3.2 ethnicity and crime

Question 1

Of the 81,900 men in prison how many of them are white, black, asian, mixed or chinese?

Answer 1

• white = 74%
• black = 15%
• asian = 7%
• mixed = 3%
• chinese = 1%

Question 2

Of the 3,943 women in prison how many of them are white, black, asian, mixed or chinese?

Answer 2

• white = 70%
• black = 21%
• asian = 2%
• mixed = 5%
• chinese and other = 2%

Question 3

What is the population by ethnicity in the UK?

Answer 3

• white = 86%
• black = 3%
• asian = 8%
• mixed or other = 2%

Question 4

What does the official statistics of ethnicity and crime in comparison to population by ethnicity suggest?

Answer 4

• ethnic minorities are over-represented in the system

Question 5

What did the Ministry of Justice report in 2008 that black people in comparison to white people were?

Answer 5

• more likely to be arrested for robbery
• three times more likely to be cautioned by the police
• if arrested, more likely to be charged and face court proceedings than to recieve a caution

Question 6

What did the Ministry of Justice report in 2008 that black people in comparison to white people were?

Answer 6

• more likely to be arrested for robbery
• three times more likely to be cautioned by the police
• if arrested, more likely to be charged and face court proceedings than to recieve a caution

Question 7

What don’t statistics tell uss about crime and ethnicity?

Answer 7

• whether members of one group are more likely than members of another to commit an offence in the first place, they just tell us anout involvement with the CJS

Question 8

How can discrimination be seen in policing?

Answer 8

• many allegations of oppressive policing from minority ethnic communities are made e.g. mass stop and search operations, excess surveillance, armed raids, deaths in custody

Question 9

How can discrimination be seen in arrests and cautions?

Answer 9

• the arrest rate for black people is 3.6 times the rate for whites
• once arrested less likely to recieve a caution, perhaps due to a mistrust of police and not admitting to the offence

Question 10

How can discrimination be seen in sentencing and prison?q

Answer 10

• custodial sentences are more likely to be given to black offenders
• black people and asians are over represented in prisons and more likely to be given longer sentences

Question 11

How can the increased number of stop and search rates be explained?

Answer 11

1. police racism
2. demographic factors
3. ethnic differences in offending

Question 12

How can police racism explain the high levels of police racism?

Answer 12

• institutional racism within the police force
• Phillips and Bowling (2007) = many officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals, leading to deliberate targeting for stop and search

Question 13

How can demographic factors explain the high levels of stop and search rates?

Answer 13

• ethnic minorities are overrepresented in population groups are most likely to be stopped e.g. young, employed and urban dwellers

Question 14

How can ethnic differences in offending explain the high rates of stop and search?

Answer 14

• patterns may reflect the possibility that some ethnic groups are more likely to offend

Question 15

What does Waddington argue about the higher number of black stop and searches in comparison to white people?

Answer 15

• there are more ethnic minority youths out at night in inner cities and the police simply target those in high risk areas
• if the area is disproportionately represented by young black males they are more likley to be stopped and searched - because of where they are rather than their ethnicity

Question 16

What happened in the Stephen Lawrence case?

Answer 16

• April 1993 = Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop in London by a gang of white youths who were heard using racist language
• the case became a national scandal, especially when the identities of the killers became known and they weren’t punished
• the MacPherson Report found the police had mishandled the case and described the Met Police as institutionally racist

Question 17

What is meant by institutional racism?

Answer 17

• any kind of system of inequality based on race
• it can occur in institutions such as public govt bodies, private business corporations and universities (public and private)

Question 18

How do left realists explain the ethnic differences in the distribution of crime?

Answer 18

• Lea and Young = official statistics are generally accurate, and young black men really are committing more offences than other groups

Question 19

How do left realists use marginalisation to explain ethnic differences in the distribution of crime?

Answer 19

• racism has led to the marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing

Question 20

How do left realists use relative deprivation to explain ethnic differences in the distribution of crime?

Answer 20

• the media’s focus on consumerism promotes a sense of relative deprivation by setting materialistic goals that many members of minority groups are unable to reach by legitimate meand

Question 21

How do left realists use subcultures to explain ethnic differences in the distribution of crime?

Answer 21

• the formation of delinquent subcultures, especially by young unemployed black males
• produce higher levels of utilitarian crime e.g. theft and robbery

Question 22

What are some other reasons for higher rates of street crime amongst black people?

Answer 22

• educational failure = higher rate of exclusions
• family structure = 60% of young black people live with just one parent
• mass media

Question 23

How do neo-marxists explain black crime?

Answer 23

• black crime is a social construct

Question 24

What does Gilroy argue about black criminality?

Answer 24

• the idea of black criminality is a myth created by **racist stereotypes of African Caribbeans and Asians
• in reality these groups are no more criminal than any other group
• but the CJS acts on these racist strereotypes, minorities are criminalised and therefore appear in greater numbers in the official crime statistics
• ethnic minority crime is a form of political resistance

Question 25

What is an evaluation of Gilroy?

Answer 25

• Lea and Young criticise Gilroy:
• first generation immigrants were law abiding; its unlikely they passed on a tradition of anti-colonial struggle
• most crime is intra-ethnic
• romanticises street crime