Realism Flashcards
Crime is not just a construction
- significant rise in the crime rates
- concerned about the widespread fear of crime and the impact of crime on its victims
- other theories have failed to offer realistic solutions to the problem of crime and they propose what they regard as practical policies to reduce it
Differences between realism and previous theories
- they abandon ‘grand theories’ such as Marxism. They are not interested in ‘deep structural causes’ such as capitalism as criminologists can’t get rid of capitalism
- they are mire ‘pragmatic’ they ask how governments can reduce crime here and now, and work within the constraints of the social system
- you need to know about two types - right and left realism
History of realism
- emerged in the 70s and 80s - shifting politics to the right - nye right governments in uk and USA
- stripping back of welfare state and ‘get tough’ stance on crime
- right realists = share new right/Neo conservative political outlook and support the politics above
- left realists = socialists and favour different approaches/policies for reducing crime
Right realism - what causes crime?
- rational choice theory
- broken windows theory
- the underclass
How should we control crime?
- situational crime prevention - cctv and ‘target hardening’
- environmental crime prevention - zero tolerance policing and ASBOs
Right realism
- crime threatens societies work ethic and undermines social cohesion
- James Q Wilson - main right realists thinker was special advisor for crime to president Reagan
- criminologists gad produced many theories of crime but no workable solutions in curbing the rising crime rate
- practical crime control measures were needed
- more focus on control and punishment rather than rehabilitation or tackling the cause of crime
- labelling and critical criminology = too sympathetic to the criminal
- right realists do make some suggestions bout what causes crime although their focus is on how to tackle crime
Rational choice theory
- an important element in the right realists theory of crime is the idea that crime is a matter of individual choice - individuals choose to commit crime
-stats that most criminals are rational actors. If the criminal calculates that the risk of getting caught is low, or that the punishment if caught will not be serve, then they are more likely to commit crime, assuming that the reward for doing so is high enough. They are rational in that that weigh up the costs and benefits in order to asses whether a crime is worth committing
Crime will increase if the following happens
- if crime brings higher rewards relative to working within the rules of society rewards could no material, or they could be things like higher status or money security
- there is no risk getting caught committing a crime
- there is no punishment of crime
Cohen and Felson - ‘routine activities theory’ argued that in most circumstances social control mechanisms, lack of opportunity and/or the risk of getting caught prevented crime from taking place. Crime therefore needed three conditions to take place:
1. Individuals who were motivated to offended
2. The availability of opportunity and targets
3. The lack of capable garudiauns such as parents or police who might prevent crime occurring
- most crime in their view was opportunistic, rather than planned in advance. Therefore, if individuals motivated to commit crimes encountered easy opportunities to commit the in the routine activities of their daily lives then crime was more likely to occur
Evaluation of rational choice theory
- it seems to explain most property crime - which is 80% of crime
- to holds criminals responsible for their actions - unlike labelling theory
- it does not explain crimes of emotion/ crimes of passion e.g murder, domestic abuse, such crimes that are a ‘spur’ of the moment and do not involve rational choice
- status may sometimes come from the fact that you are prepared to take the risk of getting caught
Broken windows theory
- based on James Q Wilson and George killings article ‘broken windows’ - described as ‘perhaps the most influential single article on crime prevention evert written’ - downes
- use the phrase ‘broken windows’ to stand for all the various signs of disorder and lack of concern for others that are found in some neighbourhoods. This includes undue nose, graffiti, begging, dog fouling, littering, vandalism and so on. They argue that leaving broken windows unrepaired, tolerating aggressive behaviour etc sends out a signal that no one cares
- there is an absence of both formal social control concerned with serious crime and Tuen a blind eye to petty nuisance behaviour, while members of the community feel intimidated and powerless. Without remedial action, the situation deteriorates, tipping the neighbourhood into a spiral of decline. Respectable people move out if they can and the are becomes a magnet for devainats
-other successful programs were put in place to tackle drug dealing and begging. This resulted in a 50% reduction in crime in New York between the 1993 and 1996
Evaluation of broken windows theory
- supporting - CSEW stats suggest higher levels of crime in poorer neighbourhood
- this is mixed evidence of whether high levels of social disorder lead to higher levels of criminality
- the concepts of both social disorder and crime are hard to operationalise (define and measure), it’s difficult to test the theory
The under class
- Charles Murray argued that changes to the family structure was responsible for much of the increases in the crime rate in the 1970s and 80s - he largely attributes the growth of crime because of a growing underclass or ‘new rubble’ who are defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly.
- the children of the underclass fail too lean self control and the difference between right and wrong
- the underclass has increased because of:
1. Increasing welfare dependency
2. Decline of marriage and the growth of lone parent families - according to Murray, lone mothers are ineffective agents of socialisation, especially for boys. Absent fathers mean that boys lack parental discipline and appropriate male role models. As a result, young males turn to other delinquent roles models on the street to gain status through crime rather then supporting their families through a steady job
- increasing crime is effectively a result of children growing up surrounded by delinquent, deviant criminal adults which creates a perfect criminogenic environment
- for Murray, the underclass is not only a source of crime, its very existence threatens societies cohesion by undermining the values of hard work and personal responsibility
Evaluation of the underclass
- from a Marxists point of view, there may be a deeper structural causes which explain the emergence of the underclass - these people are victims of injustices of the capitalists systems
- there is an ideological bias to the theory - the media exaggerate the crimes of the underclass and the public focus on the feckless underclass and fail to notice the crimes of the elite
How should we control crime?
1. Situational crime prevention
- focus on the specific point at which potential victims and criminals come together, making it harder for the criminal to commit crime. The set, directly from rational choice theory and involve either reducing the opportunity for people to commit crime or increasing the risk of getting caught when committing a crime
- there are two basic ways you can do this:
- increasing surveillance of the population (monitoring their behaviour and making them aware of the fact they are being monitored
- target hardening (making buildings, objects and people harder to steal or kidnap or damage)
- appealing because they are relatively cheap and simple to important. Situational crime prevention techniques can be carried out by a wide range of actors - not only formal social control agencies such as the government, police but also local councils, schools, business and private individuals can make their property and possessions harder to steal
Felson study - the bus terminal in New York - reshaping the physical environment to ‘design out’ crime lead to a huge reduction in crime.
Evaluation of situational crime prevention
Strengths:
- relatively easy to implement (pragmatic)
- there is evidence this works to reduce crime in built up urban areas
- makes the public feel safer
Weaknesses:
- crime displacement (just moves crime on to other areas)
- too expensive for rural areas with dispersed populations
- only those wealthy enough can afford it
- it ignores the underlying causes of crime
- surveillance intrudes on civil liberties
Environmental crime prevention
- involve changing the broader area or environment in which crime occurs through increasing formal and informal social control measures in order to clamp down on a tie social behaviour and prevent an area from deteriorating
- these strategies tend to rely much more heavily on the police than situational crime prevention strategies
- stem directly from Wilson and kellings broken windows theory
- examples include zero tolerance policing, curfews, street drinking bans etc
