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Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice

NCJ Number
106457
Journal
Criminal Justice Ethics Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter/Spring 1987) Pages: 30-50
Author(s)
J Reiman
Date Published
1987
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This essay tries to determine what criminal justice under capitalism is according to Marxist theory and then reflects on the moral judgments, particularly those about criminal guilt and punishment, that are appropriate in this context.
Abstract
The opening discussion shows that the governing principles of criminal justice are not simply false or illusory, but are more or less faithful reflections of aspects of the capitalist mode of production. The author discusses difficulties in Marxist theorizing, terming them the 'structure versus agency problem' and the 'theory versus empiricism problem.' To understand why Marx called capitalism a system of forced labor, the essay considers the nature of the coercion that Marx discovered in capitalism. A section on Marxist theory of ideology precedes a materialist explanation of criminal law. The latter shows how the Marxist theory of law differs from both legal positivism and legal idealism and thus escapes criticisms leveled against Soviet legal theorist Evgeny Pashukanis. In sum, the Marxist critique of criminal justice does lead to moral condemnation. Capitalist criminal justice wrongly punishes people because their acts are caused by socially conditioned antagonism to their fellows in conjunction with limited and unstable opportunities to satisfy their needs and desires. Second, these people do not deserve punishment because their apparent crimes are reactions against conditions which are, morally speaking, criminal. 57 footnotes.

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