Weaknesses - too readily dismiss official stats, realists accept they have imperfections but they show the basic reality of crime and can be useful generating explanations.
Theorists have been questioned on empirical grounds Hirschi argues it is debatable whether labelling leads to deviant career, believing other factors play a large role, validity of ideas questioned.
Criticised theoretically, fails to explain why the nature and extent of crime is socially constructed, and fail to consider wider structural origins of crime and deviance.
Lea and Young attack interactionists for too readily explaining away W/C and black crime as social construction. Arguing that marginalisation, rel deprivation and subcultures are the reasons for this type of crime. Also see them as siding with deviant and ignoring practical social policy. Left realists put forward solutions.