Right and Left Realist Crime and Deviance AQA A Level Sociology

What is Realist view of crime?

They are more pragmatic , they focus on the solutions to crime rather than the reasons. They take a victim centred approach to crime, putting victims and the public's concern about crime at the centre of theorising and policy making.

What is the difference between left and right realism?

Right Realism focus on the individual as being responsible for crime, arguing that we need to get tough on criminals to reduce crime. Left Realists argue that inequality is the main cause of crime and we need more community interventions to reduce crime.

The main theories about the causes of crime associated with Right Realism are

Rational Choice Theory

Broken Windows Theory

Charles Murray Underclass Theory (also a form of subcultural theory).

Biological Differences

Wilson and Herrnstein found that certain individuals, including young, black males are biologically more likely to commit crime. This is due to the higher levels of aggression and testosterone they have, which means they possess characteristics which are more associated with criminal and deviant behaviours. Herrnstein - Biosocial factors such as aggressiveness and low iq predispose individuals to crime

Rational Choice Theory

Clarke - Rational Choice Theory states that most criminals are rational actors. If the criminal calculates that the risk of getting caught is low, or that the punishment if caught will not be severe, then they are more likely to commit crime, assuming the reward for doing that crime is high enough. They are rational in that they weigh up the costs and benefits in order to assess whether a crime is worth committing.

Why would crime increase according to right realist rational choice

If crime brings higher rewards relative to working within the rules of society.

There is no risk of getting caught committing a crime or no punishment for crime.

Routine Activities theories and 3 conditions for crime to take place

Felson - Routine Activities Theory , In most circumstances social control mechanisms, lack of opportunity and / or the risk of getting caught prevented crime from taking place because crime is opportunistic.

1. Individuals who were motivated to offend

2. The availability of opportunity and targets

3. The lack of capable guardians who might prevent crime occurring.

Broken Windows Theory

Proposed by Wilson and Kelling , 'broken windows' stands for all the various signs of disorder and lack of concern that are found in some neighbourhoods. This includes graffiti, littering , vandalism etc. Leaving broken windows unrepaired e.g. tolerating aggressive behaviour , shows that there is an absence of both formal social control and informal social control (the police and the community respectively).

Charles Murray and the Underclass

Murray argued that changes to family structure was responsible for much of the increase in the crime rate in the 1970s and 80s - he attributes the growth of crime because of a growing underclass who are defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly. The children of the underclass fail to learn self-control and also fail to learn the difference between right and wrong.

According to Murray and the Underclass why has crime increased

The underclass has increased because of increasing welfare dependency. Increasingly generous welfare benefits has led to people becoming dependent on the state. This has led to to the decline of marriage and the growth of lone parent families, women can now live off benefits rather than having to get married to have children. This also means that men no longer have to take responsibility for supporting their families, so they no longer need to work.

Lone mothers are ineffective agents of socialisation, especially for boys. Absent fathers mean than boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models. As a result, young males turn to other delinquent role models on the street to gain status through crime rather than supporting their families through a steady job.

Left Realism

Left Realism was developed by Young, Lea and Matthews is related to Marxism and the New Criminology, but tries to focus on finding practical ways of solving crime, it claims these two theories are too idealistic and have unrealistic ideas about how to solve crime.

Left realism three explanations of crime

relative deprivation , marginalisation , subcultures

Left realist - Relative deprivation

Lea and Young argue that crime has roots in deprivation, but deprivation itself is not directly responsible for crime. It explains the paradox of increasing crime in an increasing wealthy society. People are better off today but they have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because media and advertising has raised everyone's expectations for material possessions and thus there is more pressure to get more stuff to keep up with everyone else, which generates high crime rates.

Left realist - Marginalisation

This is where people lack the power or resources to fully participate in society. According to Left Realists marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. Groups such as workers have clear goals (such as wanting better pay and conditions) and organisations to represent them (such as trades unions), and as such they have no need to resort to violence to achieve their goals.

Relative deprivation - Subcultures

Left Realists see subcultures as a group's collective response to the situation of relative deprivation, and they draw on Cohen's theory of status frustration to explain how they emerge. There are many different subcultural adaptations to blocked opportunities, and not all result in crime only those subcultures which still subscribe to the mainstream values of material wealth but lack legitimate opportunities to achieve those goals.

Left realist solutions to crime

Left realist solutions to crime emphasis Social and Community Crime Prevention , Early Intervention , Improving Policing

Evaluations of Left Realism

Left Realist solutions are the most costly of all crime prevention measures. Marxists argue that these policies may tackle deprivation but they do not tackle the underlying structural inequalities in the Capitalist system which are the root cause. Such approaches target working class, inner city communities and do not tackle elite crime.