Conclusion
Can anything be said in conclusion on the essence of the realist approach? It is important to end by restating that realism originates as a reaction, in current social and political conditions to the absences in radical criminology. These are the absence of a discourse about crime and a refusal to talk about the constructive as opposed to the destructive role of institutions of criminal justice. Realism rejects a utopian strategy of waiting for the state to whither away, knowing that we would only have to reinvent it if it did.
The starting point for realism is the strategy of democratization. The maximization of democratic participation is ultimately the solution both to the problem of what is crime and to the problem of how to deal with it. The solution to the problem of criminal justice is the democratization of its institutions while at the same time recognising their necessary functions. The realist programme is concerned with the redrawing of the boundaries between and the transformation of the character of institutionsand communities in accordance with the values of socialist pluralism.
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For a discussion of this problem cf. Jill Box-Grainger (1986). ‘Sentencing Rapists’, in: R. Matthews and J. Young (eds),Confronting Crime. London: Sage.
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For a critique see J. Lea (1986). ‘Police Racism: some theories and their policy implications’, in: R. Matthews and J. Young, op. cit.
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Cf. T. Jones et al. (1986).The Islington Crime Survey. London: Gower.
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Cf. J. Lea and J. Young (1984).What Is To Be Done About Law and Order. London: Penguin; and R. Kinsey, J. Lea and J. Young (1986).Losing The Fight Against Crime. Oxford: Blackwell.
Cf.op. cit., chapter 9.
For a review of this debate, cf. S. Spitzer (1982), ‘The Dialectics of Formal and Informal Control’, in: R. Abel (ed.),The Politics of Informal Justice. London: Academic Press.
Hulsmanop. cit., ( p. 26.
Cf. Cohenop. cit., and for a marxist account R. Hofrichter (1982), ‘Neighborhood Justice and the Social Control Problems of Capitalism’, in: R. Abel, op. cit.
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Cf. B. Frankel (1983).Beyond the State? Dominant Theories and Socialist Strategies, chapter 13. London: Macmillan, for an extended discussion.
Cf. Kinsey, Lea and Young,op. cit., ch. 9.
Cf. J. Lea and T. Jones (forthcoming).The Politics of Crime Prevention.
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Lea, J. Left Realism: a defence. Contemporary Crises 11, 357–370 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00728739
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00728739