Let W be a universal class of (not necessarily associative) rings and let A ⊆ W. Kurosh has given in [6] a construction for LA, the lower radical class determined by A in W. Using this construction, Leavitt and Hoffmann have proved in [4] that if A is a hereditary class (if K ∈ A and I is an ideal of K, then I ∈ A), then LA is also hereditary. In this paper an alternate lower radical construction is given. As applications, a simple proof is given of the theorem of Leavitt and Hoffmann and a result of Yu-Lee Lee for alternative rings is extended to not necessarily associative rings.