ABSTRACT
Critical criminology can be said to be a perspective where crime is defined in terms of the concept of oppression. Some groups in society – the working class, women, and ethnic minorities – are seen to be the most likely to suffer oppressive social relations based upon class division, sexism and racism. (Hopkins, 2001, p. 173)
Hal Pepinsky (2010) argues that “Drug wars are competitions between rich who are becoming richer and better connected, and as Jeffrey Reiman puts it, the young and poor and people of color who go to one form or another of detention” (p. 120). In other words, critical criminology asserts that there is an inherent bias in favor of the upper or ruling class, and that the state and its legal system exist to advance the interests of the ruling class.
