right realism

Question 1

what theory is associated with right realism?

Answer 1

the new right

Question 2

what does right realism have a big practical impact on?

Answer 2

the home office policy, as it provides practical policies for crime prevention

Question 3

what are the 5 key features of right realism?

Answer 3

-value consensus and shared morality underpin society
-people are naturally selfish
-community control
-rational choice and opportunity
-crime will always exist

Question 4

what is meant by ‘value consensus and shared morality underpin society’?

Answer 4

-reflected in the law
-criminals are immoral because they breach this consensus

Question 5

what is meant by ‘people are naturally selfish’?

Answer 5

-people are self-seeking, have natural tenancy to take shortcuts to what they want, including doing crime
-similar to control theory

Question 6

what is meant by ‘community control’?

Answer 6

-poor socialisation and lack of community controls are what cause crime
-most effective form of crime control is strengthening community bonds (hirschi’s control theory)
-stricter socialisation, and re-establishing social cohesion is likely to be more effective than police action
-Murray (new right theorist) - links crime to an unemployed workshy social class living in broken communities, also fail to properly socialise their children, as well as living in high crime areas with lack of community pressure to control deviance

Question 7

what is meant by ‘rational choice and opportunity’?

Answer 7

-people weigh up the costs and benefits of what choice to make
-cornish and clarke - applied rational choice and opportunity theory to crime, saying people think the benefits of crime outweigh the cost

Question 8

what is meant by ‘crime will always exist’?

Answer 8

-some people’s natural selfishness and greed will slip through social controls, no matter how strict
-so focus shouldn’t be on the causes of crime, but on how to reduce the impact of crime on its victims

Question 9

what are the strengths of right realism?

Answer 9

-addresses the immediate causes of crime
-provides policies for reducing opportunities for crime
-recognises the importance of community control and community responses in affecting the level of crime (same as left realism)

Question 10

what are the weaknesses of right realism?

Answer 10

-doesn’t address wider structural causes of crime
-doesn’t pay attention to white-collar crime and other ‘hidden crimes’ like DV
-suggests offenders act rationally, but some crimes are impulsive/irrational eg vandalism (oppose with Lyng and Katz)