Left Realism is a contemporary for 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 people and its solutions only make the crime problems worse. Its roots, how it evolved and current social implications are important to know in understanding this theory.

Left Realism began witht he 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 of that street criminals victimizing the poor and these poor are abused twice over. First by their government system, who abuse their power of being a ruling elite knowing their poor victims and criminals have no financial means to protect themselves against severe or strict punishments. Second, the victim is abused by their own working class.

In What Is To Be Done About Law and Order ?, Lea and Young present three concepts of Left Realism. Demarginalisation argues for there to be alternatives to prison sentences like restitution and community service. Preemptive Deterrence is a community effort to deter crime in ways such as community watch programs. And last, the use of prison in the case of the most extremely dangerous criminals that pose a threat to a community. Left Realism has evolved over time with these three concepts.

Current Social implications of Left Realism is job creation, social inequality, social fear, political incompetence and failure, gender conflict, and family and parenting.  Our society has been changed by Left Realism by creating fearful and isolated citizens because of discrimination, either because of race or gender.  Globalization of our economy has changed the way jobs are created or less created.

Left Realism needs to look at crime by its rational and destructive nature.  Lea and Young's concepts of demarginalisation, preemptive deterrence and use of prions for violent offenders can help you understand what Left Realism is all about.  There are connections of social classes and crime and how criminals are punished or sentenced.  When we punish our own social class it tends to create more problems within our own social class, rather than solve anything.

This article is original content written by Tanya L. See. Reproduction of this content maybe used on any website as long as it is copied in it's entirety and credit is given to Tanya L. See and a link to her website, www.tanyasee.com , is included.