Left realism

• Marginalization

  Working class and minority ethnic groups face exclusion as a result of blocked opportunities (low educational achievement and high rate of unemployment). This leads individuals to commit crime due to society rejecting their lack of power
• Relative deprivation

  Individuals turning to crime due to them not having the basic essentials making them disadvantaged in society
• Subcultures

  Combination of marginalization/ relative deprivation lead people to reject norms and values and too adopt new ones. This reinforces crime as you can get status in subcultures for committing crime
• Key Thinkers

  Lea and Young
• Main points

  Crime is due to social inequality

  Liberal point of view

  Examine both causes and solution to crime
• Solution to crime

  Focus on crime and offenders

  Reduce inequality

  Community policing

  Restorative justice
• Evaluation Points (Positive)

  Provides solutions to crime

  Adapts ideas from Merton Strain theory (Functionalism) and Marxism
• Evaluation points ( Negative)

  Ignores physiological/ biological factors

  Doesn't explain why white collar/ state crime exists

  Over estimates how many relatively deprived/marginalized people turn to crime.