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10.3: Conflict Theory and the Racial Politics of Crime

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    324935
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    Conflict theory offers perhaps the most directly relevant framework for understanding the racial dimensions of crime and punishment. Building on Marxist foundations, conflict theorists argue that laws and their enforcement reflect and reinforce existing power imbalances within society, serving the interests of dominant groups while controlling subordinate populations. In contemporary American society, this manifests through criminal justice policies that disproportionately target communities of color while often overlooking or leniently addressing harmful behaviors committed by more powerful social actors.

    Sociologist C. Wright Mills’ concept of the power elite illuminates how those in positions of authority shape legal definitions and enforcement priorities to protect their interests. The historical criminalization of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine provides a compelling illustration of how class and racial biases become embedded in law. During the 1980s and 1990s, federal sentencing guidelines established a 100:1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses, meaning possession of just 5 grams of crack (more common in poor urban communities of color) triggered the same mandatory minimum sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine (more common among affluent White users). Although this disparity was reduced to 18:1 through the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, the legacy of these racially discriminatory policies continues to affect incarcerated populations today.


    10.3: Conflict Theory and the Racial Politics of Crime is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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