6.5.1: Class, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System

 6.5.1: Class, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System 

TRW sold transistors to the federal government to use in its military satellites. 

The transistors failed, and the government had to shut down its satellite program. 

TRW said that the failure was a surprise to them, that it must be due to some unknown defect. U.S. officials then paid TRW millions of dollars to investigate the failure. 

Then a whistle-blower appeared, informing the government that TRW knew the transistors would fail in satellites even before it sold them. The government sued Northrop Grumman Corporation, which had bought TRW, and the corporation was found guilty.

What was the punishment for a crime this serious? 

The failure of these satellites compromised the defense of the United States. 

When the executives of TRW were put on trial, how long were their prison sentences? Actually, these criminals weren’t even put on trial, and not one spent even a night in jail. In this case of white-collar crime, Grumman was fined $325 million. Then—and this is hard to believe—on the same day, the government settled a lawsuit that Grumman had brought against it for $325 million (Drew 2009). Certainly a rare coincidence. 

Contrast this backdoor deal between influential people with what happens to the poor who break the law. 

A poor person who is caught stealing even a $1,000 car can end up serving years in prison. How can a legal system that proudly boasts “justice for all” be so inconsistent?

 According to conflict theory, this question is central to the analysis of crime and the criminal justice system—the police, courts, and prisons that deal with people who are accused of having committed crimes. 

Let’s see what conflict theorists have to say about this.