Realism and Crime

Question 1

What is the main Right realist view of crime?

Answer 1

sees crime as a real and growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens societies work ethic.

Question 2

What are right realists most concerned to provide

Answer 2

Realistic solutions to crime reduction.

Question 3

For right realists, crime is the product of what three factors?

Answer 3

Biological differences, socialisation and the underclass and the rational choice to offend.

Question 4

What right realist put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour (biological differences)?

Answer 4

Wilson and Hernstein 1985

Question 5

Explain Wilson and Hernstein’s 1985 theory of biological differences?

Answer 5

biological differences between individuals make some people innately more strongly predisposed to commit crime than others.

Question 6

Give an example of biological differences, that put some people at greater risk of offending

Answer 6

Personality traits such as aggressiveness, extroversion and low impulse control put some people at greater risk of offending.

Question 7

What is the best agent of socialisation according to right realists

Answer 7

The nuclear family

Question 8

What right realist claims crime rate is increasing due to a growing underclass who fail to adequately socialise their children.

Answer 8

Charles Murray 1990

Question 9

Describe Murrayt’s explanation for the increased crime rate (RIGHT REALISM)

Answer 9

the welfare states ‘generous revolution’ has led to the growth of lone parent families. Murray claims lone mothers are ineffective socialising agents, absent fathers mean boys lack paternal discipline. As a result young males turn to delinquent role models in the street, gaining status through crime.

Question 10

Who is the main right realist rational choice theorist?

Answer 10

Ron Clarke 1980

Question 11

What does rational choice theorist Ron Clarke argue the main explanation of crime.

Answer 11

the decision to commit crime is as a choice based on rational calculation of the likely consquences.

Question 12

Right realist, Felsons 2002 routine activity theory:

Answer 12

for crime to occur, there must be a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a “capable guardian”

Question 13

What are some criticisms AO3 if the right realist explanation of the causes of crime.

Answer 13

• ignores wider structural causes (poverty )
• Overstates offenders rationality, how far they make cost-benefit calculations, while this may explain utilitarian crime, does not explain impulsive or violent crime.
• Over-emphasises biological factors- Lilly et al 2002, IQ differences account for less than 3% of differences in offending.

Question 14

Right Realist view on tackling crime

Answer 14

Seek practical measures to make crime seem less attractive. Control, containment and punishment rather than rehabilitating.

Question 15

What is the main right realist method for tackling crime

Answer 15

Zero-tolerance policing

Question 16

Wilson and Kellings 1982 article Broken Windows, supporting zero-tolerance policing..

Answer 16

essential to maintain orderly character of neighbourhoods to prevent crime. Any signs of deterioration, vandalism, graffiti must be dealt with immediately.

Question 17

when was zero-tolerance policing first introduced?

Answer 17

New York 1994

Question 18

What does Young 2011 argue on zero-tolerance policing success

Answer 18

its ‘success’ was a myth peddled by politicians and police keen to take the credit for the falling rates of crime, even though this was already occurring prior.

Question 19

A03 of Right realist ‘Zero-tolerance’ policing

Answer 19

-Preoccupied with petty street crime, ignores more costly and harmful corporate crime.
- leads to displacement of crime to other areas
- gives police free-reign to discriminate against minorities, youth, the homeless and others

Question 20

Left Realist Main views.

Answer 20

Reformist sociologists, believe in gradual change. Believe we need explanations of crime that will lead to practical strategies for reducing it.

Question 21

What other sociologists do left realists accuse of not taking crime seriously

Answer 21

Marxists, neo-marxits and labelling theorists.

Question 22

Aetiological Crisis Young 2011

Answer 22

increase in crime from 1950s, especially w/c crime. Led to a crisis in explanation, for theories of crime.

Question 23

How do left realists criticise Neo-marxists?

Answer 23

They romanticise w/c criminals as latter-day robin hoods, stealing from the rich as an act of political resistance to capitalism. In fact w/c criminals mostly victims w/c people not the rich.

Question 24

How do left realists criticise Labelling-theorists

Answer 24

Labelling theorists see w/c criminals as victims of discriminatory labelling by social control agents. LR argue this neglects the real victims of crime.

Question 25

What three related causes of crime do Left realists Lea and Young 1984 identify

Answer 25

Relative deprivation, Subcultures and marginalisation

Question 26

Describe the Relative deprivation explanation of crime , left realism

Answer 26

people can resent to others for having unfairly more than them, which can lead to crime to obtain what they feel entitled too.

Question 27

Young 1999 Relative deprivation explanation

Answer 27

“a lethal combination is relative deprivation and individualism”, this causes crime by encouraging the pursuit of self-interest at the expense of others.

Question 28

For left realists what is the increasing individualisation causing

Answer 28

the disintegration of families and communities, by undermining the values of mutual support and selflessness. This weakens the informal controls, creating a spiral of antisocial behaviour, aggression and crime.

Question 29

For left-realists what is a subculture ?

Answer 29

a groups’ collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation

Question 30

What is Webers “theodicy of dispriveledge” LEFT REALISM

Answer 30

some turn to religion for spiritual comfort, which may offer conformity

Question 31

Ken Pryce 1979 study on Black community In Bristol on positive subcultures (can be an A03 against criminal subcultures)LEFT REALISM

Answer 31

these included the “Saints” or pentecostal churhgoers, a hard working, law abiding group whose collective self- help aided them in coping with life in a racist society.

Question 32

left realism- Young 2002 on subcultures as an explanation of crime

Answer 32

in USA there are neighbourhoods where there is ‘full immersion in the American Dream; a culture hooked on GUCCI, BMW, Nikes”. Opportunities to achieve these goals are legitimately blocked, so they resort to street crime.

Question 33

Marginalisation explanation for crime, LEFT REALISM

Answer 33

marginalised groups lack clear goals, and organisation to represent their interests, jus a sense of frustration and resentment, which can be expressed through criminal means.

Question 34

Who argues we are now living in a stage of late modern society, where instability, insecurity and exclusion make the problem of crime worse?

Answer 34

Young 2002

Question 35

Young notes the growing contrast of ……… and ………. as a source of relative deprivation

Answer 35

cultural exclusion and economic exclusion.

Question 36

How are reactions to crime also changing in late modern society

Answer 36

society is more diverse, hence there is less public consensus on the right and wrong, this boundary becomes blurred. The informal controls also become less effective as families and communities disintegrate.

Question 37

What is late modern society in relation to crime

Answer 37

A high-crime society with a low tolerance for crime.

Question 38

Young and a Second Aetiological crisis 2011

Answer 38

crime rates have fallen since mid-1990s, which suggests crime is no longer the major threat realists had originally claimed.

C- However, Young notes as crime is a social construction it may continue to be seen as a problem. EG Crime Survey ENG AND WALES 2019. 81% though crime had risen not fallen in last 10 years.

Question 39

what do lea and young 1986 argue about tackling crime

Answer 39

the police clear up is too Low to act as a deterrent to crime. the public must become more involved in determining polices priorities and style of policingg,

Question 40

What is the left realists main way of tackling crime

Answer 40

a multi agency approach

Question 41

what do left realists argue is an ineffective way of tackling crime, which isolates communities.

Answer 41

military policing

Question 42

What is a multi-agency approach LEFT REALISM

Answer 42

Many agencies working together to change the priorities of policing, and improve public relationships, involving them in making policing policy

Question 43

A03 of Left realism

Answer 43

• unrepresentative view, focusing on high crime inner-city areas.
• Interactionists- as left realists rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, they cannot explain offenders motives,
• Accepts the authorities definition of crime as being street crime committed by the poor, instead of defining the problem of hoe powerful groups do harm to the poor. Marxists argue this fails to explain corporate crime, which is much more harmful.

Question 44

What are right realists

Answer 44

Neo-conservatives

Question 45

What are left realists

Answer 45

Reformist Sociologists

Question 46

What do right realists prioritise

Answer 46

Social order achieved through a tough stance against offenders

Question 47

what do left realists prioritise

Answer 47

Justice, achieved through democratic policing, and reforms to create greater inequality