Left Realist Solutions to Crime and Deviance

What are the 3 Left Realist solutions to Crime and Deviance?

• community policing

• social policies for early intervention

• tackling structural causes with a multi-agency approach

What is community policing?

• proactively listening to the community 

• policing the crimes that victimise people living in inner city areas as the police have lost support in these poorer, inner-city areas 

• using more informal sanctions (e.g., informal verbal warnings)

What is an example of community policing?

PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers)

• do not have powers of arrest

• support warranted officers

• help with local problems

• use informal sanctions (e.g., informal verbal warnings)

What are social policies for early intervention?

• improving education and employment opportunities for the most disadvantaged groups in society

• e.g., increasing the minimum/living wage

• investing in deprived communities

• building facilities (e.g., libraries, youth clubs)

• identifying groups most at risk of committing crime

• taking action to prevent at-risk groups from committing crime

What is an example of a social policy for early intervention?

New Labour’s Sure Start Centres

• family health & support services

• early years’ learning

• childcare for children up to five years old

• services and care for families from disadvantaged backgrounds

What is tackling structural causes with a multi-agency approach?

• crime control involving many other agencies apart from just the police

• involving schools, the NHS, local councils, social services, the probation service, etc.

• e.g., social workers, schools, and hospitals communicating information with each other and the police to help prevent young people from developing a criminal career

• partnerships between a wide array of agencies and individuals

What are some examples of tackling structural causes with a multi-agency approach?

youth clubs

• positive role models for teenagers

• provide alternatives to gang culture