Realist Criminology PDF

Preview

Summary

Lecture notes covering the lecture about realist criminology...

Description

Realist Criminology Right Realism Historical Background:  Conservative approach to understanding and controlling crime.  Emerged in US in mid 1970’s.  Politicised crime – put crime back onto the political agenda.  Focused on fast, practical and ‘real’ solutions.  Rejected radical ideas (feminist, Marxist). The solutions these groups had come up with would have been hard to implicate.  Follows a lot of the earlier ideas of crime (free will and rationality). - Included biological theories (youthfulness, maleness) and psychological behaviourism  At a time where crime rates were still rising and became a concern for the general public, creating a political issue.  Getting tough on crime and taking ‘real’, concrete action.  Believed that it was a time of prosperity and economic growth, so they believed poverty could not be the reason for crime.  Believed offenders lacked a developed conscious. Key Principles  Focus on individuals rather than society. Individuals failing to conform to societal norms.  Focus on punishment – because the rewards of crime were seen to outweigh the costs. - Believed there wasn’t enough focus on punishment and society was being too soft on criminals.  Focus on deterrence and ‘getting tough’ on crime. Administrative Criminology Est. UK early 1980’s. Viewed offending as ‘opportunistic’ and therefore focused on removing opportunities to offend by managing the environment (rather than focus on the individual). - Focused on limiting the abilities for people to offend.  Did not focus on the cause of the crime – focused on working out how crime could be continued in a cost-effective way.  

Routine Activities Theory and the Lifestyle Approach Developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) posits that 3 elements must be present for a crime to occur: 1. A motivated offender 2. A suitable target 3. The absence of a suitable guardian  Lifestyle theories are very similar, but they place greater emphasis on the lifestyle of the victims – whether or not their lifestyles put them more at risk.



-

Focused on changing behaviours of victims instead of the criminal themselves.

Both theories believe that crime is an inevitable and should just be managed and maintained to the best of their ability. Right Realist Impact on the Justice System  Escalating prison populations.  Zero tolerance approached to policing  Stop, search and arrest.  Anti-social behaviour legislation (UK) – limit people’s movement around an open space. - E.g. young people hanging around in open spaces.  Electronic monitoring and surveillance. Left Realism           

Emerged in response to right realism. Est. mid 1980’s. Concerned that the left would be overwhelmed by these right leaning perspectives. Argued that the dominance of radical perspectives on the left had made it easy for right realist perspectives to take hold. Critiqued radical criminology as enabling what they saw as overly simplistic arguments (e.g crime was a consequence of poverty). Radical in analysis but realist in the approach. Sought to acknowledge crime as a significant problem and the impacts of it for individuals and wider society. Committed to providing accurate estimates of crime – argued that right realists exaggerated the problem. Also argued that radical criminologists had minimised the problem – left realists positioned themselves as providing ‘balanced’ insights. Became an alternative approach to responding to crime as a right realist. Wanted step by step reforms, better social services for working class communities.

Key Components 1. Conceptualised crime as a real problem 2. Reimagined the causes of crime 3. Legitimised the fear of crime 4. Focused on victims of crime 5. Called for multi-faceted modes of prevention – creative responses (focused on victims and offenders). 6. Placed significant importance on criminologists being involved in policy debates.

Impacts of Realism  Shifted the left towards middle ground  More political engagement

  

Growth of victimisation surveys Development of community policing New emphasis on crime prevention

Critiques  Focused on more visible crime and neglected crimes of the powerful.  Only paid lip service gender issues.  Overly focused on policing strategies while neglecting penal policy.

Similarities between left and right realism    

Focus on the real problem of crime Focus on more short-term solutions (what can we do now instead of long term societal change. See the police as important. Emphasis the need for research.

Key Points ■ Both left and right realism developed in the context of social, political and economic change in the late 1970s and 1980s ■ Right realism flourished in a context that was focused on individual responsibility and moral values – its key tenets were attractive to right wing governments in this context wishing to ‘get tough’ on crime ■ Left realism developed in response to right realism - an alternative perspective that it was hoped would counter punitive responses to crime ■ Left realism sought to provide practical responses to crime and had a focus on communities, police and local governments working together...