Radical criminology holds that crime is caused by the social and economic forces of society. It states that society "functions" in terms of the general interests of the ruling class rather than "society as a whole" and that while the potential for conflict is always present, it is continually neutralized by the power of a ruling class.
Contents
Given its nature, radical criminology is not well funded by governments and is generally not supported by government policies.
Origins
Radical criminology is based on a variant of Marxism called Instrumental Marxism.
Development
Recently a group of anarchists and abolitionists associated with the Critical Criminology Working Group in the Criminology Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University have advocated an activist, explicitly anti-capitalist and anti-statist radical criminology. In 2012 they launched the journal "Radical Criminology." An outline of a contemporary radical criminology and a call to action was issued in the journal's "Radical Criminology: A Manifesto."