Realist theories of cime

What is a realist theory?

See crime as a real problem to be tackled, not just a social construction created by control agencies. Statute there has been a significant rise in crime, concerned about widespread fear of crime and the impact of it, argue other theories fail to offer realistic solutions to the problem of crime

Right realism

Sees crime as undermining social cohesion and threatening society’s work ethic. New right perspective/neo-conservative to support policies, want to practically control crime and reduce it through punishment, rather than tacking the causes or relaxing offenders

Right realism:The causes of crime - Biological Differences

Reject idea that structural factors cause crime. Wilson + Herrnstein - biosocio theory of criminal behav. But differences make indiv innately more strongly predisposed to commit crime than others. E.g personality traits such as aggressiveness, aggressiveness, low impulse control, and risk taking. As well as this, low intelligence(biological)

H:Effective socialisation can counter this, as it involves learning self-control and interactions moral values of what’s right/wrong.

Right realism:The causes of crime - Socialisation and the underclass

Murray - Crime rate increasing bc of growing underclass who are defined by their deviant behav and fail to socialise their children properly, growing due to welfare dependency. Due to this, fall in marriage and growth of female headed lone parent families, mothers can’t discipline sons and the absent male role model means that young males at turn to the street to gain status.

Right realism:The causes of crime - Rational choice theory

Assumes that indiv have free will and power of reason. Clarke - decision to commit crime is a choice based on rational calculation of likely consequences, e.g if the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs, or if rewards are greater than not behaving criminally. So, percieved costs of crime are low right now due to punishments being lenient and less chance of being caught.

Right realism:The causes of crime - Evaluation

Ignores structural factors such as poverty, overstates offenders rationality, ignoring impulsive/violent crimes.

Right realism:Tackling crime

Seek practical measures to make crime less attractive, aiming to control, contain and punish offenders rather than tackle underlying causes. So, they want to reduce rewards associated with crime and increase the costs, so it’s less rational, by ensuring punishment happen straight away and a greater use of prison. Zero tolerance - Wilson + Kelling - Argue it’s essential to prevent crime and maintain the character of neighbourhoods, advocating a zero tolerance policy with police patrolling streets.

Right realism:Tackling crime(Zero tolerance) - evaluation

Preoccupied with petty street crimes and ignores corporate crime

Left realism:Taking crime seriously

See crime as a real problem that affects disadvantaged groups, Marxists concentrate on crimes of powerful, Neo-Marxists romantasise W/C criminals, labelling theorists see W/C criminals as victims of discriminatory labelling, leading to an aetological crisis(no explanation), bc from 1950s onwards there was crime increase and no one could explain it.

Left realism:The causes of crime(Lea + Young) - Relative deprivation

Refers to how deprived someone feels in relation to others, or compared with their own expectation. Leads to crime when people resent others unfairly having more, so resort to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled to. People more aware of RD due to the media and advertising, which raise everyone’s expectations for material posessions. Young, rise in individualism(concern with self instead of group), leads to disintegration and anti-social behav/aggression(crime).

Left realism:The causes of crime(Lea + Young) - Subculture

Groups collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation, some may turn to crime to bridge the ‘deprivation gap’. Usually share the same goals as society (naturalism + consumerism), but choose to achieve them in an illegitimate way. Young - ghettos in the USA that are ‘immersed’ in the American Dream, hooked on Gucci, BMW, Nikes.

Left realism:The causes of crime(Lea + Young) - Marginalisation

Marginalised groups lack clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. e.g workers have clear goals(want better pay + conditions), and have organisations (e.g trade unions) to put pressure on politicians + employers, so they have no reason to resort to violence to achieve their goals. But, unemployed youth have no organisations, so feel frustration, and are powerless, expressing this through criminal means such as violence.

Left realism:Late modernity,exclusion and crime

Young - now living in stage of late modernity society where instability, insecurity and exclusion make crime worse. Used to have a ‘golden age’ of modern capitalist society, where we had strong communities, strong families (low divorce rates), and good morals. Since 1970;s opposite of this, increased unemployment, destabilised families, and less welfare spending, excluding those at the bottom causing them to commit crime as there is greater inequality. And, more emphasis on media’s materialistic message, leisure consumption and ideology of meritocracy, leading to relative deprivation.

Left realism:Tackling crime - Kinsley, Lea, Young

Must deal w policing + control, and structural causes. Military policing - Police refer on public info to tackle crime, but losing public supp(esp among ethnic minorities), so flow of info has dried up ad they have to ‘swamp’ areas and do random stop and searches, alienating communities and resulting in a circle, no more trust, no info, so military tactics. So, police need to build relationships with communities, stopping routine patrols and spend more time investigating crime.

Left realism:Tackling crime - Kinsley, Lea, Young ; tackling structural causes

Need to tackle unequal structure of society. Such as inequality of opportunity, unfairness of rewards, discrimination, provide jobs, housing

Left realism:evaluation

Assumed value consensus exists and crime can only happen when this breaks down(subcultural theories). Not all those who experience relative deprivation commit crime (over-predicts). Fails to explain corporate crime(Marxists)