Cloward and Ohlin argue, that the majority of criminals involved in the drugs trade were unable to succeed within capitalism and were driven to an illegitimate means of obtaining wealth. Cloward and Ohlin further argued that as people were driven into this illegitimate structure they tended to join existing deviant subcultures i.e. the drug subculture as in the case of the drugs trade. The theory does well to explain many crimes of the working class as they are unable to succeed in a society driven by middle class values, however Cloward and Ohlin’s subcultural theory fails to explain the crimes of the powerful whom already have achieved economic wealth through legitimate means. Furthermore the theory
Poverty may mean that crime is the only way that the working class can survive, as crime may e the only way that they can obtain the consumer goods encouraged by the capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes such as theft. However, it isn’t always utilitarian crime that the working class commit as sometimes the alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression which results in non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism and violence. Marxist’s sometimes argue the state and law-making are a cause of crime because they believe that all laws serve the ruling class, most law is based on protecting private property. The crimes of the working class and ethnic minorities are punished harshly while crimes of the powerful go unnoticed. The ruling class also have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests.
Marxist writers such as Chambliss suggest that the majority of the working-classes are exploited by the owners of big businesses and the government. This leads to the creation of laws that appear to benefit the working-class and benefit the ruling classes. Chambliss suggests that this conflict culture that has emerged from capitalism encourages crime. Hegdige said that Capitalist societies lead to greed within the ruling classed and the lower classes rebell against this system as they are in poverty so steal to get money. Snider argues that the effects of robberies and petty theft are much smaller than the losses created by big businesses engaging in corporate crimes.
Such pervasive corruption denigrates and demoralizes all law enforcers and causes disrespect for law among citizens.The distractive effects of the drug war on law enforcement indirectly but profoundly encourage crime. In many cities, half or more of arrests are for drugs or related crimes, expending police resources and energy that might otherwise be available for domestic violence, fraud and other serious offenses. As a consequence, all criminals have a much better chance of escaping detection and punishment than if drugs were legal. (Duke, Steven B. Dec. 1993). The drug war also deeply undercuts the role of incarceration in dealing with people convicted of such serious crimes as child molesting, rape, kidnaping and homicide.
One aspect that was said to have pushed them away from the education system and towards these gangs was because they had middle class standards and values and these boys were unable to live up to the high expectations of these teachers. Therefore, sociologists believe that to some extent, this is one of the key points which can easily cause crime in society. The opportunity structure is where sociologists have explained that crime is determined in the level of legal and illegal opportunities available to
Set A: What is the significance of the series title Unnatural Causes? People don’t often see the correlation between racism, poverty, and inequality when these types of things greatly impact the income of many lives. It has been researched that poverty is one of the most consistent predictors of depression because it creates stress while attack other sources of social support. Many ethnic minority groups are trapped in poverty due to racism. It exists in ways such as employment and education.
When the judiciary prescribed the sentence to a felon and it is over, shouldn’t that be enough? Socially unacceptable crimes of felony are disregarded by many and the convicts are believed not fit to live with human population. How then should such offenders be allowed to participate on social
2. For each social group, list the way it used power or suffered powerlessness. The upper and ruling class used power to make them superior to theses who they thought were beneath them, who were the middle class but note specifically the poor. They made they poor and middle class pay taxes to them which in turn made the upper class wealthy. The poor suffered powerlessness because they were poor, therefore they were placed at the bottom of the social ladder.
People commit robbery because they cannot afford something due to lack of jobs. Property crimes are the most committed crimes since the economy has gone bad. (Rosenfeld) The majority of crimes go down when the economy goes down but property crimes are the major crime committed with the economy downfall. One of the reasons property crimes is the most popular when the economy is down is because the criminal sales the items to get money
Some of the current sources of stress for the criminal justice professional are, long hours and not enough family time with loved ones. I do believe that the agencies provide adequate assistance with managing occupational stressors; they are just not explored and used enough by the individuals that need them. I believe the politics of corruption exists within the field of criminal justice. I say that because it seems that if you are wealthy strings can be pulled for you and u can afford the best lawyers, and u could be guilty but you will get off because you or your family are well off. On the other hand there that middle class of poor that knows nothing about the system or doesn’t have the resources to get a good lawyer they are screwed completely ruin your life and affecting some people around you.