RIGHT REALISM

• What are the causes of crime according to right realism?

  biological masculinity

  Poor socialisation

  Rational choice theory
• what is biological masculinity?

  Wilson and Herrnstein - crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors, these differences make people more aggressive or impulsive. Herrnstein also argued that intelligence is a main cause, which they see as biologically determined
• what is poor socialisation?

  effective socialisation decreases risk of committing a crime, enforces self control and internalises moral values through the nuclear family.
• what does Murrary say about poor socialisation and crime?

  crime rate is increasing because of a growing underclass who fail to socialise their children properly, growing as a result of welfare dependency
• what does Sewell say about socialisation and crime?

  Black boys in fatherless families, lack of socialisation so have perverse loyalty to street gangs
• what is rational choice theory?

  assumes individuals have free will and the power of reason, the decision to commit a crime is a choice based on the rational calculation of the likely consequences. If perceived rewards outweigh costs then they are more likely to offend
• what are the strategies to tackle crime?

  target hardening

  zero tolerance policing

  deterrence based punishment
• what is target hardening?

  the reduction of physical opportunities for offending
• what is zero tolerance policing?

  strict enforcement of laws for low level crime so severe penalties and punishments are in place in order to deter more serious crimes
• what is broken windows theory?

  Theory that maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition may prevent further vandalism and more serious crime as social disorder encourages more crime
• what is deterrence based punishment?

  Harsh punishment so people don’t commit crimes as they are scared of being caught and punished in that way
• Evaluation of Target Hardening

  Chaiken - When the NYC subways were cleaned the crimes went elsewhere, street crimes increased
• what are the five elements of displacement?

  eval of target hardening and broken windows theory

  Target

  spatial

  temporal

  tactics

  functional
• What do right realists favour?

  a get tough stance on crime, an increase in prison. Pulling back the welfare state, strong commitment to law and order
• weakness of zero tolerance?

  may be a myth

  Jock Young argued the crime rate in NYC had already been falling for 9 years before zero tolerance and was also falling in other US states where there was no zero tolerance policies
• El Salvador Prisons

  Very dangerous Gang violence, new president made a ‘mega prison’ in 2022 used deterrence based incarceration with solitary confinement. Zero Tolerance as gang members are immediately incarcerated, others wont risk it.

  Has made country safer