Left Realist Criminological Analysis

There are many reasons that propose why working class cultures are linked to crime, which are viewed in various ways by many theorists. Statistics suggest that working class people commit the most crime and are most likely to be victims of crimes.
In the 1980’s there was a general concern of the crime rates, and out of this concern, theories of realist criminology developed. Here, there are two opposing theorists of realist criminology. One of these being Right Realism, and the other of this being Left Realism.
Right Realists was originated in the USA, and emphasised zero tolerance, the main supporter of this was James Q Wilson. He was largely influenced by theorist Etzioni. Etzioni argued that attitudes of numbers of local communities normally
Informal methods are often used to prevent high crime, such as looks, comments etc.
Wilson believed that the police had a crucial role to play, to concentrate on order maintenance and arrest those who commit incivilities, which will highlight what was seen as acceptable behaviour and eventually informal methods of control would become more effective.
He believes that it is impossible to identify the causes of crime, but is considered by the inadequate socialization of the children by the parents who influence criminal behaviour. He also points out those families of less intelligence don’t socialize children properly into society’s norms and values.
In criticism, Platt argues that Right Realists concentrates too much on working class crime and not on middle class crime. He also believes that they fail to identify causes of crime instead of blaming it on inadequate socialization, pushing the blame away from the government and economic system.
Traditional Marxists concentrates on three concepts. Firstly, that the ruling class oppress the working class. Secondly, that the ruling class have power to make laws and enforce them, and lastly, that the majority of the crime is committed by the ruling class, but is masked because the onus is on the working class
Therefore deviant acts are being committed because of social situations, i.e. because of lack of education, being brought up in lone parent families, which is a large influence in working class families as majority of the children are being brought up without a father figure, therefore it is suggested that this absence of role affects the child’s upbringing, resulting in them becoming criminal or committing deviant acts.
However, the main groups committing most of the crime are those of teenagers. The peak age of criminal activity is 18, for, and 15 for women. They commit more crime because their lifestyles take them to environments where crime takes place. Although majority of the crime committed is property theft, this is because young people are more likely to be in streets/clubs etc, where crimes like this often happens. There is evidence suggesting that young people are most likely to be victims of crime as well as committing them. Though it maybe that they get caught more than older people, as crime committed by the younger groups are more visible. White collar crime, i.e. fraud, is more likely to be committed by older