Left Realism

Question 1

Left realism developed as a response to

Answer 1

Need to take rising crime rate seriously to produce practical solutions
The influence of right realism on government policy
See society an unequal capitalist one

Causes of crime
Crime is not caused by any single factor but is multifactorial, which means a number of overlapping factors trigger criminal behaviour
Relative deprivation / marginalisation / subcultures

Question 2

Marginalisation

Answer 2

• Marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests
• Unemployed youths are marginalised and have no organisation to represent their interests and feel resentment and frustration
• Ethnic minority may feel this heavily
  Express resentment through criminal means e.g. rioting

Question 3

Relative deprivation

Answer 3

How deprived someone feels in comparison to someone else. Can lead to resentment and resorting to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled to

Question 4

Lea and Young - relative deprivation

Answer 4

crime has its roots in deprivation. However, deprivation alone is not responsible for crime

+ Evidence: Poverty rates in 1930’s vs 1950’s higher living standards. Crime was higher in 50’s
- Elderly should be the poorest. Commit the least crime
+ Daniel Briggs London Riots – all they want was ‘free stuff’

Question 5

Subculture

Answer 5

Blocked opportunities - failure to achieve mainstream goals – relative deprivation
Cloward and Ohlin
Subculture offers a solution

Question 6

The square of crime

Answer 6

The Offender: Criminologists should consider why people offend and why they drift in an out of crime (the trajectory of crime)

The Victim: They decide whether an act is criminal or worthy of calling the police e.g family loan

The Public: Can label an act and people may not commit crime because of public response (stigmatised)

The State: Gov create policy and can influence police budgets, target setting and policing styles

Question 7

Solutions - Policing and control

Answer 7

improve their relationship with the community. Multi-agency approach involves agencies such as social services, local councils, housing departments, schools and leisure services.

Question 8

Solutions - Tackling the structural causes

Answer 8

Left realists do not see improved policing and control as the main solution. The causes of crime lie in the structure of society and structural changes are needed to reduce offending

Question 9

Solutions - Government policy

Answer 9

Influenced New Labour governments, ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. New Labour’s firmer approach to the policing of hate crimes, sexual assaults and domestic violence, along with the introduction of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), shows LR approach on protecting the vulnerable groups from crime and low-level disruption

Question 10

Jock Young suggests that practical small scale solutions can have an impact

Answer 10

Creating fewer criminogenic areas of towns
Improving leisure facilitates
Improving housing/living standards for the poor
Tracking unemployment

Question 11

Strengths of Left Realism

Answer 11

+ Identifies crime as a real problem
+ Focus on victims
+ Influenced policy making
+ Multi agency approach bringing several communities together

Question 12

Weaknesses of Left Realism

Answer 12

X Doesn’t consider gender differences, feminists – women are marginalised
X No explanation for crime committed by the middle class or corporate crime
X Reapplications of old theories but including ethnicity
X RD and M are deterministic as not everyone who experiences it goes on to commit crime
X Marginalisation does not explain the motive behind crime

Question 13

Left realism and actualism

Answer 13

• often based on identifying individuals and groups who are most at risk of committing crimes and intervening in some manner to try and stop this.
• Therefore, targeted intervention such as school classes, parenting classes and family relationship counselling could prevent crime by reducing the circumstances that create

Question 14

The troubled families program

Answer 14

• claimed 99 percent success rate but leaked independent evaluation suggested it had no noticeable effect on criminality
• This approach only tackles crime by working classes and ignores white collar, corporate and state crime
• Marxist – nothing to tackle the structural inequality of the capitalist system

Foucault – schemes provide public under further surveillance