emerged as a response to right realism, believe the solution to crime is to do with the root cause. Developed by Lea and Young
What are the causes of crime according to left realists
relative deprivation, marginalisation and sub cultural formation.
What is relative deprivation
Runciman (1966) believes the concept of relative deprivation, refers to how deprived someone feels in relation to others and their own expectations. This leads to crime when people resent unfairly meaning they have to resort to crime to obtain what they believe they are entitled to
Marginalisation
marginalised groups lack clear goals and organisation which represent them. For example workers have clear goals (better pay and working conditions) and therefore have a motivation however unemployed youths lack clear motivation and are unrepresented causing frustration.
Subculture
Different groups may produce different subcultures or reactions and therefore solutions. Some subcultures turn to crime to close the deprivation gap. Other groups may turn to religion for hope and comfort
Crime prevention according to Left realists
- aim to remove conditions that predispose people to crime in the first place - often rooted in poverty, unemployment, poor housing.
- examples: building relationships with police and more public involvement in communities. multi-agency approaches eg. social workers
Evaluations
- takes blame away from offender and onto society
- some argue not everyone with relativedeprivation turn to crime
