Realist Theories of Crime Flashcards
What are realist theories of crime?
Approaches viewing crime as a real problem to tackle, not just a social construction by control agencies.
Why did realist approaches emerge?
Due to a shift to the right in politics (1970s-1980s), emphasizing strong law-and-order policies.
Which leaders symbolized the shift to realism?
Margaret Thatcher (UK) and Ronald Reagan (USA), with tough stances on crime.
What stance do right realists support?
Neo-conservative political outlook, favoring tough measures, punishment, and crime control.
What stance do left realists adopt?
Socialist policies aiming at reducing crime through addressing inequality and social causes.
How do right realists view crime?
As real, destructive, undermining social cohesion, and threatening society’s work ethic.
Who notably influenced right realism politically?
James Q. Wilson, advisor to Reagan, influencing ‘zero tolerance’ policies.
Why do right realists reject critical criminology?
They see it as sympathetic to criminals, lacking practical crime reduction strategies.
What do right realists emphasize as crime reduction methods?
Control, containment, punishment rather than rehabilitation.
What three factors do right realists attribute to causing crime?
Biological differences, inadequate socialisation, rational choice theory.
What biological factors increase criminality according to right realism?
Aggressiveness, extroversion, risk-taking, low impulse control.
Which theorists proposed the biosocial theory of criminal behaviour?
Wilson and Herrnstein (1985).
What did Herrnstein and Murray (1994) identify as a primary biological cause of crime?
Low intelligence, deemed biologically determined.
How does right realism view socialisation?
Effective socialisation reduces criminal tendencies; the nuclear family is crucial.
How do right realists define the underclass?
As failing to socialise children properly, particularly due to absent fathers.
Who coined the concept of welfare dependency leading to crime?
Charles Murray, emphasizing absent fathers and lone mothers.
How does Murray describe welfare policies since the 1960s?
As a generous revolution leading to dependency and undermining the nuclear family.
According to Bennett et al (1996), what criminogenic environment forms due to inadequate socialisation?
Environment fostering street criminals, delinquency, predation.
What is rational choice theory (RCT)?
Idea that crime results from individuals’ free will, weighing risks/rewards before offending.
Who proposed the rational choice theory?
Ron Clarke (1980).
How do right realists see crime calculations according to rational choice theory?
Crime as consciously chosen based on perceived benefits outweighing risks/costs.
What does Wilson (1975) argue influences crime rates significantly?
Availability of legitimate vs. illegitimate opportunities; rational calculation favours crime when risk is low.
What theory explains why crime occurs based on guardianship and opportunity?
Felson’s routine activity theory (2002).
What three elements must converge for crime, according to Felson?
Motivated offender, suitable target, absence of capable guardian.
What type of crime does right realism struggle to explain?
Violent crimes committed impulsively without rational calculation.
Why do right realists reject structural explanations (poverty/inequality)?
They see them as excuses, since not all poor commit crimes.
What do right realists propose as the main crime reduction strategy?
Increasing the cost of crime through control, surveillance, and punishment.
What is the zero-tolerance approach advocated by right realism?
Immediate, harsh punishment for minor offenses to deter further crime.
What example is given of zero tolerance in practice?
New York’s policing in the 1990s, targeting minor crimes (Kelling & Wilson’s ‘Broken Windows’).
Why is zero tolerance criticized?
It overemphasizes street crime, displaces rather than reduces crime, ignores structural issues.
How do left realists view crime?
As a real social problem, particularly affecting disadvantaged groups, needing practical solutions.
Who developed left realism?
Lea and Young in the 1980s and 1990s.
What do left realists say about Marxists’ approach to crime?
Marxists neglect working-class crime impacts and romanticize criminals as rebels.
How do left realists view neo-Marxists?
As ignoring real victims, treating working-class crime as symbolic resistance.
What is the ‘aetiological crisis’ noted by left realism?
Rising working-class crime since the 1950s, necessitating practical rather than theoretical explanations.
According to left realism, what three causes lead to crime?
Relative deprivation, subculture, marginalisation.
What is relative deprivation according to Lea and Young?
Feeling deprived compared to others, intensified by media and advertising.
How does relative deprivation alone not fully explain crime?
Not all who experience deprivation commit crime; theory over-predicts crime levels.
How do subcultures contribute to crime in left realism?
They offer collective solutions to deprivation, can lead to crime if legitimate avenues are blocked.
What does Young argue about subcultures in late modernity?
Increasing diversity and weakening consensus, causing varied responses to deprivation.
How does marginalisation lead to crime?
Marginalised groups have unclear goals, lack representation, and may resort to crime to express frustration.
Which groups are typically marginalised?
Unemployed youth lacking political or economic power.
What does left realism say about modern society and exclusion?
Late modernity increases exclusion, inequality, and insecurity, promoting crime.
How has late modern society impacted crime according to Young (2002)?
Increased individualism, weakened community, and economic instability heightened crime levels.
How does left realism view the falling crime rate since the 1990s?
Crime remains significant despite statistical decline; fear and insecurity persist.
Why does left realism highlight the rising antisocial behaviour rate?
Government policies (ASBOs) have broadened the definition of crime, inflating figures.
What solutions do left realists propose for tackling crime?
Democratic policing, reducing inequality, addressing structural causes.
What does democratic policing involve?
Improving trust with communities, public accountability, and partnership approaches.
What did Kinsey, Lea, and Young (1986) argue policing should focus on?
Public cooperation rather than military-style policing to increase crime reporting and solve crimes effectively.
Why do left realists criticize the police?
They lack legitimacy and alienate communities, reducing cooperation and effectiveness.
How can structural causes of crime be tackled according to left realism?
Through social policy reducing inequalities (housing, employment, education).
How do left realists view New Labour’s approach (1997-2010)?
Similar in some respects (ASBOs, New Deal), but ineffective in addressing structural issues.
Why does Young critique New Labour policies?
Seen as attempts to recreate past ‘golden age’ community; addressed symptoms, not underlying social issues.
Why do Henry and Milovanovic criticize left realism?
It focuses excessively on street crime, ignoring corporate and powerful offenders.
Why do interactionists critique left realism?
It relies on quantitative data, overlooking offenders’ motivations.
Why do left realists assume value consensus according to critics?
They assume subcultural deviance occurs only when mainstream values break down.
What critique do Marxists offer against left realism?
It neglects corporate crime, emphasizing street crime by the poor instead.
How do left and right realism differ politically?
Right realism (neo-conservative), left realism (reformist socialist).
What shared view do left and right realism have about crime?
Both view crime as real, serious, and not socially constructed.
How do realists differ in their solutions to crime?
Right prioritizes order, left prioritizes justice and equality.
Why do right realists see criminals as rational?
Criminals weigh the costs and benefits rationally before committing a crime.
How do left realists see criminality?
As a product of relative deprivation and marginalisation, requiring social solutions.
What issue do right realists face when explaining violent crimes?
Such crimes often lack rationality, undermining their rational choice explanation.
Why do left realists emphasize accountable policing?
It ensures policing is fair, transparent, and responsive to community needs.
Why do left realists believe crime control needs a multi-agency approach?
Crime’s root causes are social; social services, housing, education must collaborate with police.
How did the New Labour government attempt to tackle crime?
ASBOs, the New Deal programme, focusing on unemployment and antisocial behaviour.
How is relative deprivation linked to late modern society by Young?
Increased media and consumer culture heightens sense of deprivation and crime risk.
Why do realists criticize other sociological theories?
For not providing practical solutions to crime reduction.
Why might tackling structural causes of crime be unpopular politically?
It requires substantial social reform and investment, contrasting with simpler punitive measures.
How can focusing on street crime distort the crime problem?
It ignores white-collar, corporate crime, which can have greater social/economic harm.
How do realists view the role of punishment?
Right realism sees it as deterrence; left realism sees it as necessary but insufficient without addressing inequalities.
Why is it argued left realism can over-predict crime?
Many deprived individuals never engage in crime, challenging deprivation as a sole cause.
Why does left realism emphasize reducing inequality?
Greater equality reduces deprivation and marginalisation, lowering crime motivation.
How do left realists evaluate the impact of government policies like ASBOs and New Deal?
Policies address crime symptoms (anti-social behaviour), but fail to tackle root structural issues such as inequality and discrimination.
Why does Young (2002) criticize attempts to recreate community policies like the ‘Golden Age’ of the 1950s?
They do not rebuild genuine community cohesion and merely superficially address social disorder.
According to left realism, why are structural solutions to crime often unpopular politically?
Structural solutions (jobs, housing, equality) require significant state investment and long-term changes, making them politically unpopular compared to punitive short-term measures.
How do left realists explain the diversity of subcultural responses to deprivation in late modernity?
Increased individualism and social fragmentation result in varied subcultures, making crime responses unpredictable and less uniform.
According to Henry and Milovanovic (1996), why is left realism limited?
Left realism accepts authority definitions of crime (street crime), neglecting crimes committed by powerful groups and corporations.
Why do Marxists criticize left realism’s approach to crime?
Marxists argue left realism neglects corporate and white-collar crimes, focusing disproportionately on street crimes committed by poorer groups.
Why do interactionists criticize left realism’s reliance on quantitative data?
Quantitative surveys cannot uncover deeper meanings or motives behind crimes, ignoring offenders’ subjective experiences.
How do critics view left realism’s assumption of a value consensus?
They argue left realism wrongly assumes crime only occurs when shared mainstream values break down, overlooking diverse values and conflicts.
What criticism is made about left realism’s ability to predict crime accurately?
The theory of relative deprivation over-predicts crime because not all experiencing deprivation commit crimes.
Why does left realism emphasize multi-agency approaches to crime?
Crime has complex social roots; police alone cannot tackle these issues without collaboration from agencies like education, housing, and social services.
According to Kinsey, Lea, and Young (1986), why is policing often ineffective?
Policing methods are too military and alienate communities, reducing trust, cooperation, and crime-reporting by the public.
What distinguishes left realism politically from right realism?
Left realism promotes reformist socialist policies focusing on equality and social justice, while right realism supports neo-conservative policies emphasizing strict control and punishment.
How do realists differ regarding the goals of crime control?
Right realism prioritizes social order, containment, and punishment, while left realism emphasizes justice, fairness, and reducing social inequality.
What criticism is directed at right realism’s zero-tolerance policies by Young (2011)?
Success in crime reduction (New York) was exaggerated as crime rates had already been falling, and zero-tolerance displaced crime rather than reduced it overall.
According to right realism, why might increasing legitimate opportunities reduce crime?
If legitimate opportunities become more available and rewarding, rational calculation by potential offenders shifts away from crime as risks begin to outweigh benefits.
How do left realists view government crime policies post-1997 (New Labour)?
Policies (like ASBOs) largely failed by targeting behaviour symptoms rather than underlying social causes such as poverty and exclusion.
According to left realism, why has the perceived crime rate remained high despite statistical falls since the 1990s?
Rising public fear and broader definitions of anti-social behaviour maintain perceptions of crime severity, even if statistics show declines.
Why is it problematic that realist theories focus predominantly on street crime?
This focus ignores corporate crime, white-collar crime, and state crime, which often cause significant social and economic harm.
Why might left realism’s policies for reducing inequality be difficult to implement politically?
They require extensive public investment, structural reform, and progressive taxation, challenging entrenched interests and conservative ideologies.
What role do education and housing services play in realist crime reduction strategies?
They tackle underlying structural inequalities and marginalisation, addressing root causes of crime beyond policing alone.
According to left realism, what is the impact of late modernity on crime?
Increased instability, individualism, and marketisation have exacerbated relative deprivation and marginalisation, intensifying crime problems.
How does the realist approach differ from critical criminology?
Realist approaches offer practical policy solutions for crime, whereas critical criminology views crime as a social construction and critiques societal structures without clear policy solutions.
What criticism do Henry and Milovanovic (1996) offer of left realism?
It accepts authorities’ definitions of crime, being street crime committed by the poor, ignoring crimes committed by powerful groups against the poor.
Why do interactionists critique left realism?
Because left realists rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, they cannot explain offenders’ motives.
According to critics, how does left realism wrongly assume value consensus?
Left realists assume subcultural theory means crime only occurs when shared mainstream values break down.
Why do Marxists criticize left realism?
Left realism focuses excessively on high-crime inner-city areas, neglecting corporate crime, which Marxists argue is more harmful.
According to Young, why did New Labour’s crime policies fail?
They only addressed symptoms, such as anti-social behaviour, rather than tackling underlying causes like inequality and discrimination.
Why is tackling structural causes of crime politically challenging, according to left realism?
Because it involves significant investment in jobs, housing, and community facilities, requiring long-term social reform.
Why do left realists advocate multi-agency approaches to crime?
Crime has complex social causes; solutions require collaboration between social services, housing, schools, and policing.
What is Young’s (2002) view on late modernity’s impact on crime?
Increased individualism, insecurity, and marketisation have intensified feelings of relative deprivation, leading to higher crime rates.
What problem arises from left realism’s focus on street crime?
It ignores more damaging corporate crimes and crimes committed by powerful social groups.
How do left realists view policing effectiveness?
Policing is ineffective when it alienates communities through military-style methods rather than fostering cooperation and accountability.
How does left realism evaluate New Labour’s use of ASBOs?
ASBOs did not effectively rebuild a sense of community or tackle deeper social issues; instead, they criminalized youth behaviours.
Why does left realism argue democratic policing is essential?
Democratic policing builds public trust and cooperation, increasing crime reporting and improving police effectiveness.
Why does right realism’s zero-tolerance policy face criticism?
Crime in New York had already declined significantly before zero tolerance policies; the policy merely displaced crime rather than truly reducing it.
Why might left realism’s solutions to crime face resistance politically?
Structural solutions involve redistributive policies and extensive social reforms which are politically unpopular compared to short-term punitive measures.
