ABSTRACT
There are many aspects of left realist theory, but perhaps the most important contribution made by this progressive school of thought is the focus on street crimes. This emphasis led to a relative shortage of left realist work on crimes of the powerful, which is arguably a shortcoming but definitely not a fatal flaw. Starting in the late 1970s, it is argued that it was essential for people on the left to recognize that when it came to street crime, the problem is men located at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Perhaps the best known of these surveys are the Islington Crime Surveys done in London. A more recent example is the Quality of Neighborhood Life Survey (QNLS) conducted in a Canadian public housing community. This survey focused heavily on woman abuse, sexual harassment, and the verbal harassment of gays, lesbians, and people of color in public places-topics that are not found in mainstream victimization surveys.
