preview

The Main Tenets And Assumptions Of Critical Criminology

Decent Essays
Open Document
A theoretical perspective in the field of criminology that addresses power differentials, inequalities and hierarchies as the explanations of crime is known as critical criminology. In the making and enforcement of law, critical theoretical perspectives are helpful in the reduction of crime by reducing the social, economical and political disparities in a social agency. Critical criminology actually provides a huge framework for the discussion of many other approaches followed in criminology like conflict theory, post-modernism and peacemaking criminology etc.
The key tenets and assumptions of critical criminology include:
1. Human actions are not determined but voluntaristic in nature.
2. Social order is based on conflicts between different classes of society.
3. The panic like crime is being out of controls usually created to deflect the attention of society from other conflicts.
4. State crimes and the white collar crimes cannot be controlled by orthodox crime control strategies.
5. Overt and Covert Coercion maintains apparent consensus in society.
Crime in the light of critical criminology is an obvious outcome of disparities established in a system. Capitalist economic policies result in economic misery among powerless class in society and certain conditions are created in which adapting the criminal behaviors become the only possible survival strategy. Critical criminology follows the Marxist approach in stating that criminal laws are based on the interests of
Get Access
Related
Get Access