ABSTRACT
There are two contemporary manifestations of the radical criminological tradition we encountered in Chapter 10. One variant, ‘left realism’, is the focus of Chapter 18. The other, critical criminology – or ‘left idealism’ as it has been termed by their former colleagues and now ‘realist’ opponents – is the only version that can be argued to have unequivocal foundations in the victimized actor model of crime and criminal behaviour. There are a number of different variations of critical criminology but, in general, it can be said to be a perspective where crime is defi ned in terms of the concept of oppression. Thus, some groups in society – the working class (in particular, the poorer sections), women (especially those who are poor, sole parents and socially isolated) and ethnic minority groups (especially those from non-English-speaking backgrounds and refugees) – are seen to be the most likely to suffer oppressive social relations based upon class division, sexism and racism.
