Class and Ethnicity Flashcards
Give the disproportionate crime numbers for the black population
3% of the population is black and 12% of the prison population is black
What is a victim survey with an advantage and disadvantage?
When victims are asked to identify their attacker
+ gives idea of the ‘dark figure of crime’
- white victims ‘over-identify’ black people when actually 90% of crime with white victims was a white victims
What are self-report studies with 2 disadvantages?
Offenders’ confessions
- anonymous so lacks validity
- might lie or exaggerate crimes
Define institutional racism
Any kind of system of inequality based on race
Give the 5 stages of the justice system showing institutional racism
Stop and search Arrest and cautions Trials Pre-sentence reports Sentencing and Prisons
Give the statistics of stop and search based on race
in 2006/7 Asians were 3x more likely to stopped and searched and black people were 7 times more likely
Give 3 reasons for why minorities are stopped and searched more
Racism - REINER - there’s a canteen culture in the police of macho value, racism and suspicion of difference.
Accurate reflection - minorities commit a disproportionate amount of crime
Demography - EM are over-represented in the young, unemployed, manual workers and those in urban areas
In what ways can racism be seen in arrests and cautions?
Arrest rate for black people is 3x higher ``
EMs are less likely to be cautioned
EMs are less likely to admit guilt immediately - prefer legal rights and mistrust the police
Who explains how trials have racial differences?
Bowling and Philips - EM cases are more likely to be dropped as they’re based on stereotypes rather then evidence. Also they can get tougher sentences as they prefer a crown court and jury as they don’t trust the system.
What is a pre-sentence report and how can it be racist?
Probation officer risk-assessment - allows for discrimination as it is subjective - Asians described as less remorseful
What did Hood find out about race differences in sentencing and prisons?
That even when the seriousness of the crimes and previous record are taken into consideration black people are still 5 times more likely to be jailed.
Give a main case study for institutional racism
Stephen Lawrence and the MacPherson Report 1993.
Give the Left Realist explanation for EM crime and who came up with it
LEA AND YOUNG - relative deprivation effects EMs more as they are more likely to be in poverty and suffer racism which marginalises them. A response to this is for young, unemployed black males to form a subculture which values deviance and crime.
They believe that the figure is accurate and that racism doesn’t play a large role as 90% of crime is reported not found by the police and also some ethnic groups are higher than others.
Give 2 positive pieces of evaluation and 1 negative piece for left realist views
+ MERTON strain theory
+ COHEN status frustration
- ARCHER different races have different stereotypes
Give Gilroy’s Neo - Marxist explanation for EM crime
He argues that black criminality is a myth and that black crime is a resistance to racism, their riots and demonstrations are criminalised by the system.
Give the other Neo-Marxist explanation for EM crime and who came up with it
HALL - the moral panic over black muggings served capitalism as it distracted from inflation, unemployment and strikes and divided the working class on race grounds. Also marginalisation had forced black people into crime for economic survival
Give 2 pieces of negative evaluation for Gilroy’s explanation
- Most black crime is intraracial so it can’t be fighting racism
- it romanticises crime
Give 1 piece of negative and 1 piece of positive evaluation for Hall’s explanation
+ recognises different causes
- Left realists argue it was a media moral panic but rational fear
Who came up with the explanation of ‘alternative economies’ and what is it?
BOURGOIS - studied El Barrio (a black and hispanic community in Harlem) discrimination excluded these people from legitimate economic opportunities so created an alternative economy. This was based around drugs. There is also an inner-city subculture with inverted values who find self-worth through violence, substance abuse and rage. So it is combination of these.
Give 3 positive pieces of evaluation for Bourgois
+ MERTON strain theory
+ COHEN status frustration
+ explains utilitarian and non-utilitarian crime
What is Bowling and Phillips explanation for EM differences in crime?
Identity - poverty and exclusion means black people need to create a ‘powerful black identity’ through crime.
How does family structure create higher levels of EM crime?
Crime rate for asians have risen over the last 10 years as religion is having less of an influence on young asian men and tight-knit family units have weakened. Also in the black community there’s a high number of single mothers.
Which sociologist would agree with the idea of family structure as a cause?
Murray
Give 3 more reasons for EM crime rates
Mass media - a lack of positive male role models for black boys as it’s just rappers and sports stars some of which glorify crime and violence.
Neighbourhoods - street robberies occur more in poor and mc mixing areas (urban areas) where EMs live
Getting caught - ‘black crimes’ like robbery and knife crime are crimes where you can be easily identified
