Left realism theories of crime

Question 1

What are left realists?

Answer 1

• they see society as unequal due to capitalism and structural inequalities
  
  • believe in a gradual change to tackle the high rates of crime — believe in rehabilitation and integration is more effective than punishment
• their focus is to tackle crime and reduce inequalities in society by helping groups who are marginalised

Question 2

3 causes of crime

Answer 2

• relative deprivation
• subcultures
• marginalisation

Question 3

Relative deprivation (lea and young)

Answer 3

• deprivation is subjective as everyone can feel it in different ways
• everyone feels the same form of deprivation but not everyone turns to crime and even the rich can feel deprived
  - can be said that if you feel more deprived you are more likely to turn to crime - resentment and opportunities affect level of deprivation felt however you have the choice to decide whether you go down the route of crime
• todays society is more crime ridden and the media influences it due to advertising and marketisation — makes people compare their life against others, means less deprivation but more crime

Question 4

Subculture

Answer 4

• left realists view of criminal subcultures is that they are a group reaction to relative deprivation

Different groups may have different responses

Weber, crime and religion and the theodicy of disprivilege
- alms groups will turn to legitimate ways of dealing with their misfortune while others will turn to deviant/ criminal subcultures — link to socialisation

Ken pryce - african caribbean community in bristol
- the non deviant subcultures can help with integration and finding alternative solutions to lessen the deprivation gap

Jock young - american ghettos
- American Dream Culture in USA creates subcultures where it is the norm to turn to crime to achieve the goals of materialism even if it means breaking the law

Question 5

Marginalisation

Answer 5

No organisation, no voice
- working people have unions to help them
- employers have politicians/policies to help them
- the non working or underclass have no one — this leads to them feeling powerless to improve their situation so their frustration lwads to deviance and crime
- link this to neo marxists that crime is a protest against oppression

Question 6

Tackling crime

Answer 6

• left realists want to devise solutions to the problems of crime and argue that we must improve both policing and control and deal with deeper structural causes of crime

Policing and control (kinsey, lea and young)
- polices inability to clear crime fails as a deterrent to other criminals
-police need to improve their relationship with communities and changing their priorities of crime

policing accountability in communities
- the police need to improve their relationship with communities and changing their priorities of crime

Multi-agency approach
-tackling crime should just be left to the police — should involve local councils, social services etc

Question 7

Solutions to helping deter crime

Answer 7

Community policing
-visible presence of police can act as a deterrent
-can tackle issues within the community e.g shoplifting, drug use
- however people can commit violence towards these officers and this can make it harder to find people who are willing
-the people within community could still go back to committing crime as they may not be getting harsh punishments

More community centres
- can hold group sessions for offenders or people struggling with mental health
- means people can speak to each other and feel better knowing other people went through the same
- however not everyone may be motivated to go and not everyone wants help
- also something that needs to be funded

Increase CCTV
- can deter people because they know they can potentially get caught
- helps police to tackle issues
-however people can still commit crime especially if economically deprived — also does not mean people cannot commit crime in a different area

Question 8

Tackling structural inequality

Answer 8

• left realists do not see improved policing and control as the main solution and they believe inequalities of society need to be addressed
  -young argues that we must deal with the people who are involved in dealing with crime must also look at the structural causes of crime
  -left realism is seen to be linked with the left wing gov policy, particularly new labour approaches and they believe that we need to move towards closing the gap in inequalities

Question 9

Criticisms of left realism

Answer 9

-ignores other responses to deprivation such as retreatism and ritualism

• does not pay much attention to corporate crime and the rise of it

however it draws upon a number of other theories to produce a fuller explanation for crime
- also highlights the importance of everyone tackling and taking crime seriously

Question 10

Differences and similarities between right and left realism

Answer 10

similarities
- both believe crime is a real problem that is increasing
- believe chances of being a victim has increased
- fear of crime is a rational response

differences
- right R blame the individual and lack of self control
- left R blame structural inequalities and deprivation
- right R have a tough stance against offenders