Realist Theories of Crime

Realist approaches to crime emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as a reaction against what their proponents saw as the failure of other theories to take crime seriously as a real social problem. Both right realism and left realism argue that crime causes genuine harm — particularly to disadvantaged communities — and that sociological theory must engage with practical crime prevention. However, the two approaches offer very different diagnoses of the causes of crime and propose very different solutions.

Key Definition: Realism in criminology refers to approaches that treat crime as a real and serious problem requiring practical solutions, rather than as a social construction or an inevitable product of social structure.

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Right Realism

Right realism emerged in the United States in the 1980s, closely associated with the New Right political movement and the policies of President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher. Right realists reject structural explanations of crime (such as poverty and inequality) and instead emphasise individual choice, inadequate socialisation, and the rational calculation of criminals.

James Q. Wilson and George Kelling: Broken Windows Theory

Wilson and Kelling (1982) developed the influential broken windows theory, which argues that the appearance of disorder in a neighbourhood — broken windows, graffiti, litter, abandoned buildings — sends a signal that no one cares and that deviant behaviour will be tolerated.

The process works as follows:

1. Minor signs of disorder appear in a neighbourhood (broken windows, graffiti).
2. Law-abiding residents feel unsafe and withdraw from public spaces.
3. Informal social controls (community supervision, neighbourly intervention) break down.
4. The area becomes attractive to criminals, who perceive that their behaviour will go unchallenged.
5. More serious crime increases, completing the decline of the neighbourhood.

Wilson and Kelling argued that the police should focus on maintaining order by zero-tolerance policing — aggressively tackling minor offences and disorders to prevent the spiral into serious crime.

Key Definition: Zero-tolerance policing is a strategy of rigorously enforcing laws against minor offences (vandalism, fare evasion, public drinking) in order to prevent more serious crime from developing.

The New York Experience

Zero-tolerance policing was famously implemented in New York City in the 1990s under Police Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Police cracked down on minor offences — fare dodging on the subway, aggressive begging, graffiti — and crime rates fell significantly.

However, the relationship between zero-tolerance policing and the crime drop is disputed:

• Crime was already falling before the policy was implemented.
• Crime also fell in cities that did not adopt zero-tolerance policing.
• Other factors — such as demographic changes, economic growth, and the decline of the crack cocaine epidemic — may have been more important.

Charles Murray: The Underclass

Charles Murray (1990) argued that a growing underclass in both the USA and the UK was responsible for rising crime rates. The underclass, according to Murray, is characterised by:

• High rates of single parenthood, leading to inadequate socialisation of children (especially boys who lack male role models).
• Welfare dependency, which removes the incentive to work and breeds a culture of idleness and irresponsibility.
• High rates of crime and drug use.

Murray argued that the welfare state is partly to blame for creating the underclass by making it possible for women to raise children without fathers and for men to live without working. His solution was to reduce welfare provision to restore individual responsibility.

Rational Choice Theory

Right realists draw on rational choice theory, which assumes that criminals are rational actors who weigh up the costs and benefits of crime before acting. If the expected benefits (financial gain, excitement, status) outweigh the expected costs (risk of detection, punishment), the individual will choose to commit the offence.

This leads to policy recommendations focused on increasing the costs of crime:

• More police officers on the streets (increasing the risk of detection).
• Harsher sentences (increasing the cost of conviction).
• Target hardening (making it more difficult to commit crime through improved security, CCTV, better locks).

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Left Realism

Left realism emerged in Britain in the 1980s, primarily through the work of Jock Young, John Lea, and Roger Matthews. Left realists shared the right realist concern that crime is a real problem causing genuine harm, but they rejected the right realist focus on individual choice and inadequate socialisation. Instead, they argued that crime must be understood in the context of social inequality.

Lea and Young: Three Causes of Crime

Lea and Young (1984) identified three key factors that interact to produce crime: