Left and right realists

• How is the realist approach different?

  Realist approaches are different from other theories of crime because they not only look at the causes of crime but also give practical solutions as to how to deal with it.
• What’s the background of the left realist view?

  The left realist view of crime developed during the 1980’’s and 1990’s. They follow the Marxist view that society is unequal and this is what causes crime and deviance. However unlike the Marxists they believe that gradual change is necessary rather than a violent overthrow of capitalism.
• What are the causes of crime according to left realist views?

  Relative deprivation

  Marginalisation

  Subcultures 
• What does Lea and young suggest about relative deprivation?

  Lea and Young suggest that deprivation is at the root of criminality, not poverty. In the 1930’s poverty was high but crime rates were low. Instead they argue that as living standards have risen so has peoples feeling of being deprived compared to others. This can lead to resentment and people turning to crime to achieve hath they feel they are entitled to.
• What are marginalised groups?

  Marginalised groups are those people that do not feel they are part of society, and lack the goals and organisations to represent their interests. This leads to a sense of frustration and resentment amongst those groups and this can lead to criminal behaviour which they believe will improve their situation.
• What are the subcultures?

  Links to the work of Cloward and Ohlin and AK Cohen especially their ideas of blocked opportunities and a groups inability to achieve goals through legitimate means. For left realists a subculture is a collective response to the problem of relative deprivation. For left realists criminal subcultures still subscribe to the goals and values of society such as materialism and consumerism – e.g. Ghettos in America hooked on Gucci, BMW and Nike.
• What is left realist view on tackling crime?

  Left realists believe that in order to tackle crime you first need to tackle the social problems which lead to crime, in particular the causes of inequality and deprivation. Policies and strategies should focus on creating better relationships between the public and police, and create a multi-agency approach,
• What are some evaluations on the left realist approach?

  Milovanovic – accepts the governments definition of crime being the street crime committed by the poor.

  Interactionists – Doesn’t explain the motives due to reliance on quantitative data.

  Assumes a value consensus.

  Relative deprivation cannot explain all crime as not all those that experience it go on to commit crime

  Focus on high crime inner city areas gives an unrepresentative view of crime and makes it appear a greater problem than it is.
• What is the background on right realist view of crime?

  Right realist views correspond closely with the neo-conservative governments of the 1970’s and early 1980’s. They see street crime as a real and growing problem that destroys communities and undermines social cohesion. Right realists are less concerned with the causes of crime and more concerned with practical and realistic solutions to crime. Despite this they do offer some explanations for the causes of crime.
• What’s are the causes of crime according to right realists?

  biological differences 

  Socialisation & the underclass

  Rational choice
• What did Wilson and herrnstein say about biological differences?

  Wilson and Herrnstein 1985 – put forward a biosocial theory of crime. They believe that crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors. They believe that some people are more predisposed to crime through personality traits such as aggressiveness, extroversion and risk taking along with low impulse control. This mixed with poor socialisation or lack of role models leads to criminal behaviour.
• What did Murray say about socialisation & the underclass?

  believes that crime rates are increasing due to the growing underclass of people who are dependent upon the welfare state. He believes that this underclass fails to adequately socialise their children. Murray suggest that the ‘glorious revolution’ of the 1960’s led to the increase of lone parent families which are inadequate agents of socialisation and teach children to not take responsibility for themselves.
• What did Clarke say about rational choice?

  Assumes that individuals have free will and the power of reason, therefore criminals have made a choice to commit a crime. Clarke argues that if the perceived cost of committing the crime is outweighed by the benefit, people will be more likely to offend. Right realists believe that the current costs of crime are too low which is why the crime rate has increased.
• What’s the right realist view of tackling crime?

  Right Realists do not believe that it is beneficial to tackle the causes of crime as they are difficult to change, instead we should be looking at making criminal behaviour less attractive to people. This includes target hardening and Wilson and Kelling’s Zero Tolerance theory. Target hardening focuses on making it harder for crimes to be committed in the first place where as zero tolerance means all criminal behaviour must be dealt with immediately.
• What’s the right realist view evaluations?

  Ignores wider structural causes of crime.

  Overstates rationality of the criminals – this doesn’t explain violent or impulsive crimes.

  Contradictory between rationality and bio-social causes of crime. Ignores corporate and white collar crime.