The theory emphasizes how crime is a process by which powerful people discipline and punish the less powerful. Rich and powerful people are the ones in society who decide what a crime is and the sentence it deserves while marginalized groups get no say in it. The theory also claims that the crimes committed by the proletariat could therefore be seen as acts of war against the bourgeoisie and should therefore be considered political crimes.
Conflict theory could easily be used to explain the American phenomenon that is mass incarceration. Mass incarceration has mostly affected marginalized communities such as Black and Latino people. People of colour are more likely to be arrested because of a drug crime even though White People