Focus on social justice and crime prevention.

• A. Left realism
• B. Right realism
• C. Marxism
• D. Labelling theory

Answer: (A)

Left realism emphasizes crime as a real social problem linked to inequality and deprivation, so it ties social justice directly to how we prevent crime. It argues that to reduce crime we must address root causes—things like poverty, housing, education, and fair opportunity—while also pursuing practical policing that is accountable to communities and aims to protect victims. This combination makes it the best fit for a focus on both social justice and effective crime prevention.

The other theories don’t foreground social justice and broad prevention in the same way. Right realism centers on deterrence and controlling crime through policing and situational measures, with less emphasis on tackling underlying inequality. Marxism treats crime largely as a product of capitalist structure and focuses on critique rather than concrete, community-based prevention policies. Labelling theory concentrates on how social reactions to deviance shape behavior, rather than proposing overarching social reforms aimed at preventing crime.