Beyond Employment - Toward a Radical Solution to the Crime Problem

• NCJ Number: 96825
• Journal: Crime and Social Justice Issue: 21-22 Dated: (1984) Pages: 213-222
• Author(s): R M Bohm
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Full employment under a capitalist mode of production will not solve the crime problem in the United States; what is needed is a radical change to a mode of production that emphasizes cooperation, shared responsibility, and community.

Abstract

Liberals assume there is a direct causal relationship between Liberals assume there is a direct causal relationship between unemployment and much criminal behavior. In contrast, the radicals or Marxists assume that this relationship is spurious and results from the influence of a third factor: the social relations which characterize the capitalist mode of production. These relations are viewed as resting on self-interest, competition, and exploitation. Providing jobs for the unemployed is only a short-range expedient; even though it is helpful to those receiving jobs, it will not have a significant impact on criminal behavior and will not solve the long-range problem of providing an adequate standard of living for the vast majority of the population that will eventually not be needed in the labor force due to automation. Statistics show that most adult criminal offenders are employed at the time they commit crimes. The fundamental basis of most criminal behavior is the unrelenting quest for surplus value and capital, which is characteristic of capitalism. Under capitalism, machines cannot free the entire labor force from the necessity of labor, because human labor is the only source of surplus value. A major assumption of the radical/Marxist position is that machine production has the potential of creating full unemployment, such that it will not be necessary to labor to survive. If human labor is not required for economic survival (economic needs would be met by an equitable distribution of machine-produced goods), then social relations are less likely to be characterized by self-interest, competition, and exploitation. This will in turn reduce the criminogenic social conditions spawned by these characteristics. Footnotes and a list of 27 references are supplied.