Right Realist Theory on Crime Flashcards
What does the Right Realist theory on crime argue?
- Criminals choose to break the law.
- Those who are badly socialised are more likely to break the law humans are naturally greedy and selfish.
- Therefore, crime is inevitable, it can only be reduced. not eradicated.
- The role of gov is to punish the criminals, not eradicate the mythical causes of crime such as edu underachievement,etc.
What are the causes of crime according to Right Realists?
- Biological differences.
- Poor socialisation and underclass values.
- Rational choice.
How are biological differences cause crime according to Wilson and Hernstein?
Biological differences make some innately prone to commit crime. Innate personality traits - aggressiveness, extroversion, low intelligence, risk taking, impulse control - lead to crime.
How to biological difference cause crime according to Hernstein and Murray?
Main cause is low intelligence - biologically determined.
How can biological predisposition to offend be decreased?
Effective socialistion - teaches self-control and the difference between right and wrong. Socialisation fails = criminality.
Why is crime increasing according to Murray?
Growing underclass - result of welfare dependency.
Why has the underclass caused crime?
Children are brought by single mothers who can’t socialisation children properly and children lack positive male role model. These children have delinquent behaviour - turn to negative role models - gain status through criminality rather than hard work.
What is the evaluation of the underclass and inadequate socialisation causing crime?
Mooney did research on single mothers in London and found 1 in 5 sufffered attacks and are therefore more likely to be victims of crime rather than its cause.
What is the Rational Choice theory?
See individuals as having free will.
What does Clarke argue about criminals?
Decision to commit crime is a choice based on rational calculation of the likely consequences. If the perecieved reward is greater than the cost of crime, e.g. getting caught, people are more likely to break the law.
What encourages crime?
Soft policies on crime - chance of getting caught are low, punishments are lenient, e.g ASBOs.
Rise in crime - caused by perceived costs of crime being low for the offenders.
What is the evalutation for the Right Realist theory on crime?
+ Explains utilitarian crime.
+Their proposals for crime prevention have been influential, e.g. zero tolerance, ASBOs, building more prisons.
- Ignore the wider structural causes of crime such as poverty.
- Fails to explain non-utlitarian crime such as vandalism, coportate and white collar crime.
-It over emphasies biological factors in causing crime.
