5. Ethnicity,racism & criminal justice system Flashcards
Why are black people more criminal
WHY BLACK PEOPLE ARE MORE CRIMINAL
EDUCATION
Black caribbean pupils statistically perform poorly in education, and therefore may find it hard to find a legitimate and sufficiently well-paid job. In turn, they may either turn to illegal means of employment (such as drug trade) or turn to crime due to relative deprivation.
FAMILY
Functionalists - the growing rate of a lone-parent family structure with in the black community leads to inadequate socialisation, therefore children are not taught the correct norms and values of society - in this instance, they are not taught crime is immoral.
MEDIA
Media representations reinforce the stereotype that black people are more criminal. This may lead to a self fulfilling prophecy and black people will in turn commit more crime.
outline policing in relation to criminal justice system
Philips & Bowling (2012) note since 1970s there have been allegations of oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities including ‘mass stop & search operations, excessive surveillance, police violence’
Outline the main stages of the criminal justice system an individual may go through
- Policing
- Stop & search
- arrests & cautions
- Prosecution & trial
Outline stop & search
Members of BAME are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police . Police can use this power if have ‘reasonable suspicion’ of wrongdoing’ compared with white people
in 2020 black people were 9 times more likely to be stopped & searched & Asian people over twice as likely
Statistics show Asian people are more likely to be stopped and searched than other people under the terrorism act
Philips & Bowling (2007) members of BAME are more likely to think they are overpoliced & under protected & have limited faith in police
Use of Force- in 2019/20 Black people were 4 times more likely to have force used against them by Metropolitan police officers than White people
5 times more likely to have taser-like devices used against the, by force
Explain Stop & Search patterns
3 reasons for disproportionate use of stop & search against BAME
1. Police racism
2. Ethnic differences in offending
3. Demographic Factors
Outline police racism as a reason for stop & search patterns
The Macpherson report (1999) on police investigation of the racist murder of Steven Lawrence concluded that there was institutional racism within the metropolitan police . Others have found deeply ingrained racist attitudes amongst individual officers
Philips & Bowling (2012) point out that officers hold negative stereotypes about minority ethnic groups as criminals leading to deliberate targeting of stop & search
such stereotypes are endorsed & upheld by the ‘canteen culture’ of rank & file officers
Outline demographic factors as a reason for stop & search
Demographic factors-BAME are over-represented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped such as young, unemployed -these groups have higher proportion of ethnic minorities and so minorities get stopped more
Outline Ethnic differences in offending as a reason for stop & search
In high discretion areas police act without specific intelligence & so officers use their stereotypes & discrimination the most
Arrests & cautions
arrest rate for black people is over 3 times the rate for white people
Black & Asian arrestees were less likely than white arrestees to receive a caution
reason for this may be that members of BAME are more likely to deny the offence & exercise their right to legal advice
Prosecution & trial
The Crown prosecution service (CPS) is responsible for deciding whether a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court. The CPS must decide whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction & whether prosecution is in the public interest
studies suggest CPS is more likely to drop cases against BAME .
Bowling & Philips argue this is because evidencve presented to CPS by the police is weaker is based on stereotyping of BAME as criminals
