Left Realism
Definition
A criminological perspective developed by Jock Young, Roger Matthews, and others in the 1980s, arguing that critical criminology had neglected the real harm crime causes to working-class communities. Left realists use the square of crime framework, examining the offender, victim, police, and public together.
- Developed by
- Jock Young, Roger Matthews, and others
- Decade
- 1980s
- Core framework
- Square of crime
- Elements examined
- Offender, victim, police, public
Common questions
What was left realism reacting against?+
It responded to critical and radical criminology, which the left realists argued had become so focused on structural causes of crime that it downplayed the real, immediate harm crime inflicts on working-class and marginalised communities, who are disproportionately victimised.
Why examine all four elements of the square of crime together?+
Looking only at the offender or only at policing gives an incomplete picture; left realists argued that crime emerges from the interaction between offenders, victims, informal social control by the public, and formal control by police, so effective analysis has to account for all four.
Related terms
- Broken Windows Theory
- The proposition by Wilson and Kelling (1982) that visible signs of physical and social disorder invite further disorder and serious crime by...
- Collective Efficacy
- A concept developed by Robert Sampson referring to the combination of social cohesion among neighbours and their shared willingness to intervene in...
- Conflict Criminology
- A family of theories holding that criminal law and its enforcement reflect the interests of powerful social groups rather than universal moral...
- Feminist Criminology
- A body of theory and research that critiques the androcentric bias of mainstream criminology, making visible the gendered dimensions of both offending...
- Order Maintenance Policing
- A policing strategy that directs officers to address low-level disorder, such as public drinking or fare evasion, on the theory that reducing...
- Right Realism
- A criminology built on the claim that crime results from individual choices made by people with weak self-control or weak informal social...
- Social Disorganisation
- The condition of a neighbourhood in which social institutions have weakened to the point where they can no longer effectively regulate behaviour...
- Square of Crime
- Left realism's model of four elements that must all be examined together to explain any crime event: the offender, the victim, the...
- Zero Tolerance Policing
- An enforcement-led version of order maintenance policing that treats minor offences with consistent, low-discretion arrest, most closely associated with New York City...
Explained in these topics
- Left Realism, Right Realism, and Broken Windows TheoryA criminology developed by Jock Young, John Lea and colleagues from the early 1980s that treats crime, and especially its impact on poor and marginalised victi...
- Social Disorganisation and Critical Criminology