In a highly stratified society, hypothesize that all crimes are committed upward in social class: the lower committing crimes against someone above them. This is because when the upper class wants something from a lower class, whether property, mating prospects, or the death of someone in the lower class, they will just do it or take it legally: it will not be considered a crime (legally). (It perhaps remains morally a crime.)
Inspired by, if someone wants to commit mass murder, they could unleash powerful weapons on a crowd, or they could legally work in the cigarette industry, or they could work to restrict access to health care. Who chooses to do what?
How true is this model? Obviously there are also many crimes committed within each class as members struggle for promotion and demotion, so the model is not complete. If one class is just slightly higher than another class, we don't see the upper one completely brutalizing the lower one as the model seems to predict.
Assuming true this model of crime, the institutions of crime prevention and criminal justice become quite sinister: maintain the status quo of the class hierarchy.
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