Right Realism

1. US & UK had tough stances towards offenders – and held view that the best way to reduce crime was through tough control and punishment, rather than rehabilitating offenders or tackling the causes of crime such as poverty
2. labelling theory and critical criminology are too sympathetic of the criminal and too hostile on law and order

   Annotations:

   • Right realism focuses less on the causes of crime but more on how to provide practical solutions

Annotations:

• go against marxist theory - old are poor but have low crime rates

1. Biological differences
   1. James Q. Wilson & Richard J. Herrnstein - biosocial theory
      1. some people are innately more strongly predisposed to commit crime

         Annotations:

         • e.g. personality traits such as aggression extroversion risk taking and low impulse control - greater risk to offend
      2. Herrnstein & Murray - main cause of crime is low intelligence which they see as biologically determined
         1. Lilly et al - IQ differences only account for 3% of differences in offending
2. Socialisation and the underclass
   1. effective socialisation can decrease the risk of offending as it involves learning self control and moral values
   2. see nuclear family as the best agency of socialisation
      1. lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents especially for boys - absent fathers; boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models

         Annotations:

         • young males turn to delinquent male role models and street crime in order to gain status
         1. focuses on petty street crime and not on corporate crime
   3. Murray - crime rate increasing because of a growing underclass who are defied by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise their children properly
      1. due to welfare dependency
         1. generous revolution - allowing increasing numbers of people to become dependent on the state; led to the decline of marriage and the growth of lone parent families and women and children can live off benefits

            Annotations:

            • men no longer take responsibility for supporting their families = no longer need to work
3. Rational choice theory

   Annotations:

   • individuals have free will and the power of reason 
   1. Ron Clarke
      1. decision to offend is a choice based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences; if the rewards of crime are greater than those of non-criminal behaviour - more likely to offend
         1. costs of crime seem low - explains the increase in crime rate
   2. Marcus Felson - routine activity theory
      1. must be a motivated offender, suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian for crime to occur
         1. informal guardians e.g. provided by the community more effective than formal ones (police) at deterring from crime

            Annotations:

            • e.g. after Hurricane Andrew in Florida - patrols by local citizens to protect property during absence of police prevented looting and crime rates decreased during this time (Cromwell et al)
   3. overestimates rationality and calculations before committing a crime - can explain utilitarian crime and not violent crime
   4. conflicts with the idea that their behaviour is biologically and socially determined
4. ignores wider structural causes e.g. poverty

1. don't deal with the causes of crime since they cannot easily be changed; try to make crime less attractive (control contain and punish)
2. Wilson & Kelling - essential to maintain the orderly character of neighbourhoods; deterioration must be dealt with immediately
   1. over emphasises control of disorder rather than tackling underlying causes of neighbourhood decline e.g. lack of investment
3. zero tolerance policy towards undesirable behaviour (prostitution begging and drunkenness)
   1. gives free rein to discriminate against ethnic minority youth, homeless etc
   2. results in displacement of crime to other areas

      Annotations:

      • Jones - right realist policies in the USA failed to prevent the crime rate increasing
4. should reduce the rewards and increase the costs of crime (target hardening and longer prison sentences)