Crime And Ethnicity Flashcards
Stats on stop and search
In 2014- the police stopped and searched black Britons 4.3 times more than white Britons
Percentage of ethnic minority prisoners
25% despite the fact that only 12% of the population of England and Wales belong to BAME groups
Arrest rates
In 2014- the black and mixed ethnicity groups’ arrest rates per 1000 people were almost three and two times higher compared with other ethnic groups
Youth custody
40% of 15 to 18 yr old boys held in youth custody in England and Wales were from BAME backgrounds in 2015
Racist incidents
In 2014/15, just under 54000 racist incidents were recorded by the police
Muslim hate crimes
In 2015, hate crimes against Muslims in London rose by 70%
Morris
Observes that BAME groups in the UK contain a disproportionate number of young people compared with the white population. Claims that the number of BAME people in crime stats is a statistical illusion caused by the fact that most crime is committed by young people
Phillips and Bowling (2007)
Oppressive military style policing has resulted in the over policing and criminalisation of ethnic minorities
Hood (1992)
Even when the seriousness of an offence and previous convictions were taken into account black men were 5x more likely to be jailed and given a sentence which is 3 months longer than whites
Paul Gilroy - political protest
Neo Marxist
Argues that young black men feel hostile to white people and are alienated by their everyday experience of casual racism and what they perceive as a racist police force
As such, crime is a form of political protest against a racist capitalist society
Paul Gilroy - myth of black criminality
The idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes
Police act on stereotypes, ethnic minorities come to be criminalised and therefore to appear in greater numbers in the stats
Simon Holdaway (1973)
Police canteen culture is still characterised by racist language and jokes and this often underpins ‘stop and search’ of BAME youth
The MacPherson report (1999)
In 1993, old man called Stephen Lawrence was murdered by a racist gang. Despite lots of evidence including video footage of the gang bragging and planning how they would kill a black man and the police inquiry ignored the racist motives of the killers. The macpherson report in 1999 famously described the metropolitan police as being institutionally racist
Mertons strain theory
Can apply to members of some minority ethnic groups who statistically perform less well at school and therefore may be denied social mobility by legitimate means
Bonds of attachment ( functionalist )
Generation migrants often live in transient communities in inner cities where there are few tight knit established communities than in other localities
Differential association ( interactionist )
Edwin Sutherland suggested that people learn deviant values through their interactions and therefore people brought up in areas of high crime might themselves become criminal
Right realists control theory
Hirschi argues that young people whether white or black commit crime because they lack the social controls of attachment, commitment, involvement and belief in their lives
Asian families however exercise stricter controls over young people to be economically involved in their community and are therefore less likely to be marginalised or frustrated by racism.
Shaw and McKay ( right realist )
Inner city areas are transient communities that don’t develop social solidarity where new migrants don’t put down roots. It is therefore likely that such communities are less likely to regulate than suburban communities and are therefore more likely to have broken windows
Left realist
The disproportionate relative deprivation and marginalisation of ethnic minority communities leads to the development of subcultures as a means of providing support and status
Tony Sewell (2003)
- many black boys are brought up by single mothers. In seeking a father figure, they often look up to powerful male role models in their community such as gang leaders
- negative experience of white culture: black boys are disaffected because of their experience of school, policing and employer racism
- media: black boys are influenced by media role models such as rap and hip hop stars and believe that status can be achieved via the acquisition of status symbol designer clothing or by the construction of hyper masculine identity based on violence and sexual conquest
