Nature Of Crime Analysis

The statement “Given the nature of Capitalist Societies, crime is rational” reflects a truth because capitalism itself is a crime. It leads to a society where people become violent and greedy, forgetting about morality, only because more money can be made this way. In a capitalist society, crime is generated by inequality because some people earn more money than others and everyone is looking to earn more and more money. Crime can be defined as an action or behaviour that violates the formal written laws and, therefore, needs to be punished. On the other hand, defiance can be defined as a behaviour which does not comply with the dominant norms of a specific society and it can result in negative sanctions such as being told off or ridiculed,

According to Marxist theory, the real criminals are the ones who take advantage of general population to make a profit, not the ones who are behind bars in prison. It suggests that the ruling class of society assumes control over the general population by enforcing laws and norms which must be complied with, otherwise people would be punished. They impose social control using institutions such as church, police, schools, prisons and the justice system. It is argued that petty crimes, such as shoplifting, are committed by people who do not have much power or influence in society, and, therefore, are easily detected because the system focuses more on them and considers them more serious. On the other hand, the so-called “white collar crimes” tend to be ignored because they are committed by powerful and influential members of society. As a result, people are policed based on their social status, the higher it is, less chances are that person will be punished, and the lower it is, the chances increase for someone to be punished because more criminals are expected to arise from a lower social status. Milton Mankoff, Frank Pearce and Laureen Snider are Marxist sociologists who consider that those who own and control the means of production hold the power. The relationship between the members of the lower class and the members of the higher class is reflected by the superstructure. The higher class

There are reality shows or news on TV that inform people about crime. A research revealed that the main source of information about crime in the United Kingdom is the newspaper. The information about crime is not necessarily presented correct. For example, some shows suggest that rapists are all psychopaths, when in fact many people were raped by persons who they knew for a long time or even lived with. The way in which crimes are presented is leading people to fear for their lives and as a result they may end up isolating themselves out of fear that something bad will happen to them. Even if the rate of crimes is falling, because they are broadcasted so much on all mass-media platforms, society has the wrong impression that they are rising. Mass-media has a negative impact over the perception of people because the information that is broadcasted is not entirely true, and people are misled into believing