Outline and assess Left Realist views on the possible solutions to
crime
This essay will outline and assess using Right Realist views, the Left Realist views on possible
solutions to crime.
In order to outline and assess views on solutions, this essay will first outline the possible
causes of crime in society. Left Realists, Lea and Young emphasise the importance of tackling
deprivation and of getting policing to respond to the needs of the local population. Young
became increasingly disillusioned with the Marxist approach to crime that emphasised that
criminals should be seen as victims of the system and that sociological analysis should
emphasise the crimes of the powerful. Young argued that Marxist criminology was left
idealism, meaning it was great in theory but didn’t offer any practical solutions. Lea and
Matthews examined local victim surveys in Islington and Merseyside, showing that real
victims of crime were the poor and powerless. People considered street crime and burglary
as main social problems. From these statistical trends Lea and Young developed the 3
elements of the Left Realist explanation of crime; Relative Deprivation, Marginalisation and
Subcultures. Awareness relative deprivation leads to rebellious attitudes and potential
crime and devious acts. Subcultures develop in groups that are blocked off from success,
due to marginalisation. It can be argued that Lea and Young`s study is not representative of
the whole population as they only examined victim surveys in Islington and Merseyside.
