2.7 Left and Right Realism Content

• When did Left realism originate?

  In the 1980s in Britain
• What does left realism focus on?

  Conventional or street crime on the basis that local victim studies reveal that this is what concerns people and that the burden of such crimes fall mostly on the already disadvantaged.
• What are key concepts of left realism?

  Relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation
• How do left realists argue crime needs to be understood?

  In terms of the interaction of four elements: the state, offenders, victims, and social control agencies - the 'square of crime'.
• What does Young argue late modern societies are characterised by?

  High levels of crime because they are bulimic and vertigo inducing
• What has left realism had a significant impact on?

  Criminal policy - for example policies adopted by Labour governments between 1997 and 2010 such as the Social Exclusion Unit, neighbourhood policing, the introduction of Police Community Support Officers.
• How does Hughes criticise left realism?

  Argues its major failing is in its attempts to explain the causes of street crime. The concentration on victimisation studies have prevented left realists from gathering data on motives of offenders. Data they have collected is qualitative and statistical and cannot reveal the subjective states of offenders.
• When did Right realism originate?

  In the USA in the 70s and 80s
• What do right realists see offenders as?

  Rational actors who have been inadequately socialised and choose to commit crime when the potential benefits outweigh the potential costs.
• What does Right realism trace the growth of crime in the second half of the 20th century to?

  A decline in morality and in self-reliance, promoted by over-generous state welfare provision. Some see this as having created a crime-prone underclass.
• What are the three features Murray sees the underclass as characterised by?

  Crime, illegitimacy and economic inactivity
• Who created the broken windows theory?

  Wilson and Kelling
• What does the broken windows theory argue?

  That anti-social behaviour such as vandalism and graffiti needs to be speedily addressed to forestall community decline.
• What does routine activities theory argue?


  Developed by Cohen and Felson they argue crime is a result of a rational calculation made by a potential offender. Three elements need to be present for a crime to occur: a motivated offender with criminal intentions, a suitable victim and the absence of a 'capable guardian' eg a neighbour or police officer who can prevent the crime from happening.
• What is the evaluation of right realism?

  Right realism has had a significant impact on criminal policy, but critics have questioned the idea that offenders act rationally, that crime can be divorced from the broader social context in which it occurs, and argue that it fails to explain the drop in recorded crime over the last two decades.