Realist Criminology
Objectives
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That the Right Realism developed out of a failure of
sociology to explain and solve the problem of crime.
That Right Realism sees crime as stemming from the
greedy nature of people, poor socialisation and too easy
opportunities.
That Wilson 's 'broken window thesis' argues that minor
incivilities, if unchecked, quickly lead to more serious crime.
That Lea and Young developed Left Realism as a response
to Right Realism and the neo-Marxist ideas of Radical
Criminology.
That Left Realism takes the view that crime is a real
problem, especially to the poor and derived, minority ethnic
groups and inner-city residents.
That Left Realism explains crime in terms of subculture,
relative deprivation and marginalisation.
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Crime and Deviance Chapter 7: Realist
Criminology
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Right Realism
Right Realism originated in the 1970s
particularly by James Q. Wilson (1975,
pictured left) and Ernst van den Haag (1975).
It developed as a critique of sociological
theory which had failed to solve the problem
of crime.
The basis of Right Realism is a negative view of human
nature (that people are naturally selfish and greedy).
This aspect of human nature therefore needs to be subject to
social controls and socialised into appropriate behaviour.
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Crime and Deviance Chapter 7: Realist
Criminology
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Rational Choice Theory
For Right Realists the solution to crime
lies with Rational Choice Theory which
has a lot in common with the 18thC
philosophy concept of utilitarianism
associated with Jeremy Bentham (left).
Rational Choice Theory was developed
by Clarke and Coleman (1980) and
argues criminals will engage in crime if
the benefits outweigh the costs.
The solution is simple: increase the costs of crime
(likelihood of being caught and tougher punishments).
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Anti-Sociological Criminology
Right Realists particularly oppose
any connection Sociologists have
made between crime and poverty.
They point out that with increased
affluence, crime rates have soared.
Extending the Welfare State, lack of
discipline in education and decline
of the traditional family are seen as
key factors behind crime increase.
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Selfish Human Nature
Rising crime levels reflects
ineffective and inadequate social
control.
Permissive attitudes allow selfindulgent and anti-social
behaviour.
Feckless parenting,
absent fathers, lack of
discipline in schools,
liberal policies of the
state have all served to
foment crime.
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The result has been spiralling
volumes of incivilities: muggings,
graffiti, vandalism, car break-ins
and theft, assaults, etc. as well
as burglaries and robberies.
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Right Realist Solutions to Crime
Reduce opportunities
for offending.
Increasing the costs to exceed the
benefits.
Crime control should also fall upon
members of the community.
Responsible parenting and 'active
citizens' who challenge anti-social
behaviour.
Tough punishment: heavy fines,
sentences and advocation of
corporal (physical) and capital
(death sentence) punishment.
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James Q. Wilson and ‘Broken
Window Thesis
James Q Wilson argues that unless
‘incivilities’ (litter, graffiti, noise levels,
vandalism, etc.) are kept minimal,
then wider anti-social behaviour and
more serious crimes will follow.
He advocates that the police adopt a policy of ‘zero-tolerance’
for even minor crimes (as tried by the Mayor of New York).
This reflects Emile Durkheim’s idea that local informal
controls are crucial for law and order and A.H. Bottoms’
concept of the ‘tipping’ of problem housing estates.
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James Q. Wilson (continued)
Wilson argues there are three key factors affecting longterm crime:
Number of
Young males
(typical deviants)
Costs/benefits
of crime:
Rational Choice
Theory
Inadequate
socialisation into
norms/values
To deal with this he advocates target hardening of deviant
groups and areas through pro-active policing.
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Inadequate and Inappropriate
Socialisation
Right Realists blame crime on inadequate
or inappropriate socialisation by key
socialisation agencies in society.
The non-traditional family, especially single
mothers, is viewed as a major factor.
Lack of discipline in schools, a mass media that glamorises
deviance and crime and the decline in the influence of
religious values are other important contributory factors.
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Crime and Deviance Chapter 7: Realist
Criminology
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Charles Murray
New Right theorist Charles Murray (1990,
pictured left) argues the underclass are
particularly insufficiently integrated into
society’s norms and values.
He views the underclass as prone to: criminal tendencies,
violence, illegitimacy and promiscuity, educational failure and
welfare dependency.
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Ernst van den Haag (1975)
Van den Haag (1975, pictured left) adopts
a very poor view of humanity as willing to
cheat to ‘get on’ and therefore some
groups need to be controlled for their own
good and that of society.
Like Durkheim, he
sees punishment
as functional,
acting as a
deterrent.
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Therefore, he argues, it is reasonable for
law and order agencies to target the poor!
He advocates a tough penal system of
punishment: corporal and capital.
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Critique of Right Realism
It is influential on Government policy in both the USA and UK.
For example 'zero tolerance' has been successfully adopted
as a policy in New York.
Some argue it is a lack of investment in deprived areas rather
than incivilities that cause crime to rise.
It is easy to pick on scapegoats like single parent families.
Marxists argue that concentration on minor offences means
that more serious crime gets ignored by the authorities.
Another argument is that where zero tolerance is introduced,
this simply shifts crime to other areas.
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Introduction to Left Realism
Lea and Young (1984, pictured left)
developed Left Realism (with
Matthews and Kinsey) partly as a
response to Right Realism.
And partly in response to neo-Marxist
Radical Criminology which Young
himself was part of and wanted to
distance himself from: subsequently
calling it “Left Idealism”.
Left Realism sees crime as a real problem for ordinary people
and explains it through analysis social and economic
relationships, and how some groups become marginalised.
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Crime is a Real Phenomenon
Left Realism argues the rising crime rate
cannot solely be explained by the
'unreliability of official crime statistics’.
So, unusually for Sociologists, they are
less critical of crime statistics than most,
and argue they do reflect typical criminals:
young, male, working-class and
disproportionately black.
They focus on victims as well as offenders, recognising crime
is concentrated in the inner-city and sink housing estates.
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Ethnicity and Crime
Lea and Young tackle Black criminality head
on: accepting there has been a real increase
in crimes committed by young Blacks.
They accept there exists institutional racism,
and a racist 'canteen culture‘ amongst the
police.
But black criminality also stems from racial discrimination,
material deprivation, low wages and unemployment.
They see Black youth having particularly high aspirations, but
often not able to legitimately achieve these aspirations.
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Exam Evaluation Point
Compare this aspiration to material goods and styles of
life with the ‘Strain theory' (anomic paradigm) of Robert
Merton, or the response of the illegitimate career
structure to ‘blocked opportunities‘ of Cloward and
Ohlin.
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Left Realist Origins of Crime
Left Realism sees the origins of crime as three fold:
Relative
deprivation
Marginalisation
Subculture
This explains why young Black working-class males are
particularly associated with criminal activity: see next 3 slides.
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1. Subcultures
Lea and Young argue the subculture of
young Blacks is distinctly different from
their parents who largely accepted their
marginalised position in society.
Black youth subculture has high material
expectations and aspirations: money and
status symbols like flash cars, etc.
So because Black youth is so closely enmeshed in values of
consumption, style and wealth, this is precisely why they
engage in crime – because of blocked opportunities.
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Exam Evaluation Point
Note the overlap here with the work about young black
males by Ralf Nightingale (Philadelphia) and Philip Bourgois
(New York). All their work links back to the ideas of Robert
Merton and his ‘strain theory‘ (sharing society’s goals but not
having means to achieve them).
At the same time there may be an element of a marginalised
group socialised into its own distinct subcultural set of
values: compare to Walter B. Miller's 'focal concerns'.
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2. Relative Deprivation
Lea and Young argue that frustration from
this disparity between expectations and
the reality of lifestyle leads to feelings of
relative deprivation.
They argue the reality for many young
Black males is a choice of unemployment,
training schemes or ‘white man’s shit
work’ (Stuart Hall).
They feel unfairly denied the ‘glittering prizes’ offered to
others. This can develop into strategies which can involve
deviant and criminal behaviour.
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3. Marginalisation
Lea and Young argue that marginalisation
means the process by which certain groups
find themselves on the edge of society.
White and Black working-class youth often
feel alienated by schools, unemployment,
low-wages, the police, etc.
Young Black males face marginalisation through prejudice
and harassment e.g., 'military policing‘ (stop and search).
They argue this may be the ‘straw that breaks the camel's
back’: economic marginalisation is transferred into crime.
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Left Realism: The Policing
Problem
Kinsey, Lea and Young (1984)
identify a number of problems with
contemporary policing.
The police too often resort to 'military
policing' as a method of solving crime
through 'stop and search' policies.
This alienates the community from
them, recently the Muslim community.
They argue that to improve this relationship the public should
have more say in shaping police policy.
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Left Realist’s Square of Crime
Left Realism
takes us beyond
the offender and
shows concern for
victim patterns
and formal and
informal factors.
They argue that crime can only be understood in terms of the
interrelationships between these four elements.
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Jock Young, Social Change and
Crime
Jock Young (1997) also has a generic
Greater uncertainty
and instability in
most aspects of life.
theory to explain the recent growth in
crime. He argues that late modernity is
making crime worse in a number of
ways:
People’s desire for
immediate and
personal pleasure.
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Less consensus
about moral
values
A breakdown of
informal social
controls
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Critique of Left Realism
Its key strength is a recognition of multiple causes of crime.
Its focus on victims as well as offenders is good, adding
another dimension to our understanding of crime.
However, Relative deprivation or marginalisation cannot
explain the motive behind offender’s actions (e.g. whitecollar or corporate crime)
Equally not all people in relative deprivation turn to crime.
It assumes that when society’s values break down crime
become more likely – a return to anomie theory and a view
not too distant from Right Realism?
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End of Presentation
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