Right

• Emerged in the 1980s as a response to rising crime rates, and took a different approach from interactionism and Marxism.

  Marxists tended to see property crime as a justified attempt to redistribute wealth, Interactionists saw criminals as different from non-criminals only in that they had acquired the label “criminal”.

  Realists focus on the reality of crime, its consequences for the victims and the need to do something about it.
• Core ideas:

  •Conservative – want to preserve tradition•Believe in traditional ‘family values’•Emphasis on discipline and order•Individualistic – people should take responsibility for themselves
• Right realist views on crime

  • Closely linked with the views of New Right influenced governments of the 1980s (Thatcher in the UK, Ronald Reagan in the US)
  • Less concerned with understanding the causes of crime and more concerned with providing practical solutions
  • See other theories as too sympathetic to criminals, and too hostile towards the forces of law and order
• Policy makers were frustrated at the lack of progress in tackling crime rates


  Started looking for practical solutions to reduce crime rather than address long term causes of crime such as poverty
• Biological Differences

  •Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) – biosocial theory of crime – a combination of biological and social factors.•Biological difference make some more predisposed to crime – aggression, extroversion, risk taking.•Herrnstein and Murray (1994) argue the main cause of crime is low intelligence which they see as being biologically determined.
• Culture of welfare dependency

  Decline in marriage, growth of lone parent families, reduced responsibility for the family – no need to work
• Lone parent mothers


  • Ineffective agents of socialisation, especially for boys
• Absent fathers

  • Lack parental discipline and male role models so they turn to alternative delinquent role models to gain status through crime
• Bennett, Dilulio and Walters (1996): 'Crime is the result of "growing up surrounded by deviant and criminal adults"…designed to produce vicious, predatory street criminals'
• The underclass threatens social cohesion as it undermines the values of hard work and personal responsibility
• Socialisation And The Underclass

  •Effective socialisation reduced the risk of offending – self-control, right from wrong. The best agency is the FAMILY.•Murray (1990) – crime is rising due to the growth of an underclass/new  rabble who are defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly.The underclass is growing in the UK and USA due to
• Rational Choice Theory


  •Individuals have free will and the power of reason.•Ron Clarke (1980) committing crime is a CHOICE based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences.•If the rewards outweigh the risk then people will be more likely to offend.•If the cost of crime is perceived to be low –crime rate will increase.
• Tackling Crime

  RRs do not attempt to tackle the long term causes of crime (biosocial or socialisation) as they believe these cannot be changed.

  Therefore they explore rational choice for crime prevention.

  They seek practical measures to make crime less ATTRACTIVE.

  Their focus is on control, containment and punishment of offenders rather than eliminating an underlying cause (and rehabilitation)
• Routine Activity Theory

  •Marcus Felson (1998/2002) – 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.•Therefore the presence of police, or a neighbourhood watch scheme, will deter criminals.
• Broken Window Theory

  •Wilson and Kelling (1982) – essential to maintain local areas to prevent crime taking place – any sign of deterioration must be dealt with immediately.•This is argued to deter crime because it sends the message to potential criminals that deviance is not tolerated and that there are people in the neighbourhood who care and will take action against them.
• •They advocate ZERO TOLERANCE towards undesirable behaviour such as prostitution, drunkenness and begging.•The role of the police should be to focus on controlling the streets so that law-abiding citizens are safe.
• Eval- Strength

  •Provides a counterbalance to Marxism/labelling – restores focus of criminology to practical solutions and helping victims.•Restores a sense of individual choice to explanations of crime – people are not passive puppets, and have the choice whether or not to commit crime.•Gives practical short terms solutions for victims.
• Ao3 - weaknesses

  •Ignores wider structural causes of crime such as poverty.•The idea that criminals make cost/benefit calculations ignores crime with no obvious benefit e.g. violence.•The view that criminals take rational decisions contradicts the view that criminals are impulsive and of low intelligence.•Preoccupied with street and petty crime and ignores corporate crime.•Zero tolerance policing could lead to labelling and more serious deviance.•Results in displacement of crime – target hardening just moves the crime to easier to target areas.