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Assess the Value of the Left and Right Realist Approaches to Crime

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Assess the value of the left and right realist approaches to crime
Realist approaches to crime don’t believe that crime is a social construction; instead they see it as a real problem to be tackled. Realist approaches are divided into right realists and left realists. Right realists tend to take a ‘get tough’ approach and use both biological and social explanations; they share the New Right or neo-conservative political outlook. Left realists are left-wing reformists who believe crime can be solved through social policy rather than through revolution. Both left realists and right realists argue that there has been a significant rise in the crime rate- especially in street crime burglary and assault. They are also concerned about the widespread fear of crime and about the impact on its victims and argue that other theories have failed to offer realistic solutions to the problem of crime and they propose what they regard as practical policies to reduce it.
Left Realists believe that crime should be taken seriously and accuse other sociologists for not doing so. They believe that traditional Marxists gave concentrated on crimes of the powerful, such as corporate crime. Left realists agree that this is important, but they argue that it neglects working-class crime and its effects. They also believe that neo-Marxists romanticise working-class criminals as latter-day Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich as an act of political resistance to capitalism. Left Realists note that in fact working-class criminals mostly victimise other working-class people, not the rich. They also criticise labelling theorists as they see working-class criminals as the victims of discriminatory labelling by social control agents. Left Realists argue that this approach neglects the real victims- working-class people who suffer as the hands of criminals.
Left Realist thinkers Lea and Young

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