Right realism

stronger

Claims

Crime is a real problem, destroys communities and threatens society’s work ethics. 

Components

zero tolerance: deter others from committing crimes.  

Target Hardening: Make crime less attractive, increase punishment, reduce opportunities to commit crime 

Credibility

• Looks at more reasons behind why crime is committed 

• Offers a more practical approach to tackling crime 

• Has led to a shift in official thinking in offering practical control measures for crime and deviance. 

• Ignores wider things like poverty  

• Overstates offenders’ rationality and how far they make cost-benefit calculations before committing a crime. 

Application

New York city port authority bus terminal has put many things in place to reduce crime rates. 

Refuting

Left realism opposes 

This theory won’t reduce crime just displace it. 

Mooney (1998)- underclass and crime has no link. 

Supporting evidence

Flood page et al- found that children from lone- parent background are more likely to offend. 

New York bus terminal