Right Realist Policies

• Right Realism:

  • Right realism sees criminals as making rational choices to be criminal
  • Right Realists punish criminals harshly, rules should be there to protect victims and stop deviance
  • People who work hard, get good things in life
  • Poor people are lazy and don’t work hard enough
• Situational Crime Prevention (SCP):

  • Reduce opportunities to commit by reducing opportunity and being rewarded for criminal acts.
  • Measures may include increased CCTV, campaigns to encourage to lock doors and cars or anti-terrorism measures such as bag checks or traffic-blocking bollards in city centres.
  • SCP may also include increasing sentences for criminals so the cost of committing the act (Time in prison) outweighs the reward of the criminal act.
• Effectiveness of SCP:

  • Displacement is a problem, where crime is simply moved by measures such as CCTV or extra policing
  • It could lead criminals to targeting more vulnerable people.
• Environmental Crime Prevention (ECP):

  • the broken window theory argues that disorderly areas send out a message that no one cares enough to challenge crime.
  • Law abiding citizens will leave such areas, house prices will go down and more criminal activity will occur and go unchallenged.
  • Such areas will need policies in place to reduce criminality in the neighbourhood
• Environmental Improvement Strategy (EIS):

  • Signs of disorder must quickly be rectified with graffiti removed, vandalism repaired and streets kept tidy
• Zero Tolerance Policing Strategy (ZTP)

  • Police must have a tough zero tolerance stance towards even minor offences such as grafitti
  • They should focus on “quality of life” offences such as begging, prostitution and vandalism.
• Is ZTP effective:

  • Crime was reduced in New York in the 1990’s once introduced (but the same happened in other US cities where there was no ZTP)
  • Males and Macallair found that in their study that curfews can increase Juvenile crimes.
  • ZTP has been found to regularly target ethnic minorities and working class.
  • ZTP and SCP do not tackle underlying causes of crime
• ”Prison Works” according to right realist Politicians because…

  • It incapacitates criminals by taking them out of the population
  • It acts as a deterrent as the cost of losing your freedom is greater than the reward of the crime.
  • Politicians in the 1990’s argues that tough sentences were popular with the public so the policy became known as “Penal Populism”
• Penal Populism and Imprisonment:

  • In 1997, the conservatives brought in the Crime Act which created mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders.
  • Automatic Life sentences for second or sexual offences
  • A minimum of 7 years for a Class A drug trafficking conviction
  • A minimum of 3 years for a third domestic burglary.
• Penal Populism and Imprisonment:

  • Tony Blair’s new labour government care to power in 1997 and said it would be tough on crime and tough on causes of crime
  • Penal Populism led to rising number in jail, from 45000 in 1993 to 80000 by 2021
  • England and Wales imprison a higher proportion of their population than any other Western European country
  • Prison suicides, assaults on staff and murders continue to increase every year.
• Is prison effective:

  • Incapacitation- prison works temporarily while the offender is in prison
  • Rehabilitation- overcrowding and budget cuts alongside lack of education, skills programmes and training means this is less effective.
  • Recidivism (reoffending)- 48% of inmates are convicted again within 1 year of release.
  • Deterrence- Studies show first od imprisonment does not deter criminals as right realists this it does