Ethnicity

Question 1

Lea and Young - left realism

Answer 1

• crime as a product of relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation
• media emphasis on consumerism promotes a sense of relative deprivation
• acknowledge police racism led to unjustified criminalisation

Question 2

Evaluation for Lea and Young

Answer 2

• demographic factors, over-represented in groups

Question 3

Ethnic differences are socially constructed ( labelling/neo-marxist/critical criminology)
- Gilroy

Answer 3

• Gilroy argues black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes
• stats a product of labelling
• anti-colonial struggles taught them how to resist oppression
• struggle criminalised

Question 4

Ethnic differences are socially constructed ( labelling/neo-marxist/critical criminology)
- Hall et al

Answer 4

• 1970s saw moral panic over black muggers that served the interest of capitalism
• in 70s = high unemployment and rising protest
• no evidence of increase in mugging
• black muggers served as a scapegoat to distract attention

Question 5

Evaluation of Gilroy

Answer 5

• Gilroy romanticises street crime as revolutionary
• LRs Lea and Young - first generation immigrants were law abiding, so it is unlikely that their anti-colonial struggle was a tradition passed on through generations.

Question 6

Evaluation of Hall et al

Answer 6

• Downes & Rock (2011) argue that Hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, but that it was rising because of unemployment
• left realists argue that inner-city residents’ fears about mugging are not panicky, but realistic

Question 7

Fitzgerald et al (2003)

Answer 7

EMs more likely to live in poorer areas with high crime rates

• examined the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining the greater involvement of black youths in street robbery. Found that rates were highest in very poor areas and where very deprived young people came into contact with more affluent groups.
• Young blacks were more likely to live in these areas and be poor - link to Cloward and Ohlin

Question 8

Evaluation of FitzGerald

Answer 8

• whites affected by these factors were also more likely to commit street crime, ethnicity not the cause.

Question 9

Getting caught (EMs) more likely to be caught

Answer 9

• Sharp & Budd (2005) - black offenders were more likely than white offenders to have been arrested

Reiner (1992) - ‘Canteen Culture’
- black people who make up less than 4% of UK population, face greater taser use.
60% of black people who were subject to taser charge held down for 5 seconds, compared to 29% for white people
- action
- cynicism
- conservative
- suspicion
- racism
- macho

Labelling - social construction of deviance
Typifications - cicourel