conflicts as property

In an important paper written in 1977, the criminologist Nils Christie gave us the idea of “Conflicts as Property”. The idea was that highly industrialized societies have created a process where conflicts have been taken away by the parties involved (the defendant and the victim) by professionals in law. Christie believes we need a court procedure that allows the original parties to participate in their own conflicts. In order for this to happen, he believes that conflicts have to be dealt with by those directly involved rather than professionals having complete control in handling it. However, the point of this process is to keep harmony within the society by making sure everyone is given a fair, equal and most of all, consistent resolution to a conflict, and to ensure a set of shared values and goals that support social order. And although conflicts seem to have become the property of lawyers, it is the best style of conflict resolution we have. Perhaps by taking Christie’s suggestion such as allowing anyone who wish to participate in their own conflicts, thus adding a little bit of conflict to a society that may need but also keeping the harmony that a consensus style of law provides.
Modern day criminology in ‘highly industrialized societies’ is indeed set up in a way to let those in charge of criminology take control of the conflicts that happen. This is why when Christie suggests “conflicts as property”, he is trying to get across is that conflicts are being taken from the people involved by the professionals in law. This concept is something that is commonly overlooked by the average person because our way of law so that people are distanced from the conflicts society. One might say it is set up this way because majority of people agreed it is the best way to operate and determine what all people in society have in common. However, those who do not agree, like Christie, realize there is an aspect to this process that is not as fair as the