NCJ Number
64470
Journal
Questione Criminale Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (JANUARY-APRIL 1977) Pages: 97-133
Date Published
1977
Length
37 pages
Annotation
CRIMINOLOGICAL STRATEGIES FROM A SOCIALIST PERSPECTIVE ARE OFFERED AS REPLACEMENTS FOR THE SIMPLISTIC AND UTOPIAN MARXIST THEORIES ON WHAT CAUSES DEVIANCE IN CAPITALIST SOCIETIES.
Abstract
MARX'S THEORIES ARE TOO NARROW IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO TRACE CRIMINALITY AND INSTITUTIONALIZED CRIMINALIZATION IN CAPITALIST SOCIETIES TO THE EVILS OF THE CAPITALIST PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND THUS IGNORE ALL THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGICAL, POLITICAL, AND CULTURAL COMPLEXITIES INVOLVED. NEVERTHELESS, THE NEW 'CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY,' BASED ON SOCIOLOGICAL, ANTHROPOLOGICAL, CULTURAL, AND PSYCHOANALYTICAL PREMISES IGNORES THE AGGRESSION CAUSED BY THE CONFLICTS AND TENSIONS OF THE CLASS STRUGGLE AS A CRIMINOGENIC ELEMENT. WHILE SOME INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AS ADDITIONAL CRIME CAUSES CAN BE ALLOWED, THE MARXIST DOCTRINE OF ECONOMIC MOTIVATION FOR DEVIANCE SHOULD BE RESTATED. CRIMINOLOGICAL POLICY SHOULD INVOLVE THE PROGRESSIVE ELIMINATION OF ALL CRIMINAL CODES AND PENAL SANCTIONS, EVEN THE ADMITTEDLY WEAK AND NONREPRESSIVE DISPOSITIONS OF CRIMINAL CASES IN THE COURTS (ESPECIALLY ITALIAN COURTS); WITH THIS POLICY VERY FEW DEFENDANTS WOULD EVER RECEIVE PENAL SANCTIONS AND EVEN FEWER WOULD SERVE TIME IN PRISON. STATISTICS SHOW THAT THE PRISON POPULATION IN ITALY IS CONSTANTLY DECREASING, BOTH IN TERMS OF THE GENERAL POPULATION GROWTH AND IN ABSOLUTE TERMS COMPARED WITH FIGURES FOR PREVIOUS YEARS. THE HEIGHTENED CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS OF ITALIAN WORKERS AND THEIR SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR BUILDING THE IDEAL SOCIALIST SOCIETY ARE SUCH THAT STATE CONTROLS AND LAWS ARE BOUND TO DISAPPEAR, BECAUSE THEY WILL BE SUPERFLUOUS, AND DEVIANCE WILL BECOME IMPOSSIBLE. HOWEVER, THE ITALIAN JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENT, WHILE BEING LENIENT WITH SENTENCES, IS STILL THE IDEOLOGICAL APPARATUS OF BOURGEOIS SOCIETY WHICH LABELS AND STIGMATIZES DEVIANT BEHAVIOR TO MAINTAIN AND STRENGTHEN THE STATUS-QUO. PENAL PHILOSPHIES BASED ON REHABILITATION AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF OFFENDERS ARE ALSO BLAMEWORTHY, BECAUSE THEIR AIM IS TO TURN EVERYONE INTO AN OBEDIENT SERVANT OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM ITSELF DOES NOT PROVIDE WORK FOR EVERYONE ACCORDING TO HIS NEEDS, THEREBY CAUSING DEVIANCE AS AN EXPRESSION OF AGGRESSION AND FRUSTRATION IN THOSE WHO ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE SYSTEM'S ECONOMIC REWARDS. SOCIALIST STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH DEVIANCE ARE TOLERATION AND ACCEPTANCE. DEPENALIZATION SHOULD ELIMINATE SANCTIONS FOR ALL BUT A FEW VIOLENT CRIMES, WHICH SHOULD BE CLEARLY DEFINED TOGETHER WITH THEIR MANDATORY DISPOSITIONS BY THE COURTS. COURT TRIALS SHOULD TAKE PLACE OPENLY BEFORE THE PEOPLE INCLUDING THE PRELIMINARY HEARINGS, AND THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM SHOULD HAVE MECHANISMS FOR ALLOWING INPUT AND PARTICIPATION FROM ALL THE PEOPLE. A BIBLIOGRAPY IS APPENDED. --IN ITALIAN. (LGR)