Right Realism

Using material A and elsewhere. Assess the value of the right realist approach to crime and deviance

The realist theories differ from other theories in that unlike most criminology theories they actually offer solutions to the problems of crime. Right realists take a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach towards crime and believe in creating severe deterrents against crime in the form of harsh punishments; in contrast left realist believe in tackling the causes of crime and believe in more long term solutions.

Right realists share a right wing political perspective and are closely associated with the New Right and Charles Murray. As Item A states about biological differences playing a pivotal role in making some individuals more predisposed to committing crime because of a combination of biological and social factors. Wilson and Herrnstein believe that biological differences make some people more inherently predisposed to commit crime based on personality traits – most criminals tend to people who display aggressive behaviour, low level of intelligence and are often risk-takers these factors are attributed to most criminals and Wilson and Herrnstein along with other Right Realists see these traits as biologically determined. However critics would contend tis idea based on the fact that evidence for intelligence being biologically determined is very limited and even if it was biologically determined, Lilly et al found that differences in intelligence only accounted for 3% of the difference in offending.

Another cause of crime that Right Realist contribute to the high levels of street crime is what New Right writer Charles Murray calls the ‘the underclass’ who are single parent families headed by the mother and are welfare dependent with an absent father; which causes the young males to seek role models within crime committing subcultures. Right Realists believe that an effective socialisation can eradicate the risk of offending and that the nuclear family is the best...