Right realism and left realism

Question 1

According to right realists, what three factors contribute to crime?

Answer 1

Biological differences
Socilisation and the underclass
Rational choice

Question 2

Who argues that biological differences contribute to crime?

Answer 2

Right realists

Wilson and Hernstein

Question 3

How do biologial differences contribute to crime?

Answer 3

Wilson and Hernstein: They argue that some people are biologically disposed to criminal behaviour and that social factors also play a large part

having at least some biological base; for example, personality traits such as aggression, risk taking, and low impulse control are factors.

Question 4

Wilson and Herrnstein + Similarly Supported by Herrnstein and Murray

Answer 4

Support- The main cause of crime is low intelligence, which they also see as biologically determined.

Question 5

Right Realism: Causes of Crime: Biological Differences:

Evaluation

Answer 5

X - Tend to over-emphasise biological factors and their contribution towards crime.

Lilly et al criticise the right realist view, for example, as their study showed that IQ differences account for less than 3% of differences in offending, thus indicating that crimes committed are not solely down to biological traits.

Question 6

Who argues that socilisation and the underclass contribute to crime?

Answer 6

Right realists

Murray

Question 7

Right Realism: Causes of Crime: Inadequate Socialisation

Murray

Answer 7

Socilisation reduces the risk of crime as it involves self control and learning the morals of society.
Murray: The nuclear family does this best and the rise in lone parent families means that boys lack dicipline.

Question 8

Inadequate Socialisation: Murray: What has inadequate socialisation resulted in?

Answer 8

Murray believes that what has come from this is the ‘Generous revolution’ where an increasing number of people have become dependent on the state which has further led to the decline of marriage because women and children can live off benefits.

Question 9

Inadequate Socialisation: how are lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents?

Answer 9

Due to the lack of a male role model; especially to young boys.

This therefore can often cause young boys to turn to other, often delinquent, role models on the street and gain status through crime rather than through supporting their families through a steady job.

Question 10

Inadequate Socialisation: Evaluation

Answer 10

X - Marxists - They are concerned only with street crime, and ignore e.g. corporate crime which affects i.e. the public etc.

X - Left Realists - Critical of theory for locating the underlying causes of crime in terms of inadequate social control. They argue that social inequality is a more significant factor.

Question 11

Right Realism: Causes of Crime: Rational Choice Theory

Outline.

Answer 11

This assumes that criminals have free will and the ability to choose whether to commit a crime.

Question 12

Who argues that rational choice contributes to crime?

Answer 12

Right realists

Clarke

Question 13

How does rational choice contribute to crime?

Answer 13

Clarke: People have the choice to commit crime and will do so if the benifits outweigh the punishment
Criminals will be deterred by more police officers and harsher sentences. short sentencing etc, crime rates are rising

Question 14

Why is Rational Choice theory flawed?

Answer 14

Not all criminals have a choice in whether to commit a crime or not.

Question 15

Rational Choice Theory: Evaluation

Answer 15

X - It ignores wider structural causes of crime such as poverty, whereby an individual must to commit a crime in order to survive.

X - Some Sociologists - It overstates offenders’ rationality and how far they make cost-benefit calculations before committing a crime. While it may explain some utilitarian crime, it may not explain impulsive or violent crime

Question 16

Right Realism Analysis: Left Realism

Answer 16

Whilst Right Realists see criminals as making a choice to engage in deviant behaviour, left realism focuses on the impact that relative deprivation and individualism has on communities, which causes them to commit crimes.

Like Right Realists, Left Realists similarly blame increasing social inequalities, however they also see the need for crime control and a need to implement real policies.

Question 17

Right Realist view on tackling crime

Answer 17

RR - Do not believe it is fruitful to try to deal with the causes of crime.

Instead, their main focus is on the control, containment, and punishment of offenders, rather than eliminating the underlying causes of offending, or rehabilitating them.

Question 18

How do right realists aim to tackle crime?

Answer 18

By taking measures to make it less attractive
Zero tolerance policy
broken window
target hardening

Question 19

Who came up with zero tolerance policy?

Answer 19

Wilson and Kelling

Right realists

Question 20

What is zero tolerance policy/ broken window?

Answer 20

Maintaining the orderly character of neighbourhoods and having no tolerance for vandalism, disorderly behaviour or other crimes. They aim to control the streets so normal people feel safer

Question 21

How does Young critisize zero tolernace policy?

Answer 21

The sucess of the policy in New York was a myth as crime was already falling. Police would then be preoccupied with smaller and smaller crimes until order was maintained

Question 22

what is target hardening?

Answer 22

decrease rewards and increase costs of crime. greater use of prison and punishment to maximise their deterrent effect

Question 23

How is the right realist approach critisized?

Answer 23

Ignores white collar crime
Gives the police opportunity to discriminate against groups such as youth
Overemphasis on control
Zero tolerance policy just leads to crime moving to other areas

Question 24

Zero Tolerance Policy: Evaluation

Answer 24

X - Zero tolerance of an area just leads to the displacement of crime to other areas. Furthermore, it gives police free-rain to discriminate against minorities, the homeless etc.

X - Left Realists - opposite view to RR - the causes of crime lie in the unequal structure of society and major structural changes are needed if we want to reduce crime.

Question 25

What do left realists think?

Answer 25

They agree with marxists that society is unequal but think this should be changed gradually rather than in a revolution
They believe in practical solutions

Question 26

Left Realism: Causes of Crime: Relative Deprivation

.

Answer 26

young poverty alone does not cause crime. poverty rates remained the same from 1930-1980, but crime rates soared during the 80s (15x). = crime= Relative deprivation
The disparity between high expectations of individuals and the reality of what they can they achieve given the low employment and low paid jobs= frustration = ppl turn to crime to solve this situation

Question 27

LR: Relative deprivation alone does not necessarily lead to crime: What do Lea and Young argue?

Answer 27

Lea and Young - relative deprivation and individualism (the concern with one’s own individual rights) together can cause crime, but not individually, by encouraging the pursuit of self-interest at the expense of others.

Question 28

Left Realism: Relative Deprivation: Evaluation

Answer 28

X - Relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not all those who experience it commit crime.

X - The theory over-predicts the amount of crime when in reality; only a select few will commit a crime as a result of relative deprivation.

Question 29

Left Realism: Causes of Crime: Formation of Subcultures

Answer 29

Working class subcultures form as a response to social inequalities;
Criminal sc still sub to the goals + values of society
E.g. Ghettos in the USA hooked on Gucci, BMW - opportunities to achieve those blacked crimes

Question 30

Left Realists: Formation of Subcultures: Evaluation

Answer 30

X - Their use of subcultural theory means that left realists assume that value consensus exists and that crime only occurs when this breaks down.

Question 31

Left Realism: Causes of Crime: Marginalisation

Answer 31

Process certai groups as they find themselves ‘on the edge’ of society. political, economic
those=no one represents them= riots as political action
Being powerless, they often express their frustration through criminal means ie. violence and rioting.

Question 32

Left Realism: Marginalisation: Evaluation

Answer 32

X - Interactionists - As they rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, they can not explain offenders motives.

Instead, we need qualitative data to reveal their meanings in order to understand why they committed the crime, and see if there are similarities between offenders of a similar crime.

Question 33

Left Realism Analysis: Right Realism

+ how to tackle crime

Answer 33

Like left realists, right realists increasingly blame social inequalities as the cause of crime.

Left realists however argue that the causes of crime lie in the unequal structure of society and major structural changes are needed if we want to reduce crime.

Question 34

Left Realism: Tackling Crime

Answer 34

Main Solution: get rid of underlying social inequality. They argue that the state needs to tackle discrimination, inequality of opportunity and unfairness of rewards and also introduce policies to provide housing and decent jobs for all.

Question 35

Left Realism Evaluation 1. General

Answer 35

X - Such policies implemented does not create secure, permanent jobs, or seek to rid of all crime. Trying to create a stable community does not instantly eradicate all aspects of anti-social behaviour; there will be other aspects contributing to crime which will need to be addressed

Question 36

Left Realism Evaluation 1. Right Realists

Answer 36

X - Tackling Crime - Do not believe it is fruitful to try to deal with the causes of crime. Instead, their main focus is on the control, containment, and punishment of offenders, rather than eliminating the underlying causes of offending, or rehabilitating them. Through ensuring e.g. punishments are given out soon after the offence, it will maximise their deterrent effect, thus reducing crime in the long run.

Question 37

Left & Right Realism Conclusion + why they are flawed

Answer 37

Offer a different perspective than other theories such as the labelling theory, who ignore the idea of free will.
Flawed because: Focus heavily on the reasons as to why crimes are committed and tend to move away from creating possible solutions in order to prevent future crime.

Whilst Left and Right Realist theories are attempting to propose solutions, they are both too radical in order to help the modern society. It would make sense for the sides to work together in order to create a balanced and more sensible approach to crime prevention