Class and Ethnicity

Question 1

Give the disproportionate crime numbers for the black population

Answer 1

3% of the population is black and 12% of the prison population is black

Question 2

What is a victim survey with an advantage and disadvantage?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What are self-report studies with 2 disadvantages?

Answer 3

Offenders’ confessions

• anonymous so lacks validity
• might lie or exaggerate crimes

Question 4

Define institutional racism

Answer 4

Any kind of system of inequality based on race

Question 5

Give the 5 stages of the justice system showing institutional racism

Answer 5

Stop and search
Arrest and cautions
Trials
Pre-sentence reports
Sentencing and Prisons

Question 6

Give the statistics of stop and search based on race

Answer 6

in 2006/7 Asians were 3x more likely to stopped and searched and black people were 7 times more likely

Question 7

Give 3 reasons for why minorities are stopped and searched more

Answer 7

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

Question 8

In what ways can racism be seen in arrests and cautions?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Who explains how trials have racial differences?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

What is a pre-sentence report and how can it be racist?

Answer 10

Probation officer risk-assessment - allows for discrimination as it is subjective - Asians described as less remorseful

Question 11

What did Hood find out about race differences in sentencing and prisons?

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Give a main case study for institutional racism

Answer 12

Stephen Lawrence and the MacPherson Report 1993.

Question 13

Give the Left Realist explanation for EM crime and who came up with it

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Give 2 positive pieces of evaluation and 1 negative piece for left realist views

Answer 14

+ MERTON strain theory
+ COHEN status frustration
- ARCHER different races have different stereotypes

Question 15

Give Gilroy’s Neo - Marxist explanation for EM crime

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Give the other Neo-Marxist explanation for EM crime and who came up with it

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Give 2 pieces of negative evaluation for Gilroy’s explanation

Answer 17

• Most black crime is intraracial so it can’t be fighting racism
• it romanticises crime

Question 18

Give 1 piece of negative and 1 piece of positive evaluation for Hall’s explanation

Answer 18

+ recognises different causes

- Left realists argue it was a media moral panic but rational fear

Question 19

Who came up with the explanation of ‘alternative economies’ and what is it?

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Give 3 positive pieces of evaluation for Bourgois

Answer 20

+ MERTON strain theory
+ COHEN status frustration
+ explains utilitarian and non-utilitarian crime

Question 21

What is Bowling and Phillips explanation for EM differences in crime?

Answer 21

Identity - poverty and exclusion means black people need to create a ‘powerful black identity’ through crime.

Question 22

How does family structure create higher levels of EM crime?

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Which sociologist would agree with the idea of family structure as a cause?

Answer 23

Murray

Question 24

Give 3 more reasons for EM crime rates

Answer 24

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