The BOHICA of Critical Criminology
By now, most people understand when any theory originating from the left and beginning with the word “Critical” is proposed, you better buckle up because the ride is about to get bumpy.
In several major cities around America, the left has taken over the law enforcement and prosecutorial functions to the detriment of the citizens of those cities. Crime is on the rise; the hands of law enforcement have been tied and prosecution of crime and criminals is being ignored.
There is a common thread that ties these cities together (other than the backing of George Soros). It is the prevailing belief is that crime is not a function of people breaking the law, it is that the presence of laws creates criminals. In the most basic sense, the idea is that laws are written simply to create criminals, not because they are necessary for a civil society.
The best analogy I can use is that of thinking that a theater filled with an audience is the cause of a play being written, not that the play was written to draw that audience.
There is a sociological theory called “Left Realist Criminology”, an explanatory construct that proposes there are three main reasons for crime:
Relative deprivation: This refers to how someone feels in relation to others or compared with their own expectations. Simple deprivation does not explain the apparent paradox of increasing crime in the context of an increasing wealthy society. Although people are better off today, they have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because of the media and advertising have raised everyone’s expectations for material possessions – we are wealthier, but we feel poorer, and thus there is more pressure to get more stuff to keep up with everyone else, which generates historically high crime rates.
If the left believed in religion, they would recognize this as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, specifically, it is envy.
Subculture: This is the idea there are subcultures which still subscribe to the mainstream values of material wealth but lack legitimate opportunities to achieve those goals, therefore turn to crime as the only process by which those goals can be achieved.
This might be envy, but also could be greed.
Marginalization: This is about people who lack the power, resources or representation needed to fully participate in society, resulting in feelings of isolation, resentment, and frustration. Having no representation, no legitimate political means to pursue their goals, must resort to violence to achieve their goals.
This might be considered wrath.
It would seem Left Realist Criminology is based on several of the Seven Deadly Sins.
But the left eschews religious concepts and substitutes secular humanistic tropes instead. They focus on theories of causes rooted in the mind, when the root cause is a failure of conscience, a defect in the heart.
It probably won’t surprise anyone that this sociological theory, that the victims of working-class street crime are most likely to be the working class, rather than blaming the criminal himself it blames capitalism for the creation of inequalities which lead to the rule breaking capitalist-based societies define as “crime”.
Marxists argue the entire capitalist system is based on the exploitation of the working class by the ruling class, which leads to ever-increasing wealth for one class and ever-increasing poverty for the other. They also argue that while the increase in prosperity and social welfare policies that inevitably follows may address some basic issues, they merely increase inequality even more and as a result, are never able to tackle the underlying structural inequalities in the capitalist system - which are the root cause of crime.
Noted philosopher, alleged pedophile and Frankfurt School adjacent, Michel Foucault, interpreted the these “capitalist” strategies of law enforcement and prosecution as being about surveillance and control rather than real social change which would prevent crime.
In the mind of the left, they are not being "soft on crime", they are actually creating "social justice" by "decriminalizing" being poor. The see the justice system as a weapon of the oppressor, designed to incarcerate and institutionalize racial minorities, the poor and the mentally ill.
To understand how this could be, we must delve into another branch of leftist criminal justice theories and look at the complete insanity of something called Left Idealist Criminology or as it is more commonly known, Critical Criminology.
By now, most people understand when any theory originating from the left and beginning with the word “Critical” is proposed, you better buckle up because the ride is about to get bumpy.
BOHICA (a business acronym for Bend Over, Here It Comes Again).
Critical Criminology owes its basis to Herbert Marcuse and the Frankfurt School’s collectivist idea of Critical Theory.
“Critical” criminologists, rather than seeing crime as a bad thing, see it as a reassuring sign that the perpetual class struggle against inequality continues and that crime might just be “functional” for the needs of society; therefore, crime must no longer be conceived as an evil that must be eradicated, quite the contrary. When the crime rate drops noticeably below the average level, any apparent progress is not due to socioeconomic progress, it is due to a temporary suppression of legitimate class struggle by oppressive forces.
Needless to say, the Leftist Idealists think the Leftist Realists are traitors to the cause.
If we weren’t seeing all of this unfold right before our eyes, we probably would think it is just too nuts to be true.
But it isn’t.
What is remarkable is just how much of our current chaos is rooted in the collectivism of Marx and the Frankfurt School.
The more you know…
Besides Anthony Burgess (author of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE), it is unlikely anyone will ever solve the problem of mankind's depravity.
For years, I have followed the adventures and subsequent imprisonments of that British defender of European values, Tommy Robinson. While his is a special case, even he deplores the effect of prison life on criminals. Prison (without the adjunct therapies of LSD and positive reinforcement) typically leads to recidivism and often to the embrace of Islam.
Personally, I am torn by the "commandments" of the Georgia Guidestones. On the one hand, they all make perfect sense. On the other hand, they can only be achieved by a massive reduction in the world's population and the success of the Bill Gates' Foundation and the World Economic Forum.
As regards the chaos and disregard for laws in America's cities, the Tao has always been able to balance things out after a decade or two. We will likely have a GOP-controlled congress in 2023, but our economy and society will be so damaged in nine months, it is unlikely that the reformers will be able to do more than create more instability. As you said, we should all "buckle up".
I love your use of visual aids. I often feel like society's pencil sharpener.