Outline and assess realist explanations of crime

... Outline and assess realist explanations of crime Realism stems from the interactionist approach. It consists of two parts, left realism and right realism. These approaches were developed in response to growing concerns about the seriousness of crime in the 1980s and 1990s. Both left and right realism are concerned with the position of victims and put forward solutions to combat crime. Right realism especially, saw labelling theory was seen as overlooking victims in favour of the perpetrator. Right realism argues that factors like poverty and unemployment are not responsible for rising crime. Wilson & Hernstein, Hirschi, and Murray all developed the right realism approach. They argue that factors responsible for right realism crime are Youthfulness, Masculinity, Socialisation, Weak social control, and Underclass. However, left realism accuses the right of over dramatising the crime problem and failing to understand its real causes. The main developers of this approach are Jones, and Young.

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