Conflict Theory of Crime (From Constructions of Deviance, P 65-69, 2000, Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, eds. -- See NCJ-184705)

• NCJ Number: 184706
• Author(s): Richard Quinney
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Wadsworth Publishing Co
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper describes the theory of the "social reality of crime," which involves factors that compose crime's social reality, including the application of criminal law, the behavior patterns of those who are defined as criminal, and the construction of an ideology of crime.

Abstract

Under the theory of the social reality of crime, crime is held to be a legal definition of human conduct created by agents of the dominant class in a politically organized society. Thus, definitions of crime are composed of behaviors that conflict with the interests of the dominant class, which has the power to translate its interests into public policy. Definitions of crime are in turn applied by the class that has the power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law. Further, under the theory of the social reality of crime, behavior patterns are structured in relation to definitions of crime; and within this context, people engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal. The probability that persons will develop action patterns with a high potential for being defined as criminal depends on structured opportunities, learning experiences, interpersonal associations and identification, and self-conceptions. An ideology of crime is constructed and diffused by the dominant class to secure its hegemony. The social reality of crime is thus constructed by the formulation and application of definitions of crime, the development of behavior patterns in relation to these definitions, and the construction of an ideology of crime.