Conservative, Liberal and Radical Views of Crime

The Conservative View

•       Conservatism – comes from Latin word conservare which means to "save" or "preserve.”

•        Supports “tradition” and the “status quo.”

•        Prefers the existing order of society.

•        Opposes efforts to bring about rapid or fundamental change

•        Existing economic and political inequalities are justified

•       Belief in the “free market” and limited government intervention

•       Most problems (crime, etc.) caused by individuals or groups of individuals who seem unable to succeed within the overall system

•       They make bad or irrational choices (it is assumed everyone has free will) which in turn put them in problematic circumstances.

•       Best solutions are to cut taxes on the rich and/or corporations which is supposed to give them incentives to create jobs.

•       The use of tax dollars to develop “social programs” or otherwise assist the general public is to be avoided whenever possible.

•       Size of the government should be minimized.

•       Success can be achieved mainly through hard work

•       There is a strong belief in “rugged individualism”

Libertarianism

•          Variation of conservatism  that believes government should be small and should play only the most minimal possible role in social life

•          Oppose government programs for the redistribution of income and other types of intervention to correct the ills of society

•          Often have much in common with liberals, such as their stance on the drug war.

Conservative View of the Family

•          Behind conservatism is a view of the ideal family as a traditional nuclear family with the father in control as the major breadwinner.

–      The society as a whole should operate based on this model of the family.

•          It is a “strict father morality” - based in part upon the belief that in order to become a “good” and “moral” person a child must learn to obey the rules and respect authority. 

•          Proper behavior is taught through the use or threat of punishment. 

•          Within such a system “the exercise of authority is itself moral; that is, it is moral to reward obedience and punish disobedience

•          A system of rewards and punishments has a higher purpose - in order to survive in a dangerous world children must learn discipline and build character.

•          Punishment is the only way to become a self-disciplined and moral person. “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

•          To be successful requires becoming self-disciplined.

•          Rewarding someone who has not earned it by developing self-discipline is immoral. 

•          This is why conservatives are constantly complaining about various forms of welfare, affirmative action, lenient punishments and the like, for they see this as rewarding deviance, laziness, etc.

Good and Evil

•          The world is divided into “good” and “evil” and in order to stand up to evil one must be morally strong

–      one becomes morally strong through a system of rewards and punishments which teaches self-discipline. 

–      A person who is morally weak cannot fight evil. 

–      If one is too self-indulgent he or she is immoral. 

–      Welfare is immoral, as is crime and deviance, and therefore should be punished. 

–      So it logically follows that crime and deviance are the result of moral weakness. 

Authoritarian Personality

•          Close relationship with conservatism

–      A personality type that came from research following WWII

•          Research found close connection between fascism and ethnocentrism, a rigid adherence to rules (and to authority in general), an inability or unwillingness to accept ambiguity, superstition (which is in turn is often linked to deeply religious beliefs), the use of stereotypes and also punitiveness.

–      Also, they found such characteristics as scapegoating and prejudice

Conservative view of crime and justice

•          People commit crime because they think they can get away with it

–      the pleasure they get from committing the crime is greater than the potential pain they would receive if caught and punished

•           This is the deterrence view associated with the Classical School of criminology

•          People refrain from committing crime mostly because of fear of getting caught and punished. 

•          Committing a crime is a rational choice

•          To reduce crime, the pain must be increased so that it is greater than the pleasure received from committing the crime. 

•          In other words, to reduce crime we should increase the odds of getting caught and the severity of punishment.

–      “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”

–      Concerning battered women: “You made your bed, you lie in it.”

The Liberal View

•          Liberalism’s roots are in the Enlightenment of the 18^th century (John Locke and others)

•          These people began to reject many of the prevailing views of the period, such as the “divine right of Kings,” hereditary status, etc.

•          The Declaration of Independence was a liberal document that declared “all men are created equal”

•          Liberals believe that the free enterprise system benefits a small minority, which in turn has created a huge gap in income and wealth

•          People are disadvantaged because of problems with the system of free enterprise

•          Liberals see plenty of flaws in the system and therefore support the use of tax dollars for various social programs in terms of education, work, housing, health concerns and so on.

•          They support greater involvement of the government sponsored and a different use of tax dollars.

•          The goal of government is to provide for the general welfare of society or the “common good.” 

•          This was the philosophy being the “New Deal” created by the Roosevelt administration during the 1930s where tax dollars were spread out much more evenly among the population. 

•          Programs such as Social Security and the G.I. Bill were among the most popular.

Liberal view of crime

•          Liberals see the causes of crime as more complex, stressing both psychological and social/cultural causes

–      People don’t just suddenly choose to commit crime for no apparent reason

•          Crime stems from inequality, racism and sexism

•          Prisons should focus on rehabilitated via education, work and social skill enhancement

Society as a “nurturing parent”

•          Both parents are equally responsible for the moral development of children. 

•          The primary duty of such parents – and by extension the entire society – is to love and nurture their children. 

•          Nurturing includes two important aspects: empathy and responsibility – for both yourself and others.

•          There is a value system that stresses the importance of helping others and being concerned for the well-being of your community and the entire society.

Free markets v. Government regulation

•          Nothing illustrates the differences between liberals and conservatives that their views on the free market.

•          Here’s a cute rap version of the debate over Keynesian economics between Keynes and F. A. Hayek:

–      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk

Two models of criminal justice

•          Two contrasting models of the criminal justice system that reflect the conservative and liberal approaches

–      crime control (conservative)

–      due process (liberal)

crime control model

–      main goal of the criminal justice system is the repression of crime through aggressive law enforcement and harsh punishments.

–      Protecting citizens from crime is more important than protecting the civil liberties of citizens.

–      Prefer that few criminals be set free on so-called technicalities, even at the expense of depriving innocent persons of their constitutional rights.

–      Concerned more with public safety than individual rights.

Due Process model

•          Stresses importance of individual rights

•          Better to let several criminals go free than to falsely imprison an innocent person.

•          Assumes that the CJ process is plagued by human error and that at each stage individual rights need to be safeguarded.

•          Accused should be accorded legal counsel and equitable treatment

•          Discretion of CJ personnel, especially the police, should be limited.

The Radical View

•          AKA, critical, Marxist, etc.

•          The problem of crime stems from the very nature of capitalism. 

–      It is an inherently unequal and immoral system

•          This view begins with the idea that capitalist societies are characterized by conflict – between classes (e.g., labor vs. management), races (black vs. white) and gender.

•          Inequality is created and perpetuated by the capitalist system, largely because profits do not “trickle down” very far.

•          Radicals see the role of government is not neutral but a system that mostly supports the capitalist system and those who benefit from it.

•          Even the liberal Obama administration, according to this view, is trying to save capitalism

•          Same thing happened during the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s with the New Deal

•           Marx was one of the earliest critics of capitalism

•          a system that exploits workers for the benefit of the owners.

The Radical View of crime

•          Crime stems from the inequalities created under capitalism where avenues to achieve success and happiness are blocked because of class and racial inequality

•          Inherent within capitalism are social structures and forces that produce both the greed of the inside trader as well as the brutality of the rapist or the murderer

•          Capitalism shapes all areas of social life and stresses the production and sale of “commodities” – anything can be turned into a commodity, ranging from pencils to people

•          Law of supply and demand is one reason illegal drugs are a huge commodity

•          Crime is a response to capitalism and its contradictions.

•          Workers need to consume the products of the capitalist system, but in order to do this they need to have enough income to do so and thus increase growth in the economy.

•          However, too much growth may cut into profits. One result is the creation of a surplus population - a more or less steady supply of able workers who are permanently unemployed or underemployed (also called the “underclass”).

•          This “surplus population” in turn  commit crimes to survive (crimes of accommodation).

•          There are also many crimes of domination as corporations and their representatives violate numerous laws (fraud, price-fixing, pollution, and so on,) that cause widespread social harms but are virtually ignored by the criminal justice system.

Conservative, Liberal and Radical Views of Madoff and Other Corporate Criminals

•          How would these 3 views interpret such behaviors?

•          In brief, the interpretations might go something like this:

–      from the conservative perspective, these offenders freely chose to commit crime and need to be punished.

–      Does not reflect on the system as a whole.

–      From a liberal perspective, this kind of behavior stems from a culture of greed that tends to be largely ignored by the media and treated lightly by the criminal justice system.

–      From a radical perspective, this behavior is an inevitable outgrowth of capitalism itself and will continue as long as capitalism lives.

What is socialism?

•          One of the most misunderstood terms of today

–      Many conservatives have accused Obama of being a socialist

•          many different definitions, but many different varieties of programs and policies that can be described as more or less “socialistic”

•          One part of the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary definition is

•          collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

•          there are many different publically financed programs that could be called “socialistic” since one aspect of “socialism” (from the common definitions, like above) is having the government (i.e., taxpayers) providing the funds.

Examples of socialism

•          Such as:

–      Police and firefighters

–      Public schools and universities

–      Streets and Highways

–      Social Security

–      Medicare

–      Military

•          New Deal was an example of socialism – one big part of that has been the GI Bill, which was a huge benefit not only to returning GI’s but to American businesses

National Socialism: An Extreme Example

• Began with Nazi movement in Germany
•   Prosecutor in the War Crimes Trials said this:
  • Nazism reflects the belief in a superior Aryan race and the assumption of the right “either to exterminate totally races judged hostile or decadent, or to subjugate or put to use individuals and groups capable of resistance, in the nations…All those who, in any way, may be capable of opposing the New Order and the German hegemony will be liquidated”
•   Still exists: National Socialist Movement in Detroit.
  • The first of their “25 Points of American National Socialism” states as follows: “We demand the union of all Whites into a greater America on the basis of the right of national self-determination.”  The 4^th point states in part: “Only members of the nation may be citizens of the state. Only those of pure White blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation.”
•  Many accuse Obama of being a Nazi or Marxist
  • Tea Party Movement argues that his administration is a form of Nazism (some signs have been seen showing Obama decorated like Hitler)

What is capitalism?

•          Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary:

–      economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital

–      by investments that are determined by private decision

–      by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

•          A publication called Investors Word defines capitalism this way:

–      An economic system characterized by private ownership

–      individuals and companies are allowed to compete for their own economic gain

–      Free  market forces determine the prices of goods and services.

–      This system is based on the premise of separating the state and business activities.

–      Capitalists believe that markets are efficient and should thus function without interference, and the role of the state is to regulate and protect

•          Webster’s World Finance and Investment Dictionary  provides this:

–      An economic and business system that rewards individual effort by giving successful individuals and companies the right to keep the profits from their activities.

–      Most of the land, factories, manufacturing, transportation, and communication systems are privately owned and operated in relatively competitive environments, where businesses and individuals seek to increase their profits.

•          Some very telling words are found within each of these definitions of capitalism

–      “private” (and privately owned) and “their profits” or “their own.”

–      quite the opposite from the use of the word “collective” under socialism.

•          Heilbroner (The Nature and Logic of Capitalism): a unique feature of capitalism is “the restless and insatiable drive to accumulate capital.”

•          can be explained in part by the desire to obtain prestige and distinction among one’s fellow human beings

•          He also says that the possession of capital “confers on its owners the ability to direct and mobilize the activities of society...”

•          wealth itself becomes “a social category inseparable from power.” 

•          And “wealth can only come into existence when the right of access of all members of society to an independent livelihood no longer prevails, so that control over this access becomes of life-giving importance.” 

•          Quoting Adam Smith, Heilbroner gets to the essence of capitalist society, especially in modern American society, namely that: “Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality.  For one rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the rich supposes the indigence of the many