Marxist Criminology Abolishes Lombroso, Marxist Criminology Abolishes Itself

• In Event: Abolish Criminology: Book Panel and Discussion

Abstract

Only a few years after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the nascent fields within the social sciences began to fall into official disfavor with the leadership of the newly-established Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR); any academic disciplines that did not employ acceptably Marxist-Leninist frameworks were disbarred. Criminology was among these disciplines. This case study of the implementation of Soviet Marxist-Leninist criminology from the early years of Bolshevik Russia through the reign of Josef Stalin offers concrete grounds on which to test the utility of the theories of Marxist criminology. Ultimately, a side-by-side analysis of theory and historical trajectory reveals the degree to which Marxist criminology, activated by a Marxist-Leninist state, led not to a decrease or disappearance of crime, but a surge, as well as unchecked abuses of power and, eventually, the destruction of the field of criminology itself. The aim of this paper is to deconstruct Marxist criminology by observing Marxist criminology deconstruct itself.

Author

• Erin K. Krafft, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth