Right Realism

Right realism, in criminology, also known as New Right Realism, Neo-Classicism, Neo-Positivism, or Neo-Conservatism, is the ideological polar opposite of left realism. It considers the phenomenon of crime from the perspective of political Conservatism and asserts that it takes a more realistic view of the causes of crime and deviance, and identifies the best mechanisms for its control. Unlike the other Schools of criminology, there is less emphasis on developing theories of causality in relation to crime and deviance (the tendency is to scientifically examine Official Statistics as evidence). The school employs a rationalist, direct and scientific approach to policy-making for the prevention and control of crime. Some politicians who ascribe to the perspective may address aspects of crime policy in ideological terms by referring to freedom, justice, and responsibility. For example, they may be asserting that individual freedom should only be limited by a duty not to use force against others. This, however, does not reflect the genuine quality in the theoretical and academic work and the real contribution made to the nature of criminal behaviour by criminologists of the school.

The primary focus is on the control and prevention of criminal behavior, i.e. the criminals have to be prevented from breaking the criminal law and punished if they do. There is little interest in exploring concepts of power and structures in society. Indeed, the political view of the Thatcherite branch of right wing politics, is that, "There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women and there are families". (Margaret Thatcher 1993:626). This is distinguishable from political systems that provide order for their subjects and the problems to be governed in terms of their relationship to society, whether as functional or dysfunctional, integrated or isolated, organized or disorganized. In the face of theories of autonomy and an increasingly entrepreneurial culture, government increasingly focuses on mobilizing individuals, families, "the market" and voluntary associations such as "communities". Privatization rather than social welfare has become the paradigm, despite there being no empirical evidence to suggest that the former has created any better outcomes, per unit cost, than the latter.

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