Left and Right realism

A look back at crime statistics Victims of crime tend to be poor and disadvantaged. However… Majority of crime occurs in inner city areas and most disadvantaged Large social housing developments Adds to a real concern over the amount of crime taking place This led to two perspectives…

Right realism Crime is a real problem Attempt to tackle the causes of crime by Zero tolerance Handout:

Zero tolerance Doley, 2003 Task: Can we think of any preventative measures for crime?

James Wilson Handout: Varieties of policing behaviour (1968) Based on the New York police intervention : Zero Tolerance Broken windows

Proportion of people will be involved in ‘incivilities’- dropping litter, vandelism, graffiti. In most communities this behaviour is eradicated by the informal sanctions of that community- hence the behaviour is stopped from going further. However in some areas the behaviour is not checked, thus crime flourishes Linked to the work of Etzioni (1993)

Communiterianism – Etzioni 1993 Stresses that only local communities by their own efforts and local face-to-face relationships can solve social problems and hence crime.

Conclusion of Wilson Police should play a role in restoring the balance of incivilities and help to recreate the community (Moore 2004) Dealing with crime that has already been committed does not stop future crime.. The police must tackle those small crimes in order to prevent future big crimes- hence order maintenance Minority report??

Against Wilson Platt and Takagi (1977) Concentrates on inner city crime and hence lower social class crime How about the crimes committed by the powerful?

Left realism From the writers of LEAS, Young and Matthews Emphasises the importance of tackling deprivation and of getting policing to respond to the needs of the local population Relative deprivation Media makes this worse!- poor can afford TV 95% of households have digital services Marginalisation Subculture Handout: Task define and explain the three above approaches

Relative deprivation Runciman (1966) Awareness of their poverty that leads to crime Linked to media People see what they are lacking Lea and Young (1984)-link to expectations

Marginalisation Some groups more than others are likely to suffer

Notes handout to help you with Realism

Social Constructionism Becker Master label Evidence of changing in laws and deviant behaviour – Homosexuality, child abuse etc