Ethnicity and Crime

Question 1

What does OCS show about e/m crimes

Answer 1

black e/m are more likely to be stop and searched and arrested than white e/m.

Question 2

What does Victim surveys show about e/m crimes

Answer 2

black people tend to be identified as perpetrators of crimes by victims. For example, when it comes to ‘mugging’ black people were mostly accused

Question 3

Cricticms of victim surveys

Answer 3

White victims may over over identify black people are attackers

However, the majority of crimes are intra-ethnic - both the offender and victim come from the same ethnic group.

Victim surveys rely on victims’ memory of events which may not be valid.

Question 4

What do Self report surveys show about e/m crime

Answer 4

White and black respondents have very similar rates of
offending. Therefore, self-report studies challenge the OCS and victim surveys on the issue that black people are more criminal.

SRS also show that Asian British have lower rates of
offending. However, they have increasingly been seen as
criminal since the rise of Islamophobia following 9/11 and
7/7.

Question 5

e/m are more criminal:
Left realism

Answer 5

Lea and Young argue that the OCS are accurate. They argue that crime is caused by relative deprivation, marginalisation and subcultures

Question 6

How does relative dep, marginalisation and s/c lead to crime
(part of left realism)

Answer 6

Ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed so they suffer relative deprivation as they can’t afford the consumer products promoted by the media. They respond by forming subcultures which lead to utilitarian crimes such as robbery and theft. At the same time, ethnic minorities tend to be marginalised so lack an organisation to represent their views in society. As a result, they feel frustrated which leads to non-utilitarian crimes such as violence.

Question 7

Police are not racist
(part of left realism)

Answer 7

most of the crimes are brought to police attention by members of the public. Therefore, Lea and Young argue that police methods are not based on police stereotypes. Also, as black people have higher rates of criminalisation than Asians, the police are not racist.

Question 8

evaluate Left realism

Answer 8

it is possible that police stereotype black and Asian people differently.

Question 9

e/m are more criminal:

Right Realist

Answer 9

OCS and Victim surveys are accurate as Black e/m do commit more crime then other ethnic group.
This is due to educational achievement, family structure and influence of mass media.

Question 10

educational achievement (part of right realist)`

Answer 10

Afro-Caribbean boys are more likely to leave school with no or little qualifications than any other ethnic group. In 2006, only 26% of A-C boys gained 5+ A-C GCSEs. This affects their ability to go to FE or HE or get employment. Crime is therefore a means to survive. This then creates a strain to Anomie

Question 11

Family structure (part of right realist)

Answer 11

60% of A-C children live in lone parent families
headed by a woman, compared to 20% of white children. The lack of positive male role model may lead boys to crime Lone parent families tend to live in poverty which can also lead to crime.

Question 12

Influence of the mass media (part of right realist)

Answer 12

particularly the influence of rap music’s emphasis on bling, violence, guns, gangs, sex and drugs may lead to criminality.

Question 13

e/m are not more criminal :
Phillips and Bowling

Answer 13

The UK criminal justice system is racist. The evidence for this is that more black e/m are likly to be :
Stop and search
Arrests and cautions
Prosecutions
Trials
sentencing
pre-sentencing report
Prison

Question 14

Arrests and cautions (Phillips and Bowling)

Answer 14

ethnic minorities are more likely to be arrested and charged and less likely to be cautioned. A possible reason for this is that ethnic minorities tend to lack trust in the police and so deny the offence in which case they can not be let of with a caution so get charged instead.

Question 15

Stop and searched (phillips and Bowling)

Answer 15

Black people are more likely to get stop and searched than white people. Asian people are 3 times more likely to be stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act 2000/ This is because: (a) the police force is institutionally racist as well as employing individual police officers who hold stereotypical views on ethnic minorities and there is the canteen culture among police officers, (b) ethnic minorities are more likely to be identified as the perpetrators of a crime by the victim so the police issue more stop and searches on blacks and Asians. (c) ethnic minorities tend to be working class and urban dwellers – these groups
are also more likely to be stopped and searched.

Question 16

Prison (phillips and Bowling)

Answer 16

ethnic minorities are more likely to be imprisoned than whites and are more likely to be serving longer sentences. They are also more likely to be on remand – in jail while awaiting trial rather than being granted bail.

Question 17

e/m are not more criminal :
Hall

Answer 17

The 1970s saw a moral panic over black muggers that served the interests of capitalism.
There was an economic crisis with high unemployment rates which threatened capitalism through people’s increasing opposition to the system.
The media and politicians created a moral panic over mugging by black men, when in fact there was no increase in robberies at the time.
Black men were used as scapegoats – they were blamed for the crisis.
This divided the working class on the grounds of ‘race’ thus maintaining false class consciousness and protecting the status quo.
Hall also argued that the economic crisis and unemployment forced black people into crime.

Question 18

Evaluate Hall `

Answer 18

contradicts himself – first, claims that black people were
scapegoats, then that they really were muggers (because of poverty).

Question 19

E/m are not criminal:
Gilroy

Answer 19

Ethnic minorities are no more criminal than white groups.
Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes.
The criminal justice system is racist which is why the OCS
over-represent black people as criminals.

Question 20

Political resistance ( Gilroy )

Answer 20

In former British colonies, black people resisted the British
Empire and fought for their independence. Once they came to the UK and faced racism, they used the same resistance methods to fight against racism. Gilroy therefore claims that black crime is a form of political resistance against a racist society.

Question 21

eval Gilroy

Answer 21

1st generation immigrants were law abiding, so
they couldn’t have passed the resistance strategies to their
children. Most crime is intra-racial so it can’t be a form of
resistance to racism.

Question 22

e/m are not criminal:
MacPherson report

Answer 22

it was an inquiry of the murder of Stephen Lawrence:
Found that the police force is institutionally racist:
“procedures, practices and a culture that tend to exclude
or disadvantage non-white people”.

Not overt racism, but: “ a failure to provide services for
ethnic minorities, amount to unwitting prejudice,
ignorance and racist stereotyping.”

Question 23

More evidence for institutional racism

Answer 23

Holdaway – argues that police officers have developed a
distinctive working values as a result of the nature of their
job. These values and practices are passed on through the
canteen culture. The police work is often dangerous and unpredictable, so officers have developed a culture to help them deal with this. Within the culture there is emphasis on team work with jokes and banter being used to cement solidarity. This can then impact on the police practice.

Question 24

+C of institutional racism

Answer 24

FitzGerald et al

Street crimes such as robbery are high in areas of high
poverty where very deprived young people come into
contact with more affluent groups. People who live in such areas are more likely to commit robbery. However, black youths are more likely to live in such areas. Therefore, ethnicity is not a factor in committing street crime, it’s poverty.

Question 25

Explanations for the low crime
rates among the Asian population

Answer 25

The strong influence of religion and close-knit
communities prevents criminality through informal social
control.

However, there has been an increase in crime rates among
the Asian population in the last 10 years – due to increased
integration into the mainstream culture which has
weakened the informal social control of religion and
close-knit communities.