Right Realism
Definition
A criminology built on the claim that crime results from individual choices made by people with weak self-control or weak informal social controls, associated with James Q. Wilson and Richard Herrnstein.
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...
- Left Realism
- A criminological perspective developed by Jock Young, Roger Matthews, and others in the 1980s, arguing that critical criminology had neglected the real...
- 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...
- 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...
- George Kelling
- Criminologist who co-authored the 1982 Atlantic Monthly article that set out broken windows theory with James Q. Wilson.
- James Q. Wilson
- Political scientist who argued, in Thinking About Crime (1975), for near-term situational levers over distant root causes, and co-authored broken windows theory...
Explained in these topics
- Left Realism, Right Realism, and Broken Windows Theory
- Realist Criminology and Broken Windows Theory (UGC-NET Unit IV)A parallel 1980s programme, associated with James Q. Wilson, that explains crime as an individual choosing to offend after weighing immediate reward against im...