Right realist perspectives Flashcards
Zero tolerance policing
a policing strategy that involves relentless order maintenance and aggressive law enforcement, against even minor crimes and incivilities - current home office policy influenced by right realism
People are naturally selfish
Right realism suggests people need to have their natural tendency to take shortcuts inc. deviance/crime regulated by forms of social order
… linked high crime reates to an unemployed workshy underclass, who live in broken communities, characterised by welfare dependency, lack or individual responsibility and lack of respect for social order, dysfunctional family life etc
Murray (New Right) - emphasising lack of community controls
… suggested that people choose to commit crime because they decide that the benefits of crime outweigh the potential costs
Cornish and Clarke - suggest heavy policing and harsher punishment as a solution
… suggests that trying to eradicate poverty won’t reduce crime
Wilson
in the US in the 1960s anti-poverty programmes were accompanied by rises in crime
Wilson and Kelling - broken window theory
forces of social order should clamp down on the first sign of deterioration in an area
the character of neighbourhoods should be preserved to prevent crime
Right realists suggest some areas are past saving
So forces of social order should ignore the worst areas and focus on areas which still have hope of being fixed
… argues that street crimes are important since they undermine community
Wilson
… concentrates on “predatory street crime” because the public are more concerned about street crime than victimless crime or white collar crime
Wilson
… argue that there is a biological element to causing crime, and some people have a predisposition towards crime. This potential is more likely in those who aren’t properly socialised (parent’s fault for not teaching them right from wrong)
Wilson and Hernstein
Strengths of right realism
- addresses immediate causes of crime
- provides policies for reducing crime
- recognises importance of community control and community responses in affecting crime levels
Limitations of right realism
- doesn’t address wider societal issues
- doesn’t recognise white collar/ corporate crime or ‘hidden crimes’ like DV
- Cornish and Clarke suggest all offences have benefits for the offender but what about vandalism etc
- Matthews found there was no correlation between broken windows and crime
- Jones suggested it would lead to an unfair criminal justice system (concentrating on minor offenders)
- Jones dismisses biological element as outdated and already discredited
Key features of right realism
- value consensus and shared morality underpin society
- people are naturally selfish
- community control
- rational choice and opportunity
- crime will always exist