NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY

LL.M. COURSE FIRST TRIMESTER

TEACHING ASSIGNMENT ON CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

 CLASSICAL MARXISM – INVOLVING KARL MARX, FRIEDRICH ENGELS ON STATE,

LAW, AND CRIME
 GABRIEL TARDE- SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Submitted to Submitted by

Prof. (Dr.) P.K. SHUKLA SANKALP YADAV

2016-LLM 20 I Trimester
 Table of contents
I. Prologue

II. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on state , law and crime

 Understanding Marxist ideology

 Crime in Marxist perspective
 Nexus between state, law and crime
 Repression and misuse of power by capitalist class
 Quest for a classless and crimeless society
 Friedrich Engles on state and crime
 Criticism of Marxist approach to crime

III. Gabriel Tarde – Social Psychology

 A General introduction
 Causes of crime
 Law of imitation
 Law of close contact
 Law of insertion
 Classification of criminals
 Criticism of Lombrosso
 Theory of moral responsibility
 Prologue – understanding criminological theory

Before going through any criminological theory it is important to frame some basic issues which give us a
better idea to understand the causes of crime and deviant behavior, what influences, motivates, incites or say
compels a person to commit a crime thus it is important to independently think various factors of occurrence
of crime in our society through which we can get a better understanding of problem of crime in a given
society.
Most of the criminologist raised primary questions and tried to explain the root causes of a crime,

 Why do individuals commit crime?

 Why do some communities and certain group of populations have higher rates of crime compared to
others?
 What are the factors that cause crime?
 How to get rid of crime in a society?

Various criminologists tried to explain and establish these issues in their respective theories some
through sociological perspective, some psychological, some biological and many other conceptions of
crime.
 GABRIEL TARDE – SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

A General introduction

Gabriel tarde propounded the criminal behavior theory of social psychology, he made lasting contributions
to criminal and penal philosophy, his major emphasis was on social origins of crime , he vehemently
criticized Lombroso's theory of anthropological criminology, Tarde's criminological theories are found in
two of his books: La Criminalite comparee (1886) and La Philosophie penale (1890) in which he put upon
the expression of the view that social factors should be emphasized in studying the criminal instead of the
physical and other characteristics of the offender.
Tarde claimed that social environment played a significant role in molding criminal behavior. Tarde held
that elite (ideal society) was needed to govern society, keeping the balance between innovative ideas and
traditional cultural patterns. Crime and social deviance arise when this elite starts to disintegrate. The
process is further amplified when the elite come in touch with deviant subcultures through migrations and
other forms of social mobility.
Tarde devised a theory of "imitation and suggestion," through which he tried to explain criminal behavior.
He believed that the origins of deviance were similar to the origins of fads and fashions, and that his “three
laws of imitation” can explain why people engage in crime.

Causes of crime
Tarde examined the prevailing theories of crime causation and rejected the biological and physical ones as
inadequate. After a thorough consideration of all the aspects, he arrived at his own theory, the simultaneous
study of sociology and psychology. He concluded that crime has predominantly social origins.Tarde
conceded that biological and physical factors might play a part in creating a criminal, but by his analysis of
crime in parts of Europe and by citations from other specialists, he showed that the influence of the social
environment was most significant in moulding criminal behaviour. The importance of the social
environment in producing criminals was emphasized by Tarde. Tarde recognized that both the element of
individual choice and the factor of chance operate in a criminal career. It is difficult to ascertain which of
these he considered the more important. While he insisted that choice operates in every career and that the
moral responsibility for each person's acts rests upon that basis, he realized that the slums, the underworld
and even the prisons themselves condition the criminal to a life of crime.
Tarde's conception of the criminal as a professional type is of particular interest. He saw murderers,
pickpockets, swindlers and thieves as individuals who had gone through a long period of apprenticeship, just
as doctors, lawyers, farmers or skilled workmen. It was that the accident of birth placed them in an
atmosphere of crime. Without any natural predisposition on their part, their fate was often decided by the
influence of their atmosphere or company.

Tarde's explanation of crime was simply the application of the general laws governing social relations, as he
conceived them, to the phenomena of crime.
 Law of imitation
The laws of imitation which apply in crime as well as in all other aspects of social life are basic to Tarde's
theories. In his studies of criminal behaviour, Tarde note three types of repetitive patterns. This led him to
formulate three laws of imitation. The first and most obvious law is that men imitate one another in
proportion as they are in close contact. In crowds or cities where contact is close and life is active
And exciting, imitation is most frequent and changes often. In crowds or cities where contact is close and
life is active and exciting, imitation is most frequent and changes often. Tarde defined this phenomenon
As fashion. In stable groups, family and country, where contact is less close and activity is less, there is less
imitation and it seldom changes. Tarde defined this phenomenon as custom. To a greater and less degree, the
two forms of imitation, fashion and custom, operate in every society and in certain irregular rhythms.
Fashion spreads a certain action, which eventually becomes rooted as a custom; but custom is subsequently
uprooted by a new fashion which in its turn becomes a custom.

Law of close contact

The second law concerns the direction in which imitations are spread. Usually the superior is imitated by the
inferior. Like drunkenness, vagabondage, means of murder etc. the law of imitation of superiors by
inferiors—explains that the poor or the young imitate the rich or the more experienced, and that crimes
among the poor are in fact their attempts to imitate wealthy, high-status people.

The law of close contact explains that people have a greater tendency to imitate the fashions or behaviors of
those around them. If one is constantly surrounded by deviant behavior, one is more likely to imitate that
type of behavior than any other, of which that person knows little. Direct contact with deviance fosters more
deviance. Tarde believed that as society becomes denser, people will start to imitate each other more. He
suggested that the mass media played a key role in the proliferation of crime, as criminals copied each
other‟s style, which they learned about through the media.

Law of insertion
The last law of imitation Tarde called the law of insertion. When two mutually exclusive fashions come
together, one can be substituted for the other. When this happens, there is a decline in the older method and
an increase in the newer method. An example of this would be murder by knifing and murder by the gun.
Tarde found that the former method had decreased while the latter had increased. He noted exceptions in
special cases. If the new fashion increased a demand for the activity, there might be an increase in both. It
says that new behaviors are superimposed on old ones and subsequently either reinforce or extinguish
previous behavior. For example, if criminals start to use a new type of weapon, they will not use the old one
anymore.
Tarde‟s three laws of imitation had an enormous impact on the study of deviance and social control.
 Classification of criminals

Tarde applied his theories in a logical fashion to the classification of criminals, he suggested classification
on psychological basis which provides for both social and psychological aspects, he comparatively analysed
prevailing crime rates in rural and urban areas and thus came to his classification of criminals on basis of
Rural & urban livelihood, he found that in urban crime there had been "a slow substitution of greedy, crafty
and voluptuous violence for the vindictive and brutal violence found in the country."' City crime was more
often acts of burglary, fraud, and swindling while the country crime was violent and brutal murder or assault

Criticism of Lombroso
Tarde opposed the extreme biological causation ideas of Cesare Lombroso and his school of Positivist
Criminology. Lombroso claimed that criminality was inherited, and that biological predispositions lead one
to become a criminal. Tarde, on the other hand, claimed that environment played a significant role in
criminal behavior.

Theory of moral responsibility

The crux of penal philosophy, according to Tarde, is the problem of moral responsibility. „Again one finds
the blend of psychology and sociology so characteristic of Tarde. He considered two factors essential to
determine the responsibility of the criminal. The first, individual identity is the concept of the self, and
memory is the most important aspect of the self in relation to responsibility. Each person has some memory
of his moral training and social obligations. This makes each person responsible for his acts. But, if memory
is impaired, a person is not responsible for his crime. A person during an epileptic fit, hypnotized, suffering
from a loss of memory or from a severe mental illness would not be held responsible for his acts because his
Memory is distorted.

Critical analysis of Tarde theory

 Tarde failed to relate and include traditions, ideals, customs, morals and standards which are also of equal
importance in shaping criminal behaviour are commonly accepted by groups in society
 Tarde also neglected to analyze the influence of special human motives, particularly the economic motive to
commit a crime
 He also ignored the existing reality prevailing in a society which can be considered as major cause of crime
which includes class division, war, and deviant behaviour prevailing in certain groups
CLASSICAL MARXISM – INVOLVING KARL MARX, FRIEDRICH ENGELS ON STATE, LAW,
AND CRIME

“The history of all hitherto existing human society is the history of class struggles.”

Understanding Marxist ideology

The basic principle of Marxist ideology is Opposition to an economic system based on inequality and on the
alienation and exploitation of the majority, i.e. a system whose purpose is to obtain profits for some people
rather than satisfying the needs of all

The recognition of the existence of social classes that divide men and women into distinct segments of the
population; the recognition of the profound inequalities and injustices that separate these classes; and the
recognition that as long as society is divided into classes, there will be conflicts between these classes

The classical Marxist theory revolves around the class struggle between rich and poor or in terms of Marx
between bourgeoisie and proletariat, he condemns Western capitalist society as an unjust divide between two
classes: the ruling bourgeoisie who own the means of production (the capitalists), and the proletariat, the
poor masses with nothing to offer but their own labour. Because the bourgeoisie control the means of
production, they control the political state and thus their position of power over the proletariat is
perpetuated. This system leaves the proletariat oppressed, with no power whatsoever to alleviate their
situation. In the words of Karl Marx, “There must be something rotten in the very core of a social system
which increases its wealth without diminishing its misery,” According to Marxist theory, the bourgeoisie
will remain in power unjustly oppressing the proletariat until the poor masses cooperate with one another to
violently overthrow the capitalist government and economy and replace it with a classless, socialist system.

Understanding crime in Marxist perspective

Although crime was not a central interest for Marx and Engels, they didn‟t propose a full blown theory of
crime/criminology. They did discuss crime and punishment in some of their writings centered upon the
question establishing relation that how crime relates to power structure of the society.

The Marxist approach to crime centers on this class struggle between the rich and the poor. Because the
capitalists control the political state, they also control the criminal justice system. The system appears to
serve the interests of the larger section of society i.e. working class, but it is in reality used against them by
the ruling class From Marxist perspective crime is largely a product of capitalism and relatively high rate of
crime in capitalist society is an indicator of contradiction and problems that are inherent in such a system

Basic motivations of capitalist society such as materialism and self enrichment can be pursued by them
legally as well as illegally
 In relation to crime one crucial question for Marxists is not why does crime occur but rather why doesn‟t it
occur more often?

 Marx and Engels insisted on study of unequal distribution of property, resources and wealth in a society and
institutions of state and la w and doctrines that emerge from them, serve the interest of dominant economic
class.
 For them crime is not the defect of morality or biology, but rather defect of society and product of
demoralization and alienation caused by horrible conditions of industrial capitalism.
 Crime is inevitable in a society where man is just considered as a commodity and nothing more , and masses
are involved just to fulfill the aspirations of industrialists, law is created to safeguard their purposes , protect
their interest and just befooling the poor and subverting them to ashes , it‟s a tool of oppression used as a
instrument to perpetuate social inequality, yes, those in power , those having wealth will always wish for this
inequality which will help them to prosper day by day .
 Karl Marx tried to propound his theory from another perspective in which he have thoroughly discussed
wide variety of social ills prevailing in society at that time from poverty to racism, suicide, drug abuse, and
gross inequality prevailing in society, and all this ultimately stemming from capitalism.

Nexus between state, law and crime

 The economic system characterized by private ownership of economic goods and that allows individuals to
freely pursue business, exchange of goods and services for monetary gain.
 Thus it is capitalism which provides for which provides for unequal distribution of wealth and resources,
which gives rise to various social classes or groupings of people based on the economic status in society.
 Poverty is a consequence of capitalism because upper classes which possess most of the wealth and political
power take advantage of lower class making profit from exploitation of their labor and thus keep them at
bottom in society/ class system.
 A conflict for economic resources exists between various social classes as a result of such inequality in a
capitalist society. The consequence is thus that those with economic and political power control the legal
definition of crime i.e. Those with power control everything in a state and also criminal justice system, and
also the way in criminal justice system enforces the law, and thus they uses whole governmental machinery
according to their utility and suitability which ultimately fulfills their motives.
 Predatory street crimes such as robbery and burglary are largely committed by members of the lower the
economic classes as a result of their poverty, (which are committed at large scale in inordinate/unequal
capitalist society.
 And this is an inevitable outcome in capitalist societies, since it is the logical behavior of people who are
subject to continuous exploitation over time, and are brutalized by dire economic conditions of poverty and
unemployment which gives rise to hunger, diseases and other livelihood problems.

 the theme dominating Marxist criminology is the “contention that criminal legislation is determined not by
moral consensus or the common interests of the entire society, but by the relative power of groups
 determined to use the criminal law to advance their own special interests or to impose their moral
preferences on others,” For Marxists then, the cause of crime is dictated by social forces, namely capitalism,
and thus remains beyond the control of individuals.
 There are many examples where we can see that a particular section or group of people in engaged in a
particular kind of crime, which becomes necessary for them for their survival.

Crime of domination, repression and misuse of law by capitalist power structure

According to Marx, Law is the mechanism by which the ruling class keeps all the other classes in a deprived
position. Marxist criminology focuses on the reason for the change of things, identifying the disruptive
forces in industrialized societies, and describing how society is fractioned by power, wealth, prestige, and
the perceptions of the world. It also focuses on the causal relationships between immediate and structural
social environment with the crime and criminogenic conditions. Marxist criminology explains why some
acts are outlined as deviant whereas others are not, and it is more concerned with political crime, state crime,
and state-corporate crime.
We have seen that many capitalists engage in crime for their benefit like fraud, tax evasion, corruption
across various governmental agencies, price fixing, environmental pollution, various white collar crime,
oppression of poor through various means and contributing to social injustices like sexism, racism, and
economic exploitation, members of privileged groups often escape punishment, or suffer less severe
punishment.
Thus we can say that crime is either directly or indirectly produced by inequalities of capitalism.

Friedrich Engels on state and crime

Friedrich Engels was among the first to thoroughly discuss the problem of crime from working class
perspective, he drew attention from the fact that criminal law expressed the legitimized form of state control
and produced an apparatus for controlling the working class. He focused attention on the idea that criminal
law was an effort to control the moral deprivations of working class , it was necessary to control the moral
deprivations to restrict working class behaviours that undermined the logic of capitalism and the proper role
of working class in capitalist society.

Criminal law has nothing to say about moral deprivations of wealthy and powerful (capitalist) kinds
of acts like theft, sabotage, vandalism in workplace are considered as crime or restricted in criminal law but
when a capitalist forces a (labour) working class person to work for 18 hours a day, crates a dangerous
condition for work that puts life and limb of a labour in danger

Present-day society, which breeds hostility between the individual man and everyone else, thus
produces a social war of all against all which inevitably in individual cases, notably among uneducated
people, assumes a brutal, barbarously violent form—that of crime. In order to protect itself against crime,
against direct acts of violence, society requires an extensive, complicated system of administrative and
judicial bodies which requires an immense labour force.
 Quest for a classless and crimeless society

As per the Marxist theory the only solution to problem of crime is to achieve equality by creation of a
classless society and this would only be possible when the basic tenets of Marxist ideology will be
implemented in a nation state, Marx made many suggestions for achieving equality in a society, which
involves

*Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of lands for public purposes
*A heavy progressive or graduated income tax
*Abolition of all rights of inheritance
*Centralization of credit in the hands of the state
*Extension of factories and instruments of production by the state
*Equal liability of all to labor
*Free education for all children in public schools.

Critical analysis of Marxist approach to crime

 Ignores individual motivation for crime; concentrates on nature of capitalism and how economic factors
'force' people to act in certain ways. Perceptions, ideas and motivations are rarely discussed.
 Not all laws benefit upper class, many come from genuine agreement. Marxists reject this; laws that seem to
benefit everyone are useful ultimately to upper class. By providing a few laws that are of use to everyone,
they hide their real nature.
 Societies, which call themselves Marxist, have equal crime rate to capitalist ones, yet in Marxist society,
there should be no crime.
 Marxist theory of criminology is only limited to focus on condemnation of western political system and a
call for revolutionary uproot to overthrow the government , he didn‟t in clear term propounded any
criminological theory with implication to present criminal justice system , although it enhances the
understanding of crime and covers a much wider concept of modern world and major causes or factors that
makes a person to behave in a deviant manner, his theory is much relevant in understanding the socio-
economic and class factor as major contributor of crime.

References

 Criminological theories – Imogene L. Moyer

 Crime And Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology - David F. Greenberg
 Davis, Michael M. Gabriel Tarde, an Essay in Sociological Theory. New York: Davis. 1906.
 Class, Race, Gender, and Crime: The social Realities of Justice by Door Gregg Barak
 Pioneers in Criminology - Gabriel Tarde Margaret S. Wilson
 Web link- https://www.jstor.org THE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF GABRIEL. TARDE