The power plays an influential role in the society. The persons with power get to construct who the criminal is, what the crime is and prescribe the punishment for that crime. Additionally, the state established a system of the criminal justice such as court, police, and prison, favours the powerful by enforcing and implementing the laws that are enacted in powerful person’s favour. The criminal justice system, therefore, is an apparatus of social control of the powerful over the powerless for the exploitation to maintain class status according to the Marxist and labelling theory. Particularly, the discussion focuses on who has the power to make laws over whom, what are their interest and values, how does the criminal justice system protects
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Every society has a varied facet of crime and the causality of crime can be complex. However, the Marxist theorist argues that the capitalism is responsible for the crime and deviance in the society (Quinney, 1977). The capitalism is found to be criminogenic, because firstly as Akers & Sellers (2009) argue, the capitalistic emphasis on competition and maximization of profit within the society which produces greedy and egoistic individuals, who prioritize self-interest over the family, community, and societal interest. Secondly, the capitalism encourages unlimited and endless wants in the society as Skoll (2009) contends that the ability to make a conscious choice of being a law-abiding citizen is blinded by the capitalistic goals of success and profitability. For example, smuggling of drugs is considered as lucrative business. Thirdly, the capitalism creates inequity and poverty. The powerful at the top is what Walsh calls the ruling class with all the factors of production, and the powerless working class at the bottom with limited resources (Walsh,
Every society has a varied facet of crime and the causality of crime can be complex. However, the Marxist theorist argues that the capitalism is responsible for the crime and deviance in the society (Quinney, 1977). The capitalism is found to be criminogenic, because firstly as Akers & Sellers (2009) argue, the capitalistic emphasis on competition and maximization of profit within the society which produces greedy and egoistic individuals, who prioritize self-interest over the family, community, and societal interest. Secondly, the capitalism encourages unlimited and endless wants in the society as Skoll (2009) contends that the ability to make a conscious choice of being a law-abiding citizen is blinded by the capitalistic goals of success and profitability. For example, smuggling of drugs is considered as lucrative business. Thirdly, the capitalism creates inequity and poverty. The powerful at the top is what Walsh calls the ruling class with all the factors of production, and the powerless working class at the bottom with limited resources (Walsh,