Left Realist theories of crime

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  • Left Realism and crime
    • The theory
      • Tends to take an approach of 'tough on crime' and 'tough on the causes of crime'
        • Linked to Labour Party policies
      • Developed in the 1980s
        • Identified with Lea and Young (1984)
      • It developed as a response to traditional Marxist and Neo-Marxist approaches, which it accused it of:
        • Not taking working-class crime seriously and romanticizing working-class criminals of 'Robin Hood' characters
        • Failing to take victimization seriously and the fact that most victims were poor and deprived
        • Having no practical policies to reduce crime
      • Through victim surveys, Left Realists found crime was a serious problem, particularly in more deprived inner-city areas, and needed policies to tackle it
      • The sort of crime that worries people most is primarily street crime, mainly carried out by working-class males
        • Those at greatest risk of becoming victims of these offences is not the rich but rather working-class people
      • Accept that most people do not care much about white-collar and corporate crimes because it does not affect their lives
    • Explaining crime
      • Lea and Young attempt to explain why people turn to crime using three key concepts
        • 1. Relative deprivation
          • Whether they see themselves as deprived relative to others they compare themselves with
        • 2. Marginalisation
          • Those who are politically, economically and socially excluded through factors such as poor educational achievement and unemployment
          • Such marginality, combined with relative deprivation, can lead to anti-social behaviour as their are few other means of expressing their frustrations
        • 3. Subculture
          • Working-class deviant subcultures emerge as group solutions to the problems of relative deprivation and marginality
          • These can act as motivation for crime, as some working-class subcultures see offending as acceptable behaviour
      • Left Realists accept that structural inequalities, social conditions and perceptions of injustice are the major causes of crime
    • Late modernity and the bulimic society
      • Young (2003) has more recently developed Left Realism and linked the explanations for crime to changes in society emerging in late modernity
        • Late modern societies are media saturated and everyone is included in consumer culture through constant exposure to advertising of consumer goods and media-generated lifestyles
          • Raises everyone's expectations of what the good life is
            • The working-class cannot afford to actively participate in consumer society, and they cannot afford to buy the goods necessary to forge new identities and lifestyles
          • Creates a bulimic society in which people gorge themselves on media images of expensive consumer lifestyles, but are then forced by economic circumstances to vomit out their raised expectations
            • Intensifies the sense of frustration, resentment and anger among young people at their relative deprivation
      • Lewis et al (2011)
        • Found that desire to consume by looting what was otherwise denied them in a bulimic society was a significant factor motivating some of the 13,000 to 15,000 people in riots and looting in the UK in Aug 2011
        • Argues the intensified sense of relative deprivation is made worse by 3 further features of late modernity:
          • 1. Growing individualisation
            • There is a growing emphasis on self-seeking, individual freedom and self-centeredness and less community spirit and for others
          • 2. The weakening of informal controls
            • Traditional social structures have been breaking up and are no longer able to provide support and informal controls on the beahviour of those living in the community
          • 3. Growing economic inequality and economic change
            • Globalisation has meant the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest has grown massively
              • At the same time there has been a decline in traditional manufacturing industries, loss of unskilled work and more unemployment, affecting young working-class males the most
      • The toxic mix that generates crime
        • The factors of late modernity combine in a toxic mix that generates crime among young people in the most deprived communities
          • In such communities the life of young people is marked by greater risk, more uncertainty and less informal control overtheir behaviour than ever before
          • With no other outlets for their anger and frustration at being excluded from the lifestyles they aspire to, they are more likely to involve themselves in various forms of 'edge work'
            • Lyng (2005)
            • Involves all manner of thrill-seeking and risk-taking behaviour, not necessarily criminal or deviant, but the pursuit of peril may include exploring the boundaries between legal and criminal behaviour
    • Understanding and tackling crime: the square of crime
      • Lea and Young
        • It is necessary to examine the interrelationships between four elements of what has been called 'the square of crime'
          • 1. Social structure factors and formal social control by the state
            • These influence the context of crime...
              • How crime is defined, social causes, how law enforcement is carried out and decisions whether an is labelled as criminal or not
          • 2. The public and the extent of informal social control
            • How do people react to crime in their communities?
            • Are offenders condemned by family, peer groups and neighbours?
          • 3. The role of victims
            • Why do people become victims and what do they do about it?
            • Victims are often of the same ethnic group, class and community as the offenders
          • 4. The offenders
            • What meaning does the act have to the offender?
            • Why do they choose to offend?
    • Evaluation
      • Strengths
        • Draws on a range of theories:
          • Marxists ideas of importance of social inequality
          • Merton's concepts of strain and anomie
          • Cohen's ideas of social frustration
        • It does not glamourise crime as Marxist writers do and takes the importance of tackling crime and the fear of crime seriously
          • Recognizes that crime can have devastating consequences for the most deprived communities and that most offenders and victims are poor and working-class
        • It sees the importance of coumminty solutions to crime
      • Limitations
        • Neglects other responses to relative deprivation and marginality apart from crime
          • Merton's retreatism and ritualism
        • It neglects gender as a significant issue and particularly those crimes of which females are more likely  victims
          • Left Realism tends to be part of that 'malestream criminology' which feminists are critical of
        • Does not pay much attention to white-collar and corporate crime
          • Even though crimes such as fraud, neglect of health and safety and pollution controls, and sale of unsafe products often have the greatest impact on the most deprived communities
        • Does not really explain why most working-class youth don't turn to crime
          • If the 'toxic mix' is as toxic as it appears to be, why isn't there more crime, and why have crime rates been generally falling

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