Ethnicity

Question 1

The relationship between ethnicity and crime

Answer 1

• African-Caribbean and Asian people are over-represented in the OCS and in the prison population eg 2002 - 2015 the percentage of muslim prisoners doubled

Question 2

Theories which claim minorities disproportionately commit more crime

Answer 2

1. Strain and anomie
2. Left realist explanation
3. Triple quandary theory
4. control theory

Question 3

Theories which claim differences in rates of arrest and convictions are as a product of racism and discrimination

Answer 3

1. The myth of Black criminality
2. Moral panic theory
3. labelling theories of institutional racism

Question 4

Strain and anomie

Answer 4

• Cashmore
• Young black males are prone to strain (desire to achieve social goals but are prevented from doing so) and anomie (sense or normlessness in white society)
• They face blocked opportunities in white society eg poor experience of school, racial stereotyping by teachers employers property and police etc
• Black males use innovation techniques to achieve (use crime to achieve social goals eg drug dealing and theft)

Question 5

Evaluation of strain and anomie

Answer 5

• strain is experienced by multiple social groups

- the theory fails to explain non-utilitarian crimes

Question 6

Left realist explanations

Answer 6

• Lea and Young
• Ethnic minorities are prone to relative deprivation (feel they are deprived compared to the privileged white majority)
• Ethnic minorities suffer marginalisation where they feel socially excluded and devalued with a white majority society
• Young black males are drawn to deviant subcultures (groups with inverted norms and values) as they lack father figures and have been marginalised

Question 7

Evaluation of left realist explanations

Answer 7

• relative deprivation and marginalisation are also experienced by poor whites

Question 8

Triple quandary theory

Answer 8

• (difficult dilemma) Sewell
• High rates of single parenthood in black communities so they lack father figures and tough love so turn to deviant subcultures to compensate
• Racism from white society eg racist teachers at school, racial profiling by police and discrimination in the workplace)
• Negative influences of black media glamourises crime eg rap music lyrics encourage violence and misogyny and movies tend to promote gang violence

Question 9

Evaluation of triple quandary theory

Answer 9

• Fails to consider the impact of racism on other groups

- Exaggerates media influence on boys

Question 10

Control theory

Answer 10

• Hirschi
• Asian people are subject to more controls eg family honour is important ; value education ; more likely to practice religion
• More control = less likely to commit crime
• Black people have fewer controls eg more likely to be in single parent families and higher rates of unemployment
• Fewer controls = more likely to commit crime

Question 11

Evaluation of control theory

Answer 11

• Hirschi’s theory is based on ethnic stereotypes

Question 12

General neo-marxist theories

Answer 12

• Black people are deliberately mistreated by white society to benefit the white middle class

Question 13

The myth of Black criminality

Answer 13

• White society has a history of promoting the view that black people are deviant
• black deviance is resistance to racism eg hostility towards the police, anti-racism protests etc
• Black people have experienced colonisation, slavery and segregation
• White society sees black behaviour as problematical eg teachers demonise black pupils and they are subject to harsher discipline (case of child Q)
• protesters are then often labelled as criminals eg BLM ones were labelled as looters and vandals
• This then justifies harsher controls in this group eg stop and search, higher arrest levels, criminal records and harsher punishment
• So are proportionately more likely to appear on official crime statistics

Question 14

Evaluation of the myth of black criminality

Answer 14

• Earlier generations of black migrants faced more racism but got into less trouble with the police

Question 15

Moral panic theory

Answer 15

• Hall
• The media exaggerates their reports and creates a disproportionate fear amongst the public
• The media scapegoated black people in the 1970’s in which they were wrongly blamed for a surge in muggings in city areas
• The ideological functions of the media distracted the public from the real cause of the rise in muggings which is the failures of capitalism eg poverty and unemployment
• This divides and rules over the WC (turns w+b against each other so they ignore their shared oppressor of capitalism and the bourgeoisie)

Question 16

Evaluation of moral panic theory

Answer 16

• Fails to consider the reality of crime and the causes of this in BAME communities

Question 17

Evaluation of labelling theories of institutional racism

Answer 17

• Fails to explain why some BAME individuals engage in activities which cause them to be targeted in the first place

Question 18

Labelling theories of institutional racism

Answer 18

• MacPherson report was published following a review of the murder of a black school boy due to the colour of his skin in which the MET police did very little and were accused of being institutionally racist
• Minorities are more likely to be stopped and searched (black = 8x more likely than white and asian 4x due to racial profiling)
• Officers engage in canteen culture and racist banter which influences how they behave on the front line
• Black people are 3x more likely to be arrested but when taken to the crown prosecution service they are more likely to be dropped (insufficient evidence)
• Black people are mire likely to request to be trialled in a crown court with a jury due to mistrust those in power
• Juries are less likely to find ethnic minorities guilty due to institutional racism in the police
• Black people are 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence which tends to be longer (3 months)