Topic 6b: Left Realist solutions to crime Flashcards
Intro
During the 1980’s Marxist and interactionist approaches were criticized for ignoring the fact that crime was actually a problem for many people and that crime rates were increasing. This lead to the creation of realist approaches. Left Realists differ from Marxists in that they do use official statistics to shape their responses to crime. Left realists place a big emphasis on creating practical policies to help reduce crime and its impact on individuals and communities. They focus on the organisation of society, and especially the inequality, disadvantage and poverty that results from this and which creates the environment in which crime might be the norm. These are the three solutions they use.
Conclusion
Feminist criminologists, such as Carlen have argued that Left Realist criminology accepts the establishment’s view of what crime is and so concentrates its attention on issues to do with street crime and burglary. Carlen says Left realists fail to explore the way that society harms women - for example there ought to be much greater stress upon issues of domestic violence, and solutions to it. In reply, Young has claimed that Left Realism has been very concerned with domestic violence and sees it as one of the main problems that must be addressed.
