Left Realist Perspective

• How does Left Realist try to address the issue of TNC over-romanticising WC criminals as 'Robin Hoods'?


  By accepting OCs + conducting victimisation surveys
• What 3 factors did Lea & Young suggest caused crime?

  1. Relative deprivation
  2. Marginalisation
  3. Subcultures
• Who developed the 'Square of Crime'?

  Matthews & Young
• What is the Square of Crime (by Matthews & Young)?

  4 factors that need to be considered to explain crime

  1. CJS
  2. Criminal offender
  3. Vic. of crime
  4. Gen. pub.
• What are the 4 factors that make up the Square of Crime?

  1. CJS - how law enforcement responds to crime; over-/under- policing
  2. Criminal offenders - some commit crime due to frustration w/ social conditions; r. deprivation/subcultures
  3. General Public - media makes moral panics + stereotypes, communities can socially control informally
  4. Victim of crime - the impact of crime on WC/ e. min groups
• What did Young mean when he said we lived in a 'Bulimic Society'?

  • Most deprived in society are obsessed w/ materialism + consumption but systemically excluded from it's realisation ➡️ this craving leads to CRIME
• +VE AO3:

  • Acknowledges crime as a genuine problem
  • Acknowledges impact of crime on victims
  • Offers realistic solutions to crime
  • Overcomes 'idealism' of TNC
  • Has come up w/ useful concepts e.g. 'relative deprivation'
• -VE AO3:

  • No empirical evidence to suggest that WC/blk youths feel deprived + marginalised, leading them to crime
  • Ignores MC crime
  • Over-reliant on stats
  • Jones - LR doesn't explain why not all deprived ppl turn to crime
  • Hughes - LR doesn't explain street crime