ethnicicty and crime

Question 1

key idea

Answer 1

• statistical picture on the relationships between ethnicity and crime is not all clear and is open to interpretation

example: while minority ethnic groups are more likely to be stop and searched and arrested, white people are more ,likely to be found guilty

• in 2006/7, 60% of whites were found guilty compared with 52% of blacks and 44% of Asians, a possibility for this is minority groups are more likely to be wrongly charged

Question 2

point 1

Answer 2

functionalist strain theory

• Mertons strain theory can apply to some minority ethnic groups who statistically perform less well at school and therefore may need to be denied social mobility by legitimate means

Question 3

point 2

Answer 3

marxist stuart hall

• laws are made for bourgeois to control the proletariat. for a range of reasons, some minority ethnic groups are more working class then not

Hall- black people were forced into the informal economy (and therefore potential criminal activity) by being a reserve army for labour only required to do a white mans shit work

Question 4

point 3

Answer 4

interactionalist becker

• deviancy amplification
• stereotyping