This is a reflection after reading Kraska and Brent, as well as a contemplation of the explanations given in the book, along with my thoughts. In Theorizing Criminal Justice, Kraska and Brent go on to discuss Criminal Justice as Oppression. This orientation goes on to present what oppression is and what it looks like. Because of oppression there are inequalities in our economic and culture standings. In short, the bias of what class and culture each individual comes from has an effect on your place in society and the criminal justice system. 

The Oppressed.

The oppressed are the disadvantaged and less powerful in society. The term oppression is the unjust or excessive abuse of power from authority. Oppression focuses on class, race, and gender bias. We can refer to the conflict model for the history for criminal justice as oppression. The “conflict model held that society was best characterized by the existence of conflict: criminal laws and the way in which they were administered resulted from power struggles between competing groups and opposing interest (Kraska).”

There are two different theories rooted in conflict tradition: pluralist and radical theory. Pluralist theory means that society is comprised of many groups and interests with a common struggle for power and influence over processes of defining crime. Radical conflict theory views all conflict rooted from economics because class creates a societal belief of privileged elite creating high levels of inequality.

An example of how the oppressive apparatus regulates, controls, and destabilizes the marginalized is by “wearing the mask of safety (Kraska).” The mask of safety is what is presented to society to show that the criminal justice system acts to break up safe and secure threats of mass movements and rebellions fueled by internal class and race conflict.

An example of this “mask” could be any one of the number of Black Lives Matter protests that were held after the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. George Floyd was a victim of police brutality resulting in his death. The officer, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck about eight minutes. “Video investigation shows that Mr. Chauvin did not remove his knee even after Mr. Floyd lost consciousness and for a full minute and 20 seconds after paramedics arrived at the scene (“How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody (Published 2020),” 2021).” After this horrific and saddening death many protests were held to seek justice for George Floyd and many others who have died at the hand of police brutality. Officers arrested over 10,000 people around the US at the time of the protests, as police regularly used pepper spray, rubber bullets, teargas and batons (Sainato, 2020).” 

Conclusion.

In conclusion criminal justice as oppression is very expansive. It does not only effect race but it also effects gender and class. Not everyone is properly represented in our justice system and it may be because of the people who hold important positions. There are those who are disproportionately facing inequalities such as someone who is poor, an ethic minority, and a woman. This would be an example of a triple disadvantage that needs assistance. The system should eventually get to assisting the disadvantaged however, “Recurring patterns of discrimination and ill treatment in how crime is defined and how laws are enforced emanate from the social and power relations of gender, class, and race (Kraska).” Although the criminal justice system is growing and learning from research there are still underlining issues that need to be addressed.