The Elite's Role In The Criminal Justice System

One of the main actors with Conflict theory is the “capitalist class” (for some, known as the elite). The elite class includes individuals and/or groups that are seen as figures/symbols of fortune and power; in addition, these people own the means of production or own the forms of accessing it. The second group involved in this system is the working class (also known as the lower classes), which involves the powerless individuals that have no choice but to sell their labor to the higher class in order to make a living and survive in the real world. I like to see this system as the boss and the ones that work for the boss. The elite are able to maintain power over the working class because the higher class is seen as having more power than the
The criminal justice system is theorized to support this “status quo” and, in some ways, intensify. Although both classes can possibly commit acts of deviance or criminal behavior, the way society classifies crime for each class is quite different, due to the corruption of the powerful. A common scenario is that when the elite face crime, they can most likely afford the resources to make it through or have connections within the system that allow them to get away with their acts. An ideal example would be the political machines during the late 19th and early 20th century. During this time, the politicians would be very involved in the way the police worked, to the point that they would refer to each other on a first name basis. A lot of enforcement officers were hired by those political machines through the use of political grafts and kickbacks. By voting for the politicians, they were promised to be put in places of power. Whenever those politicians would commit crimes, they could most probably cover it up with the money they had lying around. The working class did not have this leisure since they had less of a network with those in power and did not have the money to get away with their