crime + deviance: ethnicity + criminalisation Flashcards
how are black and asian people over-represented in criminal justice system?
-black people make up 3% of population but 13% of prison population
-asian people make up 6.9% of population but 8% of prison population
what are alternative sources of statistics?
-victim surveys
-self report studies
what are victim surveys?
ask individuals to say what crimes they have been victims of
ask victims to identify the ethnicity of the person who committed the crime against them
what do victim surveys show?
-black people are significantly over-represented among those identified by victims as offenders
-show a great deal of crime = intra-ethnic, so it takes place within rather than between ethnic groups
limitations of victim surveys?
-only cover personal crimes which accounts for 1/5 of all crimes
-exclude under 10s
-exclude crimes by + against organisations so doesn’t tell us ethnicity of white-collar/ corporate criminals
what did Phillips + Bowling find about victims memory of events?
evidence suggests that White victims may ‘over-identify’ Black suspects, saying offender was black even when they’re not sure
what are self report studies?
ask individuals to disclose their own dishonest + violent behaviour
what did Graham + Bowling find in self-report studies?
found White + Black rates of offending were similar (44% + 43%) but Indian (30%), Pakistani (28%) and Bangladeshi (13%) were much lower
what do findings of self report studies do?
challenge the stereotype of Black people as more likely than white people to offend
what do Phillips and Bowling note about policing?
since 1970s there has been many allegations of oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities including:
-mass stop + search operations
-paramilitary tactics
-excessive surveillance
-police violence and deaths in custody
what is Stop and Search?
police can use this power to stop and search someone they have ‘reasonable suspicion’ of wrong doing
how much more likely is a black person to be stopped and search compared to a white person?
9x more likely
how much more likely is an Asian person to be stopped and searched compared to a white person?
over 2x as likely
what did the Terrorism Act 2000 mean?
police can stop and search persons or vehicles whether or not they have reasonable suspicion
stats show Asian people are more likely to be stopped + searched than other people under the Terrorism Act
what are the 3 possible reasons for disproportionate use of stop and search against members of minority ethnic groups?
-police racism
-ethnic differences in offending
-demographic factors
what did the Macpherson report find?
it was an investigation into racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence
concluded that there was institutional racism within Metropolitan police
what is difference in arrests for black people vs white people?
Black people was 3x amount of white people
what is the difference with cautions?
black + asian arrestees were less likely than white arrestees to receive a caution
what is the reason for this?
members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to deny the offence + exercise their right to legal advice
however not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and more likely to be charged instead
what do studies show about the CPS?
they are more likely to drop cases against minority ethnic groups
what do Bowling and Phillips suggest this is because?
evidence presented to CPS from police is often weaker and based on stereotyping minority ethnic groups as criminals
what type of court to minority ethnic groups tend to go for it?
tend to opt for a trial in front of a jury at Crown Court compared to magistrates court
may be due to distrust of magistrates impartiality
are Black and Asian defendants more or less likely to be found guilty?
less likely
what does this suggest?
discrimination, the police + CPS may be bringing weaker or less serious cases against members of minority groups that are thrown out by the court
