5. Crime Statistics And Patterns Or Offending

Question 1

Ethnicity and crime

Answer 1

-In England about 90% of ppl are white, 3% black, 6% Asian and 2% mixed race
-However, when we loom at official crime statistics, ethnic groups such as black, Asian and mixed race appear to be over represented at almost every level of the criminal justice system compared with white ppl
-Question is, are some ethnic groups more criminal, or is the criminal justice system racist

Question 2

Ethnicity and crime rates

Answer 2

We turn to three main ways of gathering statistical data for ethnic rates of offending:
-Official crime statistics
-Victim surveys
-Self report studies

Question 3

Official statistics

Answer 3

The government department known as the ‘Ministry of Justice’ publishes official statistics data on crime from the Criminal justice system e.g. police and courts

They showed: White people under represented at all stages of the criminal justice process, whereas blacks and Asians are more likely to be criminalised. In terms of the types of crimes, whites commit ‘proportionally’ to their population size the fewest crimes, Asians slightly more, and blacks the most:

Question 4

Criminal justice system activity

Answer 4

Stop and search- Blacks 7x more likely than whites and Asians 2x more likely

Arrests- Blacks are nearly 3x more likely to be arrested than whites and Asians 2x more likely

Prosecuted- Blacks 3x more likely to be prosecuted than whites and Asians 2x more likely

Prisons- Blacks 5x more likely to enter the prison population and Asians 3x more likely for the same offence.

Question 5

Types of crime by ethnicity

Answer 5

Homicide- Blacks are 65 times more likely to commit murder than whites
Robbery- Blacks are 12 times more likely to commit robbery than whites and Asians 2 times more
Firearms offences- Blacks are 7 times more likely to commit firearms offences than whites.
Rape- Blacks are 4 times more likely to commit rape than whites.

Question 6

Victim surveys

Answer 6

-Surveys such as the Crime survey for England and Wales are conducted by asking selected individuals of the general public to report crimes they have been victim of
-The findings are meant to represent a country as a whole, with participants being randomly selected from Royal Mails list of addresses in England and Wales
-Include questions about ethnicity

Question 7

Findings from victim survey

Answer 7

Muggings- Black people are more likely to commit this type of offence compared to any other group and were significantly over represented among those identified by victims as offenders

Victims of crime- Risk of being a personal victim of crime was higher for ethnic groups

Homicide- Blacks and ethnic minority groups are more likely to be a victim of homicide than white adults and children. Homicide was also more likely happen between ppl of same ethnic group.

Hate crimes- Those from non-white backgrounds are far more likely to be victims of racial or religious aggravated offences

Intra ethnicity- A great many crimes are intra ethnic, meaning they take place between same ethnic groups

Question 8

Self report studies

Answer 8

-Self report studies on crime are confidential and anonymous self completion questionnaires which ask individuals about the crimes they themselves have committed.
-Sample is taken using a cross section of the general population

Question 9

Self report findings

Answer 9

Any offence- The highest rate of offences was found amongst whites (42%). Offending rates for ethnic groups were as follows: mixed race (39%); black (28%) and Asians (21%)

Robbery- Black offending rates were higher than whites for robbery: black (2%) and white (0.5%)

Challenge view that black offending rates is higher in blacks than whites. Suggests a bias in criminal justice system.

Question 10

Conclusion

Answer 10

-Evidence from the three resources on the extent and nature of offending by different ethnic groups is inconclusive.
-The sources are flawed in some way as official statistics and victim surveys suggesting one thing and self report studies suggesting another

Question 11

Ethnicity, racism and the criminal justice system

Answer 11

-Some criminologists argue blacks and some ethnic groups are more likely to engage in criminal activity than others, while some criminologists believe ethnic differences in criminalisation stem from bias or racism within operation of criminal justice system

Question 12

Policing

Answer 12

As the crime statistics for 2014 showed:
-Blacks are 7x more likely to be subject to stop and search methods than whites people and Asians 2x more likely than whites
-Under the Terrorism Act 2000, police can stop and search (without reasonable suspicion) any person or vehicle where violence or terrorism is concerned. Data shows Asians are prone to searches

Question 13

Explaining stop and searches

Answer 13

Some of the reasons why certain ethnic groups are more likely to be subject to stop and search methods are:

Question 14

Police racism

Answer 14

-Macpherson Inquiry (investigated death of Stephen Lawrence in London 1993) found police were institutionally racist and claimed certain ethnic groups were more likely to be victimised by the criminal justice process.
-This is because some police officers hold prejudices and negative stereotypical views on certain ethnic minorities, meaning such groups are more likely to be targeted by stop and search

Question 15

Demographic factors

Answer 15

-Certain ethnic minority groups are more likely to be over represented in the population that have higher demographic characteristics than other groups, which the police believe increases the level of crime, therefore justifying increased stop and search measures

Question 16

Ethnic factors

Answer 16

-High levels of stop and search may reflect the belief blacks and some ethnic groups are more likely to engage in certain crimes compared to others
-Therefore, police officers act upon information from previous patterns of criminal profiling of the offender

Question 17

Arrests

Answer 17

-Arrests per 1000 members of population: black (59), mixed (38), Asian (23), white (15)
-Phillip and Bowling suggest after arrest black people more likely to keep silent and seek legal advice or deny offence as they are more untrusting offenders police
-As result, less likely to escape with only a caution

Question 18

Prosecution

Answer 18

Prosecutions per 1000 members of population: black (18), mixed (11), white (6) and Asian (5).
-CPS more likely to terminate cases involving ethnic groups than whites as the evidence they have is often weak or a result of negative stereotypes
-More likely ethnic groups pleading ‘not guilty’
-If found guilty more likely to serve greater sentence

Question 19

Sentencing and imprisonment

Answer 19

-Black and Asians more likely to be given a custodial sentence than whites for committing the same offence
-Black ppl comprise 13% of prison pop but just make up 3% of UK’s pop.

Question 20

Explaining offending patterns in different ethnic groups

Answer 20

Several theories and explanations attempt to show why some ethnic groups are more prone to criminality compared to others

Question 21

Left realism

Answer 21

-Lea and Young do accept there are racist practises in the criminal justice system. However, statistical evidence is accurate enough to show there are real ethnic differences in offending behaviour
-Street crimes are more likely to be committed by a black and other ethnic groups compared to white ppl
-They see this as a result of relative deprivation, marginalisation and presence of subcultures

Question 22

Neo Marxism

Question 23

Gender and crime

Answer 23

-Until 80’s sociologists have largely ignored female criminality
-One reason was low levels of crime committed by females led to female criminality being considered unimportant
-Recently female crime has been steadily rising

Question 24

Crime patterns and gender

Answer 24

Convicted crimes- Official statistics in the UK show men are responsible for 73% of all convicted crimes (Ministry of Justice, 2015). Females have lower arrest rates than males for virtually all crime categories (except prostitution); this pattern is reflected in all countries.

Types of crimes- Men cocommit more serious crimes, e.g. 90% of murders, 89% of violent crime, and 98% of sexual offences. The offences with the highest proportion of female offenders were fraud and forgery (29%), the and handling stolen goods (24%) and violence against another person (16%), (Ministry of Justice 2015).

Re-offending- Males are more likely to re-offend then women and have longer prison sentences.

Prison population- 95% of people in prison in Britain are men; less than 5% are female, a trend similar to elsewh in the West.

Question 25

Under representation of females in crime stats

Answer 25

-Some sociologists argue female offences are under-represented in crime statistics, which do not, therefore, present an accurate picture of the social distribution of criminality.
-Some of the explanations why female crimes are underrepresented are:

Question 26

The chivalry test thesis

Answer 26

-Theory put forward to explain why women are less likely to be prosecuted for their offences than men
-Suggests women treated more leniently than men because criminal justice system is main,y made up of men who have been socialised to be chivalrous towards women

Question 27

Less detectable crimes

Answer 27

-Women commit crimes that are less likely to lead to prosecution or be detected such as shoplifting
-Theft from shops is most common type of crime women commit
-Also tend to shoplift less expensive items such as health items etc

Question 28

Group v individual crime

Answer 28

Females tend to commit crimes alone, whereas males frequently tend to commit crimes groups, which may be a major reason they are likely to be caught and prosecuted.

Question 29

Bias against women

Answer 29

Feminists have argued the criminal justice system does not act in a chivalrous way and is in fact, biased against women- women are treated more harshly. For example:
-Rape cases
-Domestic violence
-Selective chivalry thesis
-How good of mother they are