Ethnicity and crime

Question 1

How are Black and Asian people being over- represented by the criminal justice system?

Answer 1

• Black people make up 3% of the population but 13% of the prison population
• Asian people makeup 6.9% of the population by 8% of the prison population

Question 2

How are White people under-represented by the criminal justice system?

Answer 2

• Black people are x7 more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and searched

Question 3

From victim surveys what ethnicity is over-represented for ‘mugging’?

Answer 3

Black people

Question 4

What did Philips and Bowling find about victims memory of events?

Answer 4

Suggest that white victims ‘over-identify’ Black suspects, saying offenders were Black even when they are unsure

Question 5

What is a limitation of victim surveys?

Answer 5

They exclude crimes by and against organisations so we know nothing about the ethnicity of white collar crime and corporate criminals

Question 6

Based on a sample of 2,500 people what did Graham and Bowling find on self-report studies?

Answer 6

• White and Black rates of offending were very similar (around 43%) but Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi rates were much lower

Question 7

What did Sharp and Budd find regarding the crime and justice survey?

Answer 7

White people and ‘mixed’ ethnic origins are more likely to admit to having committed an offence compared to Black and Asian

Question 8

What class drugs were more common amongst White and Black people?

Answer 8

• White people used more Class A drugs and Black people used more Class B drugs

Question 9

During the policing stage of the criminal justice process including stop and search what ethnic differences were found?

Answer 9

• In 2020 black people were 9 times more likely than White people to be stopped and searched
• Asian people are more likely to be stopped under the Terrorism Act 2000

Question 10

What did Philips and Bowling note on the reaction of ethnic minorities being stopped and searched?

Answer 10

Members of these communities are more likely to think they are ‘over-policed and under-protected’ and to have limited faith in the police

Question 11

What evidence supports the idea that ethnic minorities are more likely to have force used against them by police?

Answer 11

• Black people were 4 times more likely to have force used against them and 5 times more likely to have Taser-like devices used against them (Grierson)

Question 12

How is police racism a way of explaining the disproportionate use of stop and search?

Answer 12

• The Macpherson Report on the police investigation of Stephen Lawrence concluded there was institutional racism and deeply ingrained racist attitudes

Question 13

What are low and high discretion stops?

Answer 13

• Low discretion stops, police act on relevant information
• High discretion stops, police act without specific intelligence where they can use stereotypes

Question 14

What ethnic differences are seen in arrests and cautions?

Answer 14

• In 2018/19 arrest rates for Black people was over 3 times the rate for White people
• Black and Asian arrestees were less likely to receive a caution (this may be that ethnic minorities are more likely to deny the offence or exercise their legal advice, possibly out of mistrust)

Question 15

Are ethnic minorities more likely to be prosecuted?

Answer 15

• The CPS is more likely to drop cases against minority ethnic groups because evidence presented by the police are weaker and based on stereotyping (Bowling and Philips)
• When cases do go ahead ethnic minorities are more likely to elect for trial before a jury in the Crown Court

Question 16

Are there ethnic differences in convictions and sentencing?

Answer 16

• Black and Asian defendants are less likely to be found guilty which suggests discrimination

Question 16

What did Hood’s study in 5 Crown Courts find?

Answer 16

Black men were 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentences and were given sentences on average 3 months and Asian men 9 months longer than White people

Question 17

Are there ethnic differences in prison populations?

Answer 17

• Over a quarter of the prison populations were from minority ethnic groups
• All minority groups have a higher than average proportion of prisoners on remand (awaiting trial rather than actually convicted and serving a sentence)

Question 18

What was the difference in crime rates for ethnic minorities before and after the 1970s?

Answer 18

• Until the 1970s there was a general agreement that the minority ethnic communities had a lower rate of offending than the White population
• From the mid 1970s increased conflict between the police and the African Caribbean meant that ‘Black criminality’ increasingly came to be seen as a problem

Question 19

When did Asian people began to be viewed as a problem?

Answer 19

• Not until the 1990s, with media concerns about the growth of ‘Asian gangs’ aswell as the events of 2001 made Muslims and Asians be seen as an ‘enemy within’

Question 20

What is Left realism?

Answer 20

They argue that ethnic differences in the level of offending in the statistics reflect real differences in the levels of offending

Question 21

According to Lea and Young how is delinquent subcultures an explanation for crime?

Answer 21

• Young unemployed Black males produces higher levels of utilitarian crime as a means of coping with relative deprivation, these groups are marginalised and have no organisations to represent their interests, their frustration is liable to produce non-utilitarian crime

Question 22

What is one reason why Lea and Young believe discriminatory policing fully explains the differences in statistics?

Answer 22

• 90% of all crimes known to the police are reported by the public rather discovered than police themselves
• Black people have a considerably higher rate of criminalisation than Asian people

Question 23

How can Lea and Young be criticised?

Answer 23

• Police stereotype Black and Asian differently seeing Black people as dangerous and Asian as passive

Question 24

What is Neo-Marxism?

Answer 24

Differences in statistics do not reflect reality

Question 25

What does Gilroy believe about Black criminality?

Answer 25

• Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes, CJS acts on these stereotypes making them more likely to be criminalised
• Minority crime can be seen as a form of political struggle against a racist society linking back to earlier struggles of British imperialism

Question 26

How does Lea and Young criticise Gilroy?

Answer 26

• First generation immigrants were very law-abiding
• Most crime is intra-ethnic

Question 27

What did Hall et al argue?

Answer 27

• The emergence of the moral panic about mugging as a ‘Black’ crime at the same time as the crisis of capitalism was no coincidence, the myth of the ‘Black mugger’ served as a scapegoat to distract attention

Question 28

How did the crisis of capitalism affect Black youth?

Answer 28

• It was increasingly marginalising Black youth through unemployment which drove some into a lifestyle of hustling

Question 29

What did FitzGerald et al find in explaining the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining the apparently greater involvement of Black youths in street robbery?

Answer 29

• Black people were more likely to live in deprived areas possibly due to racial discrimination in the housing and job markets but White people living in those areas were also more likely to commit street crime

Question 30

How many racist hate crimes and religious hate crimes were reported in 2019/20?

Answer 30

76,000 hate crimes and 6,800 religious hate crimes