Ethnicity Flashcards
Statistics
black 7x more likely to be S/S; 5x more likely to go to prison
• 3% of population but 13.1% of prison population
Alternative statistics
victim surveys and self – report studies
Policing
allegations of racist policing
Stop and Search
terrorism act 2000 allows persons to be stopped without reasonable suspicion. EMs are over – policed (black – 18/10,000 but white 6/10,000 are tasered)
Explanations for Stop/Search
police racism – officers hold stereotypes, EM differences – could be real difference, demographic factors – EM over - represented in groups most at risk e.g. young, urban and unemployed
Arrests and Cautions
2014/15 arrest rate for blacks was 3x whites
Prosecution and trial
CPS more likely to drop EM cases. EMs elect for jury because of magistrate mistrust
Convictions and sentencing
EMs less likely to be found guilty (evidence based on stereotypes)
Pre - sentence reports
reason for harsher sentences (officers portray less remorse in EMs)
Prison
¼ of prisoners were EMs
Explanation: pre - 1970s
large migration began in 1950s (until 1970s – low EM offending then conflict between police and AA)
Explanation: left realism
- Left realism – Lea and Young say EM difference is real and a result of deprivation, subculture and marginalization
- Police act in racist ways
Explanation: Neo - Marxism
- Neo – Marxism – statistics say statistics are socially constructed
- Gilroy’s myth of black criminality – created by racist stereotypes
- EM crime is a form of political resistance
- Hall et al – 1970s saw moral panic over AA mugger that served capitalist interests
- Ruling class – usually rule by consent (black mugger used to distract from true cause of unemployment
Evaluation of explanations
50s immigrants were law abiding and intra – ethnic crime doesn’t fight racism
