Radical Criminological Theory Analysis

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In his article Consumer Culture, Criminology, and the Politics of Exclusion, scholar, Stephen Muzzatti (2011) eloquently exclaims, “It seems as though capitalism is a bad word in criminology!” When attempting to identify and describe a criminological theory that points to possessing the most sagacity in regards to addressing crime and its social problems through policymaking; arguably, one would be remiss not to consider those that are of a radical context. Hence, this paper postures the tenets and assertions of Radical criminology and its precursor which is contained within the conflict hypotheses. Radical criminology or theory, much like any other supposition, attempts to explain and gather an understanding of crime, criminal…show more content…
However, from an instrumentalist approach of radical theory, it is argued that laws and social order within our society are produced from the political powers of the state and that such laws and consequently certain behaviors being labeled as criminal in the end benefit the powerful (Lynch and Michalowski, 2012). Alas, this is done at the expense of the oppressed remaining powerless. Quinney (1970) seemingly buttresses this supposition, as he posits that people which occupy segments and enjoy large amounts of power possess the ability to carry out policies in the name of the common good, but really represent their own interest. Thus, as a result of social and economic inequalities coupled with a biased-structured justice system, lower class individuals are essentially induced to participate in criminal behavior particularly those that are of a street nature (Quinney, 1970). It is hypothesized that these behaviors are acted out in a hopeless attempt to survive the inequalities forced upon by upper class groups within a capitalist, hegemonic society (Lynch and Michalowski, 2012). Subsequently, crimes committed by the lower class poor are more heavily focused on than that of the upper class elite due to the imbalance of economic and political control. Hence, it is this disproportionate focus on crimes committed by the poor redirects society’s attention from crimes committed by the ruling class, while the lower class’s crimes are depicted in the media as so-called real crime (Lynch and Michalowski, 2012). Ironically, according to Lynch and Michalowski (2012) crimes committed by the ruling class have been determined to produce an equal or greater amount of socially injurious consequences. Arguably, there is not a better example of exhibiting social inequities as they relate to crime and class, than that
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