CRIME AND DEVIANCE - RIGHT REALISM

What is realism?

•Realists tend to focus on the evidence provided by official statistics. Their focus is mainly placed on the causes of crime and therefore realists tend to be influential in crime prevention.

What are the differences between right and left realism?

They come from different ends of the political spectrum.

RR – blame the individual – no self control.

LR – structural inequalities and relative deprivation.

Solutions – RR – order and control  LR democratic policing and reforms for equality.

What evidence do right realists favour?

official statistics

What does Murray mean by ‘underclass’?

.’ Defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly. The underclass is growing in the US and USA due to the culture of welfare dependency.

What do right realists say about victimisation?

Crime is a violation of the law because the law embodies the society’s morals (which in turn reflect absolute religious notions of right and wrong. Crime is an offense against morality.

What is relative deprivation?

.’ A view of social change and movements, according to which people take action for social change in order to acquire something (for example, opportunities, status, or wealth) that others possess and which they believe they should have, too

What is cultural deprivaton?

Claims that members of the working class cannot easily acquire cultural capital, hampering their access to education and upward social mobility.

Who commits the most amount of crime within society?

the working class

Where has right realism been infuential in policy?

UK and USA

What are other ideologies is right realism closely aligned with?

•NEW RIGHT and the right wing conservative governments of the 1970s and 1980s.

What do right realists wish to focus on?

•Significant shift in thinking from the search for the cause of crime to a search for a practical solutions and crime control measures.

How should we control crime?

•Control crime through control and punishment rather than rehabilitation or tackling other causes such as poverty.

How do right realists view other theories?

•as too sympathetic to the criminal and too hostile towards the forces of law.

What are the three main causes of crime

•Biological differences

•Socialisation and the underclass

•Rational choice theory

What do Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) say about biological differences and causes of crime?

•biosocial theory of crime – a combination of biological and social factors.

•Biological difference make some more predisposed to crime – aggression, extroversion, risk taking.

What do Hernstein and Murray (1994) say about biological differences and causes of crime?

argue the main cause of crime is low intelligence which they see as being biologically determined

How can socialisation cause crime, what agency should we use to prevent this?

•Effective socialisation reduced the risk of offending – self-control, right from wrong. The best agency is the FAMILY.

What does Murray (1990) say about socialisation as a cause of crime?

crime is rising due to the growth of an underclass who are defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly.

According to Murray, why is the underclass growing?

•The underclass is growing in the US and USA due to the culture of welfare dependency.

•Decline in marriage, reduced responsibility for the family – no need to work.

Why was there an increase in welfare dependency in the UK at the time of Murray?

Margaret Thatcher (New Right) had closed lots of industry (eg coal) and had transferred it overseas, which put lots of people out of jobs and reliant on the welfare state

According to Murray, what are the 2 main factors to blame for ineffective socialisation?

•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.

What do Bennett, Dilulio and Walters (1996) say about causes of crime?

•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.

What is the rational choice theory?

inidividuals have free will and the power of reason

What does Ron Clarke (1980) say about the rational choice theory?

•) 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.

What is the solution to the rational choice theory?

make the percieved cost of committing the crime higher

Why do right realists not deal with causes of crime?

do not deal in the causes of crime (biosocial or socialisation) as they believe these cannot be changed.

Instead, how do right realists propose we reduce crime?

•They seek practical measures to make crime less ATTRACTIVE.

•Focus – control, containment and punishment of offenders rather than eliminating an underlying cause.

What is Wilson and Kelling’s 1982 broken window theory?

– essential to maintain local areas to prevent crime taking place – any sign of deterioration must be dealt with immediately

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.

Crime prevention measures should reduce the rewards of crime and increase the costs to the offender.

Target hardening – greater use of prison sentencing and swift punishment to maximise the deterrent effect.

What does RR ignore?

structural cuases such as poverty

What does right realism overstate that perhaps does not explain issues such as violent crime?

cost/benefit calculations

What kind of crime does RR ignore?

corporate crime

What could zero tolerance policies result in?

discrimination (youth, ethnicity, etc)

What do theories like the broken window theory really result in?

displacement of crime