Crime and Deviance - Left and Right Realism

Neoclassical is defined more of a broadly as actions that offend against a shared understanding of morality.

Realists see crime as a real problem that is increasing and that it is not just something that has been created and labelled by crime control agencies. Left realism will first be looked at in terms of what it believes causes crime and then at how this has been developed into the theory of the square of crime. Left realist ideology will then be critically analysed, pointing out both positives and negatives in its theories for causes of crime, solutions to crime and the methodology it uses to research its beliefs. The cause of crime will then be looked at from a right realist point of view, examining the theories for criminality and more importantly for right realists, what could be done to solve the rise in crime. Similar to left realism, right

Criminology is the study of crime, those who commit crime and also studies the criminal justice and penal systems. Crime is defined as the act of omission established with the laws of the nation in which it occurred in. However, deviance as Downes and Rock suggested may be considered as the behaviour which is banned or controlled and would more limey attract punishment or disapproval. Not all deviances are crimes it is merely behaviours which do not comply with the norms of societies. It is important to clarify what crime is and how it occurs in order to have accurate measurements of it. There are two opposing views on crime statistics: the realist view and constructivist perspective. The former view has a number of forms, pertinently; left realism and right realism. Basically, realist view sees the official records as an indicator of the state of crime in a society. On the contrary, the latter perspective is related to how officials and others perceive the process as well as how official statistics could be understood by the procedure agencies responsible carry out their work. Crime statistics give an indication of crime occurrences and there are two methods used in constructing crime rates: recorder crime statistics and the national crime victimisation surveys (British Crime Survey). This essay will critically analyse how accurate the measures of crime are with reference to the theories on crime.

The study of Criminology has evolved throughout the centuries and in some criminologists viewpoints even devolved at points. These variations have led to the creation of countless theories in an endeavor to explain why, we as hominids commencing from our evolution to present day have chosen to perpetrate acts of selfishness and violence. In order to appreciate the multitude of theories it is imperative to comprehend what constitutes a theory. A theory can be simply explained as a set of concepts that together are linked by multiple statements in an attempt to explain how an occurrence has taken place. Once a theory has been reached it will now require the criminologist, scientist or researcher to then conduct studies to back up the theory based on

Throughout the last centuries antirealism has been questioned with what is real and not real through our language, beliefs, thoughts, perception, senses, and overall knowledge of what exist beyond our external world. Realism is obviously the opposite of antirealism that is questioned by many philosophers as to what is real and what is not real amongst our external views in a life or a world of questions. Antirealism philosophers for centuries have expressed their opinions and thoughts against realism which some of those philosophers have come to an understanding that realism could in many ways prove that what existence occurs in our outer world through time and space. Realism is the correct view because it is the actual true findings of

A theory from a perspective of theoretical criminology is best defined as "A major interdisciplinary and international journal for the advancement of the theoretical aspects of criminological knowledge. The journal is committed to renewing general theoretical debate, exploring the interrelation of theory and data in empirical research and advancing the links between criminological analysis and general social and political theory." (Gorelick 2011). The development and understanding of theories from different perspectives/fields of specialization are essential for finding a deeper meaning to everyday life, they give us statements which can be tested for in terms of the theories accuracy and validity. For one researcher to address all perspectives

Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli are often considered realists, but that term has many versions, all unalike. Overall, Hobbes version of realism provides a better lesson for today’s political times when compared to Machiavellis. I will be comparing varying definitions of realism through specific views on each author's opinion on human nature, Christian and scholastic views, and violence and security.

I think that I agree with the Left-Realism theory the most because this theory believes that the poor and disenfranchised are preyed on. This can be shown by the increased number of crimes against disabled and homeless individuals. In the book, it says that one of the crises is "lack of job creation" (Siegel, 2015, pg 211). The lack of jobs means the lack of money going back to the people, so if someone is living on the streets or becomes disabled from lack of money for a doctor's appointment, they are at an increased risk to be victimized because they are less likely to fight back. In the book it talks about how as the wealth gap increases, so does crime. I agree with this because some individuals resort to crime as a way to make money since

Like all theories, Left Realism has its share of criticisms, such as ignoring white-collar crime, overzealous in their predictions of the level of crime and over-reliance on Victim Survey’s, which are too subjective to be taken as concrete data. Left Realist’s also has its criticizer’s, such as the Right Realist’s, who believe economic and social factors i.e. class conflict, don’t cause crime, but cultural factors are to blame (instant

Critical criminology is an adaptation of interactionist criminology, however critical criminology focuses on the political aspects. It similarly suggests that individuals engage in meaningful activity, which can be defined as criminal by other outside members (Burke 2009). These outside members are usually those with political status. However, it is definitive on the idea that every individual is responsible for their own actions (Lawson and Heaton 1998). Left realism similarly focus on the determined human nature of the working class as a result of relative deprivation (Young 2002) however, they reject the idea that offenders are victims of society (Jones 2006). Ultimately the focus of left realists is how human nature is affected by the real fear of crime (Burke, 2009).

I found the topic “Deviance and Crime” to be particularly interesting because both terms concern individuals departing from norms and laws in society. The feelings that “Deviance and Crime” evoke in me are curiosity and compassion. I believe I feel curious about this topic, because of the underlying motives that people can have for acting the way they do. Also, it really fascinates me to learn the ways in which deviance and crime are constructed within a society, and the ties it has to race, class, and gender. Compassion goes hand in hand with curiosity, because comprehending motives will lead me to a brand new perspective. There are a few things I already know regarding this topic. I know that part of being deviant is rebellion. When an

Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society, that is why sociology and the theories that go along with it can explain many of reasons people act the way they do in their societal context and situations. The most of what occurs in the film American Gangster can be explained by these theoretical perspectives of crime in sociology. The successes and failures pictured in the movie are explored more thoroughly by using theories such as differential opportunity, anomie, differential association, etc. Though he is eventually caught by Officer Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the main character, is able to continue to be a successful drug kingpin for so long because of the aforementioned theories.

The sociology of crime and deviance is about rules, regulations and rule breakers. There are people that break rules and interest are shown to why they do so, while there are others that are seen and labelled rule breakers. The role of the media is to emphasise this ideas in hyperboles and install reactions to society. Societies today are media saturated and they are captivated with crime and it is the fundamental point of the news production. With less association with people’s lives and values which differs from ours the media has become our main source of awareness and what we know or think about crime is heavily influenced by the media’s representation of it.

Traditionally, realism is associated with any position that endorses belief in the reality of something. Thus, one might be a realist about one 's perceptions of tables and chairs (sense datum realism), about tables and chairs themselves (external world realism), or about mathematical entities such as numbers and sets (mathematical realism), and so forth. Scientific realism is a realism about whatever is depicted by our best scientific theories—from this point forward, ‘realism’ here denotes scientific realism. But what, more precisely, is that? In order to be evident as to what scientific realism amounts to and to distinguish it from some important antirealist alternatives, it is useful to understand it in terms of three dimensions: a metaphysical dimension,a semantic dimension, and an epistemological dimension.

Radical Criminology was based on a “Marxist theoretical framework that interrelates the capitalist mode of production, the state, law, crime control, and crime” were it is made up three competing interpretation instrumentalists, structuralist, and dialectical (Bohm, 2011.) They focus on the social arrangements of society including political and economic structure and argue that capitalist societies is made up of winners and losers (Bohm, 2011.) A radical definition of crime is as follows: “imperialism, racism, capitalism, sexism and other