Right realism

• Realist approaches to crime arose

  1970's/1980's
• Realist approaches to crime

  • Left realism
  • Right realism
• Realists


  • They accept the 'typical criminal' as portrayed in the OCS and believe these do reflect real crimes
  • They challenge some of the traditional theories for being too idealist and romanticising crime
  • They share a concern that crime has a corrosive impact on communities and victims
  • They aim to provide practical solutions to the problem of crime
• Right Realists


  • Conservatives who see the causes of crime as partly biological and partly social
  • They see it as a rational choice based on calculating risks, therefore deterrence is the answer
• Left Realists


  • Reformist socialists who identify relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation as the causes, which are increasing in late modern societies
  • The solution is to reduce inequality and improve policing
• Crime destroys communities and undermines social cohesion
• Right Realism


  Control of crime through control and punishment rather than rehabilitation or tackling other causes such as poverty
• Key thinker


  James Wilson
• Key Term


  Zero Tolerance
• Right Realism has been VERY influential in UK and USA and is closely linked to the NEW RIGHT and the Conservative governments of the 1980s and 1990's
• Right realist theories


  • They criticise other theories for failing to provide practical solutions to the problem of raising crime rates
  • They see other theories as too sympathetic to the criminal and too hostile towards the forces of law
  • Significant shift in thinking from the search for the cause of crime to a search for practical solutions and crime control measures
• Although solution focused they do offer some explanations for the causes of crime
• They reject the Marxist interpretation that poverty and inequality cause crime (many poor people do not commit crime)
• Socialisation and the Underclass

  • Effective socialisation reduces the risk of offending – self-control, right from wrong. The best agency to do this is the FAMILY
  • The underclass is growing in the UK and USA due to the culture of welfare dependency
• Bennett, Dilulio and Walters (1996): 'Crime is rising due to 'growing up surrounded by deviant, delinquent and criminal adults in a practically criminogenic environment – that is (one) that seems almost consciously designed to produce vicious, predatory unrepentant street criminals''
• Biological Differences


  • Crime is an activity disproportionately committed by young men living in large cities
  • Biological differences make some more predisposed to crime – aggression, extroversion, risk taking (in young men)
  • Low intelligence is seen as biologically determined and the main cause of crime
• Rational Choice Theory


  • Individuals have free will and the power of reason
  • Committing crime is a CHOICE based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences/risk
  • If the rewards outweigh the risk then people will be more likely to offend
• If the supply and value of legitimate opportunities (i.e. jobs) was declining at the very time that the cost of illegitimate opportunities (i.e. fines and jail terms) was also declining, a rational teenager might well conclude that it made more sense to steal cars than to wash them
• Routine Activity Theory


  • Crime needs a motivated offender, a suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian
  • Offenders are assumed to act rationally – the presence of a guardian is likely to deter offences
  • Informal guardians (community) are more effective than formal ones
• Florida 1982 – patrols by citizens to protect private property after Hurricane Andrew prevented looting and crime rates reduced
• Right Realist Solutions to Crime

  • They do not focus on treating the underlying causes of crime (biosocial or socialisation) as they believe these cannot be changed
  • They seek practical measures to make crime less ATTRACTIVE
  • Their focus – control, containment and punishment of offenders rather than eliminating an underlying cause
  • Examples – Zero Tolerance, Broken Windows Theory and Target Hardening