Critical Analysis Of Nils Christie Conflict of Property
Laws 1000 A (A01)
Professor: Sebastien Malette
TA: Erick Laming
October 22nd 2014
Bibliography
Christie Nils, "Conflicts As Property" (1977) 17 Brit J Crim 1
Millford Trevor, “Crime And Media” (October 10th 2014) CRCJ 1000-Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice. Carleton University, Ottawa
Nils Christies’ Conflicts as Property brings up a lot of different views on how crime and law has evolved throughout history. The main idea that is portrayed is how conflict has changed from an interpersonal matter to a matter of the criminal against the society as a whole.1 The author also argues that the concentration of these cases have shifted immensely from the victim to the criminal.2 I agree with the views that were presented by Christie is this article because it is evident through modern media and strengthened by his examples that the focus has really shifted from victim to perpetrator and also that the idea of crime has shifted from the business of the individuals involved to the business of other people such as lawyers.
In the beginning of the article, Christie argues that the idea of the conflict between two individuals has changed immensely. It has changed from being between two people to something that is between a certain party and the state. 3 Christie even states, “The victim, is so thoroughly represented that she or he for most of the proceedings is pushed completely out of the arena.”4 This quote shows how even though the victim may be present in the court at the preceding they may be pushed out and even ignored to favor their representatives. Therefor these victims lose their right to fight for what they believe and to attempt to give their point of view to the court to be considered. If you look at it empirically the idea of conflict has shifted immensely from interpersonal to the idea of the...