Ethnicity And Crime Flashcards
Ethnicity and official stats
-Blacks 7x more likely to be stop and searched
-prison blacks 5x more likely .asians 3x more likely. Compared to whites
Crimes
- blacks 6.5x more likely to commit murder Asian 2x more likely
-blacks rape 4x more likely
-robbery 12x more likely
❌- only covers reports crimes so numbers inaccurate
Ethnicity and victim surveys (CSEW)
Ask if they’ve been a victim of crime in the last year
- ethnic minorties more likely to be victim and offender. Victim- blacks (25%) whites (17%)
❌- replies on memory , ❌could lie
❌- ignores white collar crime
✅- more accurate as deals with reported and unreported crimes
Ethnicity and self report surveys
Anonymous questionnaire ask if they’ve committed a crime
-blacks and whites had similar rates of offending
-challange stereotype of blacks being most likely to offend
✅-suggests bias/racism in the criminal justice system
❌- lacks validity - exaggerate or lie or be embarrassed
Evidence of racism in the criminal justice system
Policing- blacks 7x more likely to be stopped and searched- only a small portion end in arrests - feel over-policed and under-protected.
Arrests- black people are 3x more likely to be arrested asians 2x more likely.
Prosecution- blacks 3x more likely but more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities suggesting the suspicion they are brought in on is often weak and can be due to stereotypes.
Sentencing- blacks and Asians are more likely to be sentenced than whites for committing the same offence.
Explaining stop and search patterns
Police racism- police institutionally racist and police hold stereotypes on certain minoritie groups so are more likely to be targeted for stop and search.
Demographic factors- ethnic groupsnmore likely to have factors that police believe increase level of crime eg unemployment, young, living in city and spend time in public more likely to be searched.
Ethnic differences in offending - some ethnic groups are more likely to engage in certain crimes compared to other groups so police act on patterns of criminal profiling. Eg asians being stopped for terrorist act
Left realism and offending patterns of ethnic groups
- believe stats are accurate
Stats are accurate but it’s becauseof-
-marginalisation -minorties excluded from mainstream society cause of unemployment, bad we and racism.
-relative Dep- more likely to have an less money and live in bad areas.
-subculture- result of relative dep and marginalisation form own subculture for support and sense community. May result in gang and street crime as response to resentment they feel.
❌other ethnic groups that have high poverty rates don’t show as high in stats so can’t be sole reason
❌- too sympathetic ignores free will and choice
Neo-marxist and statistics
Gilroy - rejects that official stats reflect real offending behaviour of ethnic groups and believe ideas of ethnic offending come from false stereotypes.
Neo-marxists views on ethnic crime
The myth of black criminality
- black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes by the police and CJS.
The CJS acts on these stereotypes making blacks more likely to be criminalised so appearing more in crime stats.
> Crime is a form of political resistance- against racism in society - see crime as resistance to white oppression eg through riots.
❌- doesn’t explain inter-racial crimes which most are so not really a fight against oppression.
Policing the crisis - neo-marxism
Hall- studied moral panic over black mugging
- stats showed high levels of blacks in crime stats which grew conflict with police.
-media reported this lead to moral panic and a growing demand for something to be done to stop black mugging.
-no evidence of increase in this crime but instead made by the police and media and politicians to divide races especially among w/c which makes them weaker against capitalism.
Reasons why blacks may commit more crime
-lack of education- lowest GSCE scores. 3x more likely to be excluded.
So more likely to have lower paying jobs, live in poorer areas and have less opportunity which bowling suggest leads to crime like robbery, gangs to again material success.
-familtpy structure - blacks over 60% in one parent house holds. Absense of male role model so have no male role model and no tough love to instil values and morals in them. Lead them to gangs and crime to find male role models and sense of community.
What is racist victimisation
What is a racist incident
When an individual is targeted because of their race, ethnicity or religion.
Any incident perceived as racisf by the victim or another person
Stats of racist victimisation
Over 50,000 racist incidents recorded (PRC)
- almost 90,000 recorded from CSEW
Responses to victimisation by blacks and police
Blacks- Situational crime prevention- fireproof doors, self defense campaigns (physically defending themselves)
Police- often ignore claims of racist victimisation and fail to record/ investigate reports properly. EG - Stephan Lawrence was first treated as a potential suspect when he was the victim of a racially motivated crime leading to his death. - caused by institutional racism.
What is institutional racism
is a form of racism that is embedded in society or an organization knowingly or unknowingly.
