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Marxism and Criminology
Winner of the 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award
In Marxism and A History of Criminal Selectivity , Valeria Vegh Weis rehabilitates the contributions and the methodology of Marx and Engels to analyze crime and punishment through the historical development of capitalism (15th Century to the present) in Europe and in the United States. The author puts forward the concepts of over-criminalization and under-criminalization to show that the criminal justice system has always been selective. Criminal injustice, the book argues, 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, Vegh Weis invites us to revisit Marx and Engels' contributions to identify socio-economic and historic patterns of crime and punishment in order to foster transformative changes to criminal justice. The book includes a Foreword by Professor Roger Matthews of Kent University, and an Afterword written by Professor Jonathan Simon of the University of California, Berkeley.
In Marxism and A History of Criminal Selectivity , Valeria Vegh Weis rehabilitates the contributions and the methodology of Marx and Engels to analyze crime and punishment through the historical development of capitalism (15th Century to the present) in Europe and in the United States. The author puts forward the concepts of over-criminalization and under-criminalization to show that the criminal justice system has always been selective. Criminal injustice, the book argues, 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, Vegh Weis invites us to revisit Marx and Engels' contributions to identify socio-economic and historic patterns of crime and punishment in order to foster transformative changes to criminal justice. The book includes a Foreword by Professor Roger Matthews of Kent University, and an Afterword written by Professor Jonathan Simon of the University of California, Berkeley.
- GenresLaw
368 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2017
62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2025
this book is a thorough material analysis of the historical development of crime as a construct in capitalist society. it's a good entry into critial criminology, because it builds a very comprehensive foundation. beginning with primitive accumulation in the 15. century it traces the specific needs of the developing capitalist system for specific punishment of the working class. next to critically analyzing the socio-economic links between crime control and social control it also analyzes the narratives that justified crime control in every stage of capitalist development. it closes with the powerful statement that the abolition of crime is only possible with the abolition of a crimogenic system of domintation and control. great, mind-shifting read!
September 19, 2022
Definitely a worthwhile take on some current criminological theories through a Marxist lens. Good reference material as well.
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March 9, 2018364.01 V4229 2017
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews