left + right realism

• left realism causes of crime

  relative deprivation, marginalisation, subcultures
• relative deprivation

  refers to how deprived people feel in comparison to others

  resort to crime to claim what they feel they're entitled to

  nowadays people more aware of their deprivation due to the media and advertising - raises our aspirations for material possessions and when we cannot afford them we turn to crime instead

  e.g theft, drug-dealing
• evaluation of relative deprivation

  cannot explain non-utilitarian crime e.g violent crime

  cannot explain white collar crimes - they do not feel relatively deprived but still commit crimes

  deterministic - not everyone who feels relatively deprived will turn to crime
• marginalisation

  refers to when people feel cast out of society and as though they do not belong or have a place

  marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests.

  e.g homeless, ethnic minorities, unemployed youths

  unemployed youth are marginalised - no organisation to represent them and no clear goals - have a sense of frustration and resentment therefore crime is used to express the frustrations

  e.g subcultures, violent crimes, riots, vandalism
• evaluation of marginalisation

  not all marginalised groups commit crime and not everybody who commits crime is marginalised
• subcultures

  a subculture is a group's collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation. subcultures still hold the values and goals of mainstream society however their opportunities to achieve these goals legitimately are blocked so they resort to crime instead e.g gang violence, theft, drug dealing
• evaluation of subcultures

  assumes working class people are accepting the goals of society but this is not always the case

  focussed on street and gang crimes, cannot explain ruling class crime
• left realism solutions to crime

  democratic policing, multi-agency approach, tackling the structural causes of crime
• democratic policing

  the police need the support of the community to tackle crime effectively. 90% of crimes known to the police are reported by the public. tactics such as stop and search cause hostility.

  e.g police and community support officers - talk to people and build a relationship - gains trust

  makes people more inclined to trust the police and report crimes - help to tackle criminal behaviour
• evaluation of democratic policing

  right realists would argue that the police need to impose zero tolerance policies and police communities more rather than trying to build a relationships with them
• multi-agency approach

  not just the police's job to tackle crime and other agencies should be involved in helping to reduce crime e.g schools, social services and local councils

  e.g prevent strategy in schools to prevent young people from radicalisation
• evaluation of multi-agency approach

  agencies may be ineffective as they are underfunded and lack the resources to tackle crime effectively
• tackling the structural causes of crime

  we need to have more people earning good money to reduce the feelings of relative deprivation and thus this will reduce crime

  e.g policies such as increasing minimum wage, reducing inflation
• evaluation of tackling structural causes of crime

  right realists argue crime is not caused by poverty sop this solution would be inaffective
• evaluation of left realism

  marxists argue that left realism focuses too much on street crime and crimes of the poor and fails to explain crimes of the powerful which is more harmful
• right realist causes of crime

  biological, socialisation, rational choice
• biological causes of crime

  crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors. biological differences make some people innately more likely to commit crime than others. personality traits such as aggressiveness, extroversion, risk taking and low impulse control put people at greater risk of offending. main cause of crime is low intelligence - biologically determined.
• evaluation of biological causes of crime

  high intelligence may actually help criminals to be successful e.g white collar crimes

  biological explanations ignore other factors contributing to criminality such as poverty or deprivation
• socialisation and the underclass

  effective socialisation decreases the risk of offending.

  right realists argue best agency of socialisation is the nuclear family - murray argues the crime rate is increasing because of a growing 'underclass' in society.

  believe lone mothers are incapable of effectively socialising their children. absent fathers mean young boys are lacking discipline and appropriate male role models and thus turn to criminal role models on the street
• evaluation of socialisation and underclass

  deterministic - ignores free will to not commit crime despite being brought up by a lone mother

  people brought up in traditional nuclear families still commit crime so there must be other factors involved

  assumes lone-mothers are incapable of disciplining their children
• rational choice theory

  the decision to commit crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences. cost v benefits.

  e.g if likely to receive an overly harsh punishment then rational choice is not to offend but if likely to receive an unduly lenient punishment then rational choice is to offend

  views criminality as a choice rather than caused by external factors such as poverty
• evaluation of rational choice theory

  not every offender will make a decision based on a cost benefit analysis e.g violent crimes

  does not consider external factors contributing to criminality e.g strain, deprivation, poverty
• right realist solutions to crime

  broken windows theory, target hardening, zero tolerance policies
• broken windows theory

  disorderly neighbourhoods encourage more crime to be committed - if neighbourhoods look like they are cared for and well-kept then people would be put off from committing crime. if we 'repair the broken windows' it will prevent more from being smashed
• evaluation of broken windows theory

  crime happened the first time, even when the neighbourhood looked orderly

  too focussed on property crimes e.g vandalism and graffiti and cannot help us to tackle any other crime
• target hardening measures

  protection from falling victim to crime e.g locks, CCTV, alarms, guard dogs
• evaluation of target hardening measures

  displacement - target hardening does not stop crime, simply moves it from one place to another
• zero tolerance policies

  solves the problem of crime being a 'rational choice' - if punishments are a lot harsher then the rational choice becomes not to offend.

  e.g california three strikes law - if you commit three crimes you automatically serve a 25 year prison sentence
• evaluation of zero tolerance policies

  ignores the importance of rehabilitation

  not tackling the root cause of crime and why people offend e.g poverty

  damages the relationship between the police and communities
• evaluation of right realism

  ignores wider societal issues such as poverty

  only really focusses on petty street crime and ignores crimes like murder

  zero tolerance may allow discrimination of ethnic minorities