Conflict Criminology

Conflict criminology: “less radical strains of conflict theory can be traced back to Georg Simmel and George Vold” (page 331) the more radicalized versions of conflict and critical criminology that came to prominence during the 1970’s and early 1980’s generally had their intellectual roots in the thinking of Karl Marx. “conflict criminologist and critical criminologist alike view law as resulting from social conflict. They stress the impact of economic power and social inequality on law formation. “examine the manner in which criminal sanctions are applied primarily to marginalized members of the underclass while pointing out that crimes by the rich and powerful often go unsanctioned.”
Jock young = “The manufacture of news” & “The new criminal
and critical criminology”
“Jack young, the author of “Critical criminology in the twenty-first century” is one of the original, self-styled “critical criminologist”” (351) “Jack young announces that the strategy of radical criminology “is to show up the law… as the instrument of the ruling class” and to demonstrate “that the rule-makers are also the greatest of rule breakers””
Critical criminology: “while it may be exaggerated and sensationalized by the media, crime really is a problem and that the offenders and their victims usually come from the same social class and same ethnic background. It is wrong to portray the criminal as a modern day version of robin hood” “critical criminology I still relevant today, and that its existence is necessary to counter the recent shift towards administrative criminology, psychological criminology, and cognitive behavioral programs.. “main causes of crime are marginalized and economic deprivation, drawing attention to the structural and unemployment and the continued growth of the underclass in capitalist society.
Left realism: ““the production of deviance in capitalist society” is created by the capitalist moe of production, and says that such populations are targeted by the agencies of social control when they steal from the rich or refuse to work for low wages. Essentially the critical criminologist was saying that capitalism was the cause of crime and that if capitalism could be replaced with socialism, crime would be reduced or would disappear altogether.” Critics on this “ignoring the fact that crime also exists in socialist and communist countries, and for failing to recognize that most crimes involves members of the working class victimizing other members of the working class” “romanticised working class crime, whilst taking the position that the only crimes worth talking about were those committees by the rich and powerful” (352). “raising minimum wage, creating meaningful jobs training programs, providing more day care facilities so that single parents can afford to work and giving financial recognition to value of house work, raising children and caring for the elderly’
Critical Criminology:
Critical criminology attempts to understand and give its explanations on the main sources and bases of illegal activities and deviant behavior.
How critical criminology works is by explaining how criminal social conduct is the result of economic and social inequalities, favoritism in the law and the effects of the capitalist system in society. This criminological view decreases the focus on a person’s own individual crimes but it looks heavy upon the existing crime in society as a consequence of the capitalist system affect in the country. In a capitalist system, production and economic wealth become every person focus, it ignores the needs of those who are under privileged while expressing to the public that money is the way to have a successful life thus encouraging criminal conduct in order to gain economic succession. In its opinion, and in the opinions of most critical criminologist, critical criminology believes that the rule of law no longer is equal to everyone but it instead favors the privileged (also known as the upper class) people in society and wretchedly politics and the legal system that governs the society is no longer meant to serve everyone but instead it is used to uphold/preserve the reputation of upper-class citizens. Through a critical criminologist observation, governmental company and corporate settings have continuous sprees of unreported crimes but also when the crimes are noticed by the public since it is the upper-class committing these criminal acts they are not punished as harshly under the law as a underprivileged member of society would have
been.

Start essay:
Over the years, different criminological and sociological experts have tried to determine the origin, causes, and sources of crime. In the earlier years of criminal research, people had first believed that the way a person looked or the shape of their skull could be a key resource in knowing if that person will become a society deviant. But as research continued, it was also clear to see that the environment a person grows up in was the main contributor to if they will commit the crime in the future. When trying to understand why criminals do deviant behavior that is against the society norms, a person can look into the different theory’s that were created in order to explain why people do criminal acts in the first place or why people continue to do deviant actions. Many theories created by sociologists and criminologist give details on how a persons environment and social life is a key factor on why individuals do criminal acts. In this essay by using information’s from the course textbook Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance by Barry Cartwright and peer reviewed articles, it will be explained how conflict criminology, critical criminology, and left realism can be used to explain criminal behavior. This article will also explain some of the criticism towards these criminology theory’s, how the articles by Jock Young and Sally Simpson are representative in the areas of conflict/critical criminology, and if the articles by Jock Young and Sally Simpson offer meaningful insight into the western criminalized society.

Left realism:
Left realism views crime as a serious problem in society but it is also in its belief that crime is mainly an issue to the average to lower class individual who has to live in the conditions that crime presents itself usually in. Left realize and radical theorist has some similarities in how they view crime, both theorists view deviant and criminal behavior as a response to an unfair social order. To a left realist, criminal offenses such as murder and thievery are more serious problems compared to white collar crimes, white collar crimes meaning crime involved with internal affairs such as fraud.