Left Realism Flashcards
What is left realism?
See crime as a real problem for society
- unequal capitalist society influences crime
- need explanations of crime that will provide realistic solutions
- reform rather than waiting for a revolution
What are the 3 causes for crime according to right realists?
1- Relative deprivation
2- Subcultures
3- Marginalisation
What do Lea and Young refer to this 3 causes of crime as?
The crimogenic triangle
How does relative deprivation cause crime?
Place high importance on economic success
- those who don’t have economic resources feel excluded and relatively deprived
- poorer groups carry out work for MC which exposes them to wat they cannot achieve
- close proximity leads these social groups towards crime because they want the same lifestyle
How do subcultures cause crime?
They encourage criminality as there is less consensus about moral values
- claim their own values are legitimate
How does marginalisation cause crime?
They lack clear goals and organisations to represent them/their interests
- leads to resentment and rioting through criminal means such as violence and rioting
Lea and Young- Solutions to crime
The square of crime
- believe that to deal with crime we must understand the relationship between all involved
What are the 4 solutions to crime?
1- Formal control (state/police)
- law, styles of policing, labelling
2- Victim
- relationship with O, gang, partner, victims are heard
3- Offender
- crimogenic triangle (why)
4- Informal control (public)
- trust in police, reporting crime, condemn offenders
What did Young argue about the solutions to crime?
Needed to deal with marginalisation and relative deprivation as well as encouraging greater trust in police with victims feeling they are listened to
- increase power of informal social control
- policing only effective with the cooperation with the public
- democratic control of police, improve relationship between P n P
What are 5 problems that New labour policies were made to solve them?
X Trust in relationship between police and public
- Police and crime commissioners
X Victim not feeling supported
- Police recruitment, more representative of the public they are serving
X Lack of informal social control
- Neighbourhood watch (communitarianism)
X Social inequality RD<S<M
- New Deal, unemployed youth
X Changing the law
- ASBOs, criminalise hate crime
What is neighbourhood watch?
Local neighbours looking for any suspicious behaviour, sign ost to deter criminals
What are police and crime commissioners?
Hold police accountable, speak on behalf of the public, elected by them
What is BME recruitment?
Increased representation of ethnic minorities as police should reflect the society they serve
What is the crime and disorder act 1998?
Allows prosecutors to apply for an uplift in sentence for those convicted of hate crime
- any criminal motivated by hostility or prejudice
What is the New Deal workfare Programme?
Reduce unemployment by providing training, subsidised employment and voluntary work to the unemployed`
£1.3billion spent in 2001
What is the ASBOs through the crime and disorder act?
Civil orders that exist to protect the public from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
- prohibiting the offender from specific anti-social acts or entering defined areas
- now called criminal behaviour orders
How do Marxists criticise left realism?
X it doesn’t give enough status to the impact of capitalism
X by focusing on street crime, it ignores the huge harm caused by white collar crime
Criticims of left realism
X not everyone who experiences relative deprivation will commit crime
X Were New Labour policies successful?
x ASBOs used as a badge of honour, New Deal fail to create enough jobs
X Since 1990s, crime rates have overall fallen suggesting it isn’t the big threat LR believed
- has been a rise in the fear of crime
