Marxism and Criminology: A History of Criminal Selectivity

• In Event: Exploring Theoretical Explanations of Crime

Abstract

Presentation of my book 'Marxism and Criminology: A History of Criminal Selectivity.' The book rehabilitates the contributions and the methodology of Marx and Engels to analyze crime and punishment through the historical development of capitalism in Europe and in the USA. Though the notion of ‘criminal selectivity,’ I assess the historical and social-economic conditions that underpin the unequal legal treatment and selective prosecution of people based upon class, race, gender, and age. I identify three different modalities of criminal selectivity that have evolved within the capitalist system: “original criminal selectivity” (late 15th to 18th centuries), “disciplinary criminal selectivity” (late 18th to late 20th centuries), and “bulimic criminal selectivity” (late 20th century to the present). In each modality of criminal selectivity, I put forward the concepts of over-criminalization and under-criminalization to show that the criminal justice system has always been selective. Criminal injustice has been an inherent element of the founding and reproduction of a capitalist society. At a time when racial profiling, prosecutorial discretion, and mass incarceration continue to defy easy answers, the book invites us to revisit Marx and Engels’ contributions, identifying socio-economic and historic patterns of crime and punishment in order to foster transformative changes to criminal justice. 

Author

• Valeria E Vegh Weis, New York University