Assess right wing solutions to the problem of crime.
OCR
A Level
2019
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Right-Wing Solutions to Crime: An Assessment
This essay will assess right-wing solutions to the problem of crime, focusing on their efficacy and potential limitations. It will draw upon key theoretical perspectives like right realism and the New Right, exploring their proposed solutions and their strengths and weaknesses in the context of addressing crime.
AO1: Knowledge and Understanding
Right-wing approaches to crime place emphasis on individual responsibility and deterrents, often focusing on the role of opportunity and situational factors in crime. These solutions can be broadly categorized as follows:
1. Prevention:
Right realism emphasizes opportunity theory (Clarke), arguing that crime is often a conscious choice, and prevention strategies should focus on making crime more difficult to commit. This involves:
- Situational crime prevention: "target hardening" measures like locks, surveillance systems, CCTV, and street lighting policies (Painter, Farrington).
- Environmental crime prevention: Wider measures aimed at reducing deviant behavior in public spaces, such as the concept of "defensible space" in housing design (South).
2. Punishment:
The New Right advocates for harsh penalties like the death penalty and "three strikes and you're out" policies, emphasizing deterrence, retribution, and denunciation. This aligns with functionalist perspectives on "degradation ceremonies" (Durkheim, Erikson).
While right realist Wilson emphasizes the certainty of capture as a more effective deterrent than severity, based on cost-benefit analysis (Wilson, 1975), he acknowledges the need for effective policing.
3. Control:
Right-wing approaches emphasize control through policing, order maintenance, and zero tolerance policing (Wilson and Kelling, Zimring, 2011). They promote the "Broken Windows" theory (Wilson and Kelling, 1982), which posits that low-level disorder creates an environment conducive to crime. The Newark study (Wilson and Kelling) exemplifies this approach by demonstrating the effectiveness of increased police presence.
4. Welfare State Reform:
The New Right, particularly Murray, criticizes the welfare state for encouraging "feckless behaviour." They advocate for benefit cuts and taking children into care as solutions to reduce crime.
AO2: Application
The knowledge presented above is directly applicable to the question of right-wing solutions to crime. Each solution directly addresses issues within the right-wing framework, focusing on individual responsibility, prevention, and control.
AO3: Analysis and Evaluation
While right-wing solutions offer a potentially effective approach to crime reduction, they face significant criticisms from opposing perspectives, such as left realism and Marxism:
Criticisms of Right-Wing Solutions:
- Neglecting underlying causes: Critics argue right-wing policies fail to address systemic issues like poverty, inequality, and unemployment that contribute to crime (Simon).
- Displacement: Focusing solely on situational factors may lead to crime simply shifting to other locations (Simon).
- Over-policing: Right-wing policies can lead to disproportionate targeting of working-class and minority communities, perpetuating social inequalities (Lea and Young, Phillips and Bowling).
- Cultural engineering: Right-wing solutions may create fear and social division, leading to segregated cities and a culture of suspicion (Davis).
- Focus on order over justice: Right-wing approaches prioritize social order over individual justice, potentially leading to excessive punishment and the erosion of human rights.
- Ineffectiveness of the death penalty: Research suggests the death penalty may not act as a deterrent (AO3).
- Short-term solutions: Many right-wing approaches are criticized for being short-term fixes that fail to address the root causes of crime.
It is important to note that while right-wing solutions may offer some immediate results, their effectiveness is debatable and they may exacerbate existing social inequalities. An effective response to crime requires a multi-faceted approach that addresses both situational and underlying social factors, taking into account the potential pitfalls of solely relying on right-wing solutions.
Assess Right Wing Solutions to the Problem of Crime
Right wing approaches to crime centre on the idea that criminality stems from individual choices and a lack of self-control, rather than societal factors. They advocate for tough punishments and increased social control as deterrents. This essay will assess the effectiveness of these solutions, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses.
Right Realism and the Focus on Control
Right Realism, a key perspective within this approach, emphasizes practical solutions to reduce crime rates. It argues for a strong police presence, swift and certain punishment, and situational crime prevention.
Situational crime prevention, as advocated by Clarke, aims to make crime less appealing by increasing its difficulty and risk. This includes measures such as target hardening (e.g., improved locks, CCTV) and environmental design (e.g., better street lighting, defensible spaces). Painter and Farrington's research supports this, showing a correlation between improved street lighting and reduced crime.
Zero tolerance policing, championed by Wilson and Kelling’s Broken Windows theory, emphasizes addressing minor offenses to prevent escalation into more serious crime. This approach gained traction in New York City, where its implementation coincided with a decrease in crime rates. However, critics argue that it disproportionately targets marginalized communities and may not address the root causes of crime.
The New Right and Individual Responsibility
The New Right perspective shares the focus on individual responsibility and advocates for harsher punishments, including longer sentences and even the death penalty. Murray, a prominent New Right thinker, argues that a generous welfare state fosters dependency and encourages "feckless behavior." He proposes reducing welfare benefits and emphasizes the role of traditional family structures in deterring crime.
However, critics argue that these solutions are overly simplistic and fail to address the complex social and economic factors that contribute to crime. Cutting welfare benefits may exacerbate poverty, a known driver of crime. Furthermore, the death penalty's effectiveness as a deterrent remains highly debated.
Evaluating Right Wing Solutions
While right wing solutions appear to offer practical measures to reduce crime in the short term, their long-term effectiveness is questionable. Critics, particularly from left-leaning perspectives, argue that these solutions fail to address the root causes of crime, such as poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity.
Left Realists like Lea and Young argue for a more holistic approach that addresses the social conditions breeding crime. This includes tackling unemployment, improving housing, and strengthening communities. They advocate for a more collaborative relationship between the police and communities, emphasizing preventative measures rather than solely reactive ones.
Furthermore, the focus on punishment over rehabilitation is criticized for perpetuating a cycle of offending. Braithwaite’s concept of reintegrative shaming argues for a justice system that focuses on repairing harm and reintegrating offenders into society, rather than simply punishing them.
Conclusion
Right wing solutions to crime, with their emphasis on individual responsibility, deterrence, and social control, offer a seemingly straightforward approach to tackling crime. However, they are often criticized for being overly simplistic, ignoring the complex social and economic factors at play. While measures like target hardening and zero-tolerance policing might offer short-term gains, a more effective long-term strategy requires addressing the root causes of crime and focusing on rehabilitation and social justice alongside punishment.
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AO1: Knowledge and Understanding
Candidates are expected to focus on solutions to crime. It is likely that they will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of right-wing views including right realism and the New Right.
Candidates may draw upon different theoretical approaches such as:
- Right realism
- The New Right
Candidates may refer to right-wing solutions to the problem of crime, such as:
- Prevention: criminality is usually a conscious choice. Focus on making crime more difficult to commit and capture and punishment more likely, based on opportunity theory, Clarke.
- Situational crime prevention: ‘target hardening’, e.g. locks on cars, surveillance, CCTV, street lighting policies; Painter (and Farrington).
- Environmental crime prevention - wider measures, making deviant behaviour less likely in the public environment - the concept of ‘defensible space’ such as the design of housing estates, South.
- Punishment: New Right - harsh penalties such as the death penalty, ‘three strikes and you’re out’ involves deterrence, retribution, denunciation: link to functionalist ‘degradation ceremonies’ (Durkheim, Erikson).
- New Right: Murray – accepts high numbers incarcerated is inevitable to reduce crime rates.
- Right realist Wilson prefers to focus on certainty of capture as more effective deterrent, concept of cost-benefit analysis; Wilson, 1975.
- Control: through policing, order maintenance and zero tolerance policing; Wilson and Kelling; Zimring, 2011.
- The community needs to be engaged in challenging low-level disorder; Broken Windows, Wilson and Kelling, 1982.
- Study in Newark, New York – more police on streets puts right realist views into practice; Wilson and Kelling.
- Zimbardo’s study showing how a car was vandalised – link to community standards, zero tolerance.
- New Right focus on the welfare state; benefit system thought to encourage ‘feckless behaviour’ - solution to cut benefits, taking children into care; Murray.
- Other reasonable response.
AO2: Application
The selected knowledge should be directly specific to the question - right-wing solutions to the problem of crime.
AO3: Analysis and evaluation
Candidates could use opposing approaches to challenge right-wing solutions such as:
- Left-wing views, including left realism and Marxism.
Arguments against right-wing solutions to crime, may include:
- Right-wing policies are often criticised for not addressing underlying causes of crime; e.g., Simon.
- Right-wing solutions that do not take underlying causes into account can lead to ‘displacement’ to another area; Simon.
- Right-wing policies lead to catching more and more people in ‘ever-larger nets of ever-finer mesh’; Cohen.
- Right realist policies might lead to segregated cities, a culture of fear and a form of social engineering; Davis.
- Right-wing solutions - such as CCTV, security patrols, expanded electronic data collection, strengthened immigration controls – target the innocent as well as the guilty; Hudson, 1997.
- Right-wing solutions do not address underlying causes: Left-wing approaches claim the social structure is the main cause of crime, crime prevention needs to focus on structural changes that tackle the social causes of crime.
- Left-wing solutions based on the idea that rehabilitation will tackle crime more effectively than retribution (RW). Favour ‘reintegrative’, rather than ‘disintegrative’ shaming, avoids labelling; Braithwaite, 1989, 2004.
- Left-wing: right-wing solutions lead to over policing of the working class/minority communities; more effective solutions involve strengthening relationships between police and community, ‘minimal policing’ and a multi-agency approach to help improve the ‘moral context’ in which crime is committed; Lea and Young; Phillips and Bowling.
- Zero tolerance adopted initially in New York, over emphasis on working-class crime, effectiveness can be questioned.
- Minimum sentences rarely upheld in the UK as they contravened human rights legislation.
- Right-wing approaches criticised for over-emphasising social order at the expense of justice.
- The death penalty may not act as a deterrent.
- RW solutions are a short-term fix.
- Other reasonable response.