New Left Realism is a contemporary form of Social Conflict Theory; a theory that tries to explain crime and it's connections to social class, crime and social control. Left Realism Theory affects mainly the working class and solutions to crime tend to only make crime problems worse. The roots of NLR, how it evolved, and current social implications are important to understanding this theory. NLR's largely reject the view that poverty and unemployment cause crime, preferring Merton's view of 'strain' and 'anomie'.Left Realism began with the 1984 work of John Lea and Jock Young. In their writing of What Is To Be Done About Law and Order ?, these two authors give birth to the idea that crime is a three way process, the offender, the state and the victim. Jock Young breaks away from traditional structuralism by claiming that criminals must not be seen as 'passive' but active offenders responsible for their own actions.
In What Is To Be Done About Law and Order?, Lea and Young politically present the idea that crime is a real problem for working class people. The left realists have attempted to present a solution to crime (this was to stop the New Right having a monopoly of solutions for crime in regards to their philosophy on 'Zero Tolerance'). One solution the NLR's present is that there needs to be greater cooperation between the police and the public. This is a logical suggestion, but harder in reality as was witnessed during the Rhys Jones murder in Liverpool. When the police pleaded for help from the local community but the community "clammed" up and did not cooperate.
Current social implications NLR's claim is a lack of job creation, social inequality, social fear, political incompetence and failure, gender conflict leading to disenchantment and rioting. Our society has been changed according to Left Realism by the creation of fearful and isolated citizens through relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation. Lea and Young's concepts of demarginalisation, pre-emptive deterrence and the limited use of prisons for violent offenders can help you understand what Left Realism is all about. There attempt to create connections between social classes and crime and how criminals are punished or sentenced.
In regards to stopping marginalisation NLRs claim that community service orders and widespread release from prison would stop the separation between the criminal and the community currently being witnessed. In relation to pre-emptive deterrence NLR's claim that organisation of the community is of the highest importance. In regards to prison Lea and Young (right) claim that, "Prisons should only be used in those circumstances where there is extreme danger to the community... Life inside should be as free and as 'normal' as possible. Such a demand is not humanitarian idealism - it is based on the simple fact that the result of prison experience is to produce pitiful inadequates or hardened criminals"
NLR claim that social surveys are socially constructed and simple suit 'consumer demand and satisfaction', what is more accurate are localised victim studies. They have conducted large scale studies in Merseyside and Islington. This study will lead us onto the counter argument by the New Right...
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