Ethnicity Flashcards
Stephen Lawrence case…
On 22 April 1993, Stephen was killed by a gang of white men in a racist attack.
He had been waiting for a bus with a friend, when the gang attacked them.
Stephen’s friend escaped unhurt, but Stephen died from his injuries.
Although some suspects were charged with Stephen’s murder, these charges were dropped before a trial could happen.
That’s because the people making the decision to take the suspects to trial didn’t think that there was enough evidence to prove they murdered Stephen.
In August 2020, the Metropolitan police declared the investigation into Stephen’s death “inactive”.
They said “all identified lines of inquiry have been completed”, which means no one else can be taken to trial and held responsible for Stephen’s death unless the case is later reopened.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, said she was sad that the Met had been “unable to secure any further convictions for Stephen, his family and friends”.
She added: “The investigation has now moved to an ‘inactive’ phase, but I have given Stephen’s family the assurance that we will continue to deal with any new information that comes to light.”
Stephen Lawrence’s mum…
In 2012, two of the original suspects in Stephen’s killing, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were found guilty of his murder and sent to prison, after new evidence was found.
Although there were other suspects in Stephen’s murder, the Metropolitan police have now closed ‘active’ investigations. They’ve said they will look into any new information that emerges later on.
Despite the outcome, Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, has said she’ll continue to seek justice for her son.
“Whilst the Metropolitan Police have given up, I never will,” she said. “I am truly disappointed that those others who were equally responsible… may not be brought to justice.”
MacPherson report…
After the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, the Macpherson Inquiry claimed that the police are characterised by ‘Institutionalised Racism’. This is racism that is not necessarily intentional but that the day-to-day activities of the organisation are based upon racist ideas and practices i.e. Racism is ingrained in the system.
MacPherson report findings…
> Openness and accountability
> A new definition of “racist incident”
> Reporting and recording of racist incidents and crimes
> Police practice and the investigation of racist crime
> Family liaison officer practice and training
The treatment of victims and witnesses
> Prosecution of racist crimes
> First training
> Racism awareness and diversity training
> Employment, discipline and complaints
> Stop and search powers
> Recruitment and retention
of minority ethnic staff
> The role of education in the prevention of racism
Reiner’s Canteen Culture…
Reiner (2000): Canteen culture amongst the police, including: suspicion, macho values and racism, which encourages racist stereotypes and a mistrust of those from non-white backgrounds.
Labelling…
Bowling and Phillips (2002): Higher levels of robbery among black people could be the product of labelling that arises from the use of regular stop and search procedures, which in turn leads to the self fulfilling prophecy.
Policing the Crisis…
Policing The Crisis (Hall et al, 1978) – Hall examined the moral panic over “mugging” in the early 1970s, using Marxist insights. Selective and stereotypical reporting represented young black men as potential muggers and given the role of folk devils. In fact, mugging (not an official category of crime in any case) was not increasing dramatically. Hall explained the moral panic in terms of a crisis of British capitalism: the state deflected attention on to a small group who could be scapegoated and on whom the state could be portrayed as cracking down firmly, using new repressive policing which would be useful in tackling future unrest. Young blacks were suitable for this role because of their visibility and powerlessness in the sense of lacking organizations or representatives to speak on their behalf.
Evidence…
Sharp and Budd (2005): Black offenders were most likely to have contact with the criminal justice system in their lifetime and were more likely to have been arrested, been to court and convicted. This is despite their lower levels of offending compared to white people generally and white youths in particular.
2014, the data showed 65 Black, 23 Asian, 28 mixed race individuals being stopped and searched per every thousand in the population, compared with 15 white individuals per every thousand.
Class differences and crime - Left Realists…
Lea and Young (1984): High levels of crime really do exist in inner city areas where there are often high numbers of members of ethnic minorities, and draw attention to the fact that those who live here are the main victims of crime as well.
Deprivation…
Relative Deprivation - Minorities suffer relative deprivation not only in areas shared with sections of the white working class (high unemployment and poor environment), but also racial discrimination and racially motivated attacks.
Marginalisation…
Marginalisation - Young unemployed blacks are marginalised in that they are unorganized and have few pressure groups to lobby on their behalf, so their frustrations are more likely to be expressed in illegal activity.
Subculture…
Subculture - Subcultural responses include the hustling subculture described by Pryce in his ethnographic study of St Paul’s in Bristol, with young blacks involved in petty street crime, drug dealing and prostitution, getting by from day to day.
Crime - Right Realists…
Underclass. African-Caribbean families are statistically more likely to be matrifocal lone-parent families. New Right sociologists argue that children from single parent families are more likely to commit crime because of the lack of a male role model, but also because of the creation of a workless, welfare-dependent culture.
Broken Window thesis Shaw and McKay suggest that inner city areas are transient communities that don’t develop social solidarity and where new migrants don’t put down roots. It is therefore likely that such communities are less likely to self-regulate than suburban or rural communities, and are therefore more likely to have broken windows.
The British Asian experience…
If police discrimination accounts for the high number of young blacks arrested, then the police must discriminate in favour of Asians, since fewer are arrested, than whites – which seems very unlikely.
In the past, Asians did fit a police stereotype of a typical offender, the illegal immigrant. Explanations for the low levels of Asian criminality have looked at the strong religious and family ties within the Asian culture which help them to cope with the disadvantages and discrimination they might face.
Political nature of crime…
The political nature of black crime (Gilroy) – Gilroy, a Neo-Marxist, agrees that young blacks are targeted by the media and the police, but argues that black crime is different in that it is a conscious continuation of anti-colonial struggles in the West Indies, just in a new context. It is therefore black crime is political and potentially revolutionary, a political response to inequality and discrimination.
Rastafarianism, for example, is not just a religion; it contains a set of revolutionary political ideas about overthrowing white authority (“Babylon”), and tends to bring its followers into confrontation with the police over, for example, marijuana use.
