alternative scholarship rootedin human action.[xxxi] They believe that the social construction ofmeaning will become vulnerable to change if the assumptions on which it isbased are brought to light.[xxxii] These assumptions are that traditionalcriminology is based on a consensus that is value-neutral andscientifically rational.[xxxiii] Conflict theory maintains that suchassumptions only serve to minimize the alienation and disaffection of manypeople caused by the contradictions of capitalist society, while they maskand support the use of law to maintain the economic advantages of those inpower and the coercive power of the state.[xxxiv] Peter Yeager & Gary Reed performed a study to illustrate theinherently political and subversive nature of corporate culture in acapitalistic society.[xxxv] The results of their study demonstrated thatpersons conventionally socialized when young in the United States to thedominant culture's key values, which they classified as individualism,achievement, responsibility, and justice, are later further socialized toconventional corporate purposes and values such as competition, efficiency,and financial growth.[xxxvi] They discovered that when tensions betweenthe two sets of norms developed, e.g., under conditions of high competitionor financial loss, the individual subjects resolved the tension throughanother set of "adjudicative rules," which were based on the corporation'sculture of values.[xxxvii] Yeager & Reed described these rules as "more criminogenic," in thatthey commonly are created from conventional normative systems in ways thatblinded the offenders to the deviant nature of their own unlawfulchoices.[xxxviii] However, because the actions these adjudicative rulessought to ensure were aligned with the larger goals of a capitalisticsociety, these actions were considered neither criminal nor offensive andthe actors were not defined as criminals.[xxxix] Furthermore, Yeager & Reed noted that many such offenders often deniedany knowledge of the offensiveness of their actions. 4 3. The study of crime shouldinvolve an investigation into these products of the capitalist society.The Social Order Conflict theorists believe the social, economic, and politicalinstitutions should be our reference point when defining crime and criminalacts because life in a capitalist society is a product of that system'seconomic conditions and resulting class structures.
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