Left

• •Developed in the 1980s.•Like RR, it rejects previous approaches’ romanticisation of criminals, and wants to create practical solutions to the growing crime rate.•BUT they reject the Right Realism’s focus on poor socialisation as the cause of crime and do consider economic factors.
• Left realists


  • See the causes of crime in the economic structure of society (like Marxists)
  • Do not romanticise crime, instead discuss how the weakest sections of society bear most of the costs of crime
• Victims of "ordinary" crimes

  • People in inner city areas
  • Lower working class
  • African-Caribbean people
  • Asian people
• Left Realists Lea and Young


  • Looked at the impact of crime on the daily lives of vulnerable groups
  • The offenders were often from these groups too, but their criminality could not be excused or justified politically
• Although police practices are often biased, there must a reality to rises in the crime rate, because the majority of crime is reported by the public, not sought out by the police
• Relative Dep


  •W.C. Runciman’s (1966) concept of relative deprivation – how someone feels deprived in relation to others or compared to their own expectations.•Leads to crime  due to resentment as they turn to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled to.•Paradox – we are more prosperous today yet more crime ridden. Made aware through the media which raises expectations for material goods.•Young argues that increased individualism makes the effects of R.D. worse.
• •LR – a subculture is a group’s collective solution to relative deprivation.•Where legitimate avenues to success or status are blocked, groups come up with their own solutions to these problems
• Marginalisation


  •These groups lack clear goals and organisations to represent their interests.•E.g. The unemployed are marginalised – no goals or organisations, just frustration and resentment – they express this through criminal means such as violence rather than political means.
• Late Modernity


  The current stage of society characterised by instability, insecurity and exclusion which make crime worse
• Young (2002): 'We are living in the stage of late modernity where instability, insecurity and exclusion make crime worse'
• Left Realists think that in order to reduce crime we must…

   A) improve policing and control

  B) deal with the deeper structural causes of crime.
• •Kinsey, Lea and Young (1986) – police rates are too low to act as a deterrent to crime.•Police depend on the public to provide them with information (90% are reported by the public) but the police are losing support in the inner cities and among ethnic minorities and young.•So…police must improve community relationships and change their priorities.
• Military Policing

  A policing style which is primarily policing without the consent, and with the hostility, of the community
• Community Policing

  A policing style which involves community input and support for the police
• Reducing Crime: Policing And Control

  As well as being more accountable to local communities and develop these relationships, the police must also be part of a multi- agency approach.
• Reducing Crime: Policing And Control

  As well as being more accountable to local communities and develop these relationships, the police must also be part of a multi- agency approach.
• Reducing Crime

  Improved policing is not the main solution!

   Young argues we must address:

  1.Inequality of opportunity2.Discrimination3.Decent jobs for all4.Improved housing and community facilities5.Be more tolerant of diversity to stop stereotyping.
• Eval Weakness

  •It focuses on street crime and ignores more harmful corporate crime.•Interactionists – LRs use quantitative data so they cannot explain the motives of offenders.•Use of subcultural theory means that LR assumes that there is a value consensus and crime only occurs when this breaks down.•Relative deprivation can not fully explain crime as not all of those who experience this commit crime.