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"There is no such thing as . There are individual men and women and there are ". (Margaret Thatcher 1993:626)
Right Realism (also known as New Right Realism, Neo-Classicism, Neo-Positivism, or Neo-Conservatism) is the polar opposite of Left Realism. It considers the phenomenon of crime from the perspective of and professes that it takes a more realistic view of the causes of and , and identifies the best mechanisms for its control. Because the School under-emphasises the causes of crime, it is actually reacting to the phenomenon of crime and seeking to prevent it without a substantial body of evidence as to whether patterns of offending are related to , , , location, , etc. nor providing any research into metrics of success or failure for proactive policing and education as a system for imparting values. It accepts the utilitarian idea that people act rationally without considering why people may choose to break the law. Right realists believe that these factors collude to form an “underclass”. Charles Murray extensively presented work on the emergence of an ‘underclass’ within the working class population. Part of the pathological explanation suggests that it is the behaviour and attitudes of the underclass that have cut them off from normal society. He argues that welfare dependency has created a counter-cultural attitude that there is no need to work if one can receive state benefits or turn to crime as a source of income instead. (Murray, C. as cited in Muncie & McLaughlin, 2004, pp127-130) Murray argued the problem was due to the lack of family values and the absence of male authority figures. (Murray, C. as cited in Muncie & McLaughlin, 2004, pp 134-135) This led the children of single parent households to lack respect for authority, become out of control, commit crime and reject the idea of work. From his New Right perspective, Murray argued the welfare state only encouraged the underclass as it removes any incentives of self-help. Incentives were needed to encourage work and reinforce family life to diminish the dominant family structure of the single parent on welfare
(Muncie & McLaughlin, 2004, pg47) If they are truly rational, the decision to break the law must be informed by their social condition or other factors that are relevant to them. Identifying the factors that condition the decision would both assist the prevention process, because government policies could address those issues, and support the creation of a suitable curriculum in the education system to demonstrate more clearly why the commission of crime is a "bad" decision. As it is, the School seems to depend on the inculcation of moral imperatives which are taken to be self-evidently the best solution to the problem of crime. Bryson and Mowbray (1981) regard the notion of shared values in the community as a cynical exercise by Conservatism to set insiders (law-abiding, consensual community members) against outsiders (criminals), and thus to foster a law and order politics (Wilson: 1986). But this ignores the empowerment potential in the community as a voluntary organisation of citizens taking responsibility for themselves and their neighbours, mobilised in their own interests, to act in a mutually beneficial fashion. Independent collective action without involving the state and its more heavy-handed compulsions may be more effective than aggressive policing that alienates local opinion. Ironically, this adopts the arguments of Left Realism (as in Taylor: 1982) which emphasised police accountability and responsiveness to local community needs. Also note the models of situational crime prevention which are not simply gesture politics by the "Right" but an area in which progressive criminologists recognise positive developments in rethinking social justice (James 1996).
Unfortunately, within Right Realism, there is no interest in , , or . Van Den Haag (1975) asserts that is about the creation of "winners" and "losers". Livesey identifies the implication that the winners must be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their enterprise and risk-taking without these rewards being taken-away by the losers. Indeed, if capitalism to continue as a (successful) form of economic production, those responsible for the creation and accumulation of wealth must be protected from the activities of criminals. This apparently justifies shifting the remit of law enforcement to concentrate surveillance and monitoring on the activities of the poor and powerless (the losers). However criticising the right realists’ contributions to crime are the left realists. They argue that crime is due to poverty and not the lack of social control. In particular evidence of the left realism view on crime has been provided by Jock Young (1993).
A contribution Young makes is that there has been a real and significant increase in street crime. However, Young believes that the rises have been so great that changes in reporting and recording cannot account for all of the increase. He points to evidence from the British Crime Survey, which provides evidence that crime is real and there is more reporting of crimes and also more victims.
From the results of the victim surveys Lea and Young (1984) point out that while the average chances of being a victim are small, particular groups face high risks. For example, unskilled workers are twice as likely to be burgled as other workers. While in some of the poorer areas of London, the chances of being mugged might be four times the average for the city as a whole.
Other results the victimisation studies showed were that the fear of crime was widespread. In the Islington Crime survey, no less than 80.5% of those surveyed saw crime as a problem affecting their lives. While 35% felt unsafe in their own homes.
They also found that many people altered their behaviour to avoid becoming victims of crime. This was particularly true for certain groups such as women. Young concluded that ‘women are not only less likely to go out after dark, but also stay in more than men because of fear of crime.’
However, criticising these victimisation surveys is Stephen Jones (1998). Jones believes that the emphasis on street crime means that left realists are neglecting corporate crime. Therefore they are in fact helping to continue the capitalist system by ignoring the crimes of the rich and powerful and co-operating with the government.
Similarly feminists criticise left realists for ignoring particular problems of crime for women.
Nevertheless left realists do not deny the importance of white-collar crime and corporate crime and accept that they are commonplace and serious. Therefore Lea and Young answered their criticisms in recent victimization studies by including questions on such crimes. However, in return they attack back at Marxist views by suggesting they concentrate too much on these types of crimes and exclude others.
Left realists have also answered feminist criticisms by including questions in victim studies on crimes such as sexual assaults, sexual harassment and domestic violence.
Thatcher, M. (1993) The Downing Street Years London: Harper Collins.
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