Realism

Question 1

What are the left wing characteristics?

Answer 1

• Focus on power/inequality
• Bottom= victims of circumstances
• State should intervene to share out wealth
• Inequality leads to crime
• The system is to blame
• Law is not equally applied
• Marxist, interactionists, radical criminology, left realist

Question 2

What are right wing characteristics?

Answer 2

• Foucs on individual achievement
• Equality is not possible or desirable
• People get what they deserve- incentivise the talented
• State should not intervene
• Individuals make bad choices, poor socialisation, wrong norms
• Blame the criminal/deviant
• Tough penalties and strict control-
• Functionalist, new right, right realist

Question 3

What are the realist ideas?

Answer 3

• Police tend to accept the typical criminal in police recorded stats
• Challenge traditional theories for being too idealistic
• Share concerns about the corrosive effects which crime can have on communities (Matthews and Young)
• Challenge traditional theories for being too remote

Question 4

What are the 4 social bonds?

Answer 4

1) Attachment (being attached to others and caring about what they think prevents deviance- deviance would go against others’ perceptions of you)
2) Committment (having responsibilities- obey for fear of consequences)
3) Involvement (being part of a community/family/workplace/social group- too busy for deviance)
4) Belief (subscribing to common value system- prevents deviance as people know behaviour= wrong)

Question 5

What did Matthews and Young say about realist criminology?

Answer 5

• Focus on the ‘lived reality of crime’, and its effects on victims/communities
• Challenge traditional theories for being too remote and offering no practical solutions

Question 6

What are the right realist causes of crime?

Answer 6

• Rational choice theory: criminals are rational actors- weigh up the costs/benefits to whether a crime is worth committing (Clarke- opportunity theory)
• Broken windows theory: Wilson and Kelling- tolerating crime sends out a signal that no one cares (Zimbardo study)
• Underclass: Murray- changes to the family structure cause crime- dependency culture= lack of responsibility/right and wrong

Question 7

What does Wilson say about crime?

Right realism

Answer 7

• Challenges mainstream criminology (i.e. Marxist) for being based on ideologly, not fact, e.g: the overemphasis on white-collar crime
• Morals of society must be upheld
• Long term trends in crime can be accounted for by 3 factors:
• Young males are most likely to commit crime (temperamentally aggressive)
• There may be change in benefits and costs of crime at different times (due to accessibility, the economy, job availability, etc)
• Social and cultural changes in society may influence norms and values, affecting extent to which at ‘risk’ individuals are tempted into crime
• Does NOT believe that poverty is a root cause of crime, but poor people do often commit
• Government cannot prevent crime at source
• Crime can only be addressed by enforcing law
• Environment creates a ‘culture’ of order and acceptable behaviour

Question 8

What do Wilson and Kelling say about crime?

Right realisn

Answer 8

• Community will change behaviour in the face of low level disorder, which escalates the likelihood that crime will flourish
• Leads to development of urban decay
• Those who can, move away
• Once an area has a criminal culture, there is little point trying to police it

Question 9

What is Wilson and Kelling’s broken windows theory?

Right realism

Answer 9

• When a derelict building has one broken window, more will follow
• Principle= when people identify a building as derelict and uncared for, they will see it as acceptable to vandalise
• Report Zimbardo’s study- abandoned car in middle class/run-down areas. Second car- vandalised quickly. 1st car-untouched, until he smashed the windows- others followed suit soon after
• Once communal barriers have been broken, deviance can happen anywhere
• Untended behaviour leads to a breakdown of community controls

Question 10

What do Wilson and Herrnstein say about crime?

Right realism

Answer 10

• There is a biological element to crime
• Challenge left wing theorists who deny importance of individual characteristics
• Argues that some have a predisposition to crime
• Traits are heightened due to poor socialisation
• In strong nuclear families, criminal tendencies may be suppressed, as right norms and values are taught
• Similar to New Right approach to crime

Question 11

Evaluation of right realist explanations

Answer 11

• Focus on w/c crime
• Focus on street crime (ignore white collar)
• Too harsh- victim blaming

Question 12

What are the left realist causes of crime?

Answer 12

Lea and Young:
- Relative deprivation: people feel deprived in relation to others, media to blame as wealth= norm
- Subculture: group’s collective response to relative deprivation, link to Cohen’s status frustration
- Marginalisation: lack power/resources to full participation in society, lack clear goals/ organisations to match interests

Question 13

What does Young say about crime?

Left realism

Answer 13

• Left realism navigates between two extremes: hysteria about underclass/moral panics/over-policing of crime in certain opportunities (New Right) and the denial of severity of street crime and its impact (Marxist)
• Accept that white collar and corporate crime is significant (left idealists overemphasise)
• Accuse left idealists of having a romantic view of the criminal, as a victim of circumstances/ a misunderstood rebel= Robin hood thesis
• Significant increase in street crime and fear of crime- cannot be explained by biased policing/ moral panics- fear affects lives

Question 14

What do Matthews and Young say about crime?

Left realism

Answer 14

• Square of crime (crime arises at an intersection)
• Understanding of roles of the offender and victim must also include understanding of role of the public opinion and informal control (media, peers, community, family)
• Role of the State (formal agent of control) intersects with informal control- public sentiment can drive government social policy/ police practice, and vice versa

Question 15

What do Lea and Young say about crime?

Left realism

Answer 15

Explain crime in terms of 3 concepts:
1) Relative deprivation (deprivation compared to others, fuelled by the media- promotes materialism and false needs)
2) Marginalisation (those on the edge of society, lack clearly defined goals, involvement and representation in society, feel isolated)
3) Subculture (develops due to unachievable norms and values of society, linked to RD and M)

Question 16

Evaluation of left realist explanations

Answer 16

• Too soft- ignore offenders and reasoning behind this