Right realism's view on crime

Question 1

What are right realist’s basic ideas ?

Answer 1

• focuses on street crime
• blame individual offenders
• focus on strategies to control

Question 2

What is Wilson’s study on explaining crime ?

Answer 2

Focuses on long-term crime trends:
- young males are more likely to commit crime
-rates of crime fluctuates depending on the economy
- Social and cultural changes in society impact socialisation = creates criminals E.g. economic recession, change in political party

Question 3

What was Wilson’s second study ?

Answer 3

• Crime can be prevented by enfoci the law and making it difficult to commit crim for the individual
  Biological preferences = Biological differences make some individuals more pre-disposed to crime. Those who are aggressive, risk taker etc
  Socialisation = effective socialisation reduces the risk of offending. Murray believes crime is rising due to lone parents
  Rational choice theory = individuals have free will and a choice to commit crime.
  Clarke - committing crime is a choice based on rational calculations, if the reward outweighs the risk then th person is more likely to offend

Question 4

What was Wilson and Kelling’s study ?

Answer 4

Broken window thesis
- Looked at a derelict building with one broken window and found that once one window was broken then more got broken
- They found that once one communal barrier was broken, deviance can happen anywhere.
- The presence of more police can stop this chain-reaction from happening