Ethnicity And Crime

Question 1

Race

Answer 1

The biological similarities and differences between people.

Question 2

Ethnicity

Answer 2

Social and cultural differences and similarities between people.

Question 3

Ethnicity and crime - arguments why it’s real

Answer 3

• structural factors in society may disadvantage some ethnic minority groups, increasing the risk of offending

Question 4

Ethnicity and crime - arguments why it isn’t real

Answer 4

• crime statistics are socially constructed, creating a false impression that ethnic differences exist

Question 5

Social constructionist explanation - Madood

Answer 5

• ethnic minority groups, and young black males especially, face racism throughout the criminal justice system.
• ‘stop and search’ disproportionately target black men, who are more than 8x more likely to be stopped compared to men of all other backgrounds
• evidence: (2024) the met police are 4x more likely to use force against black people than against any other ethnicity. Approximately 12% of stop and searches lead to an arrest.

Question 6

Ethnicity and crime - official police statistics

Answer 6

April 2018 to March 2019:
- black people were over 3x as likely to be arrested than white people. 32 arrests for every 1000 people vs. 10 arrests for every 1000 white people.
- black men were over 3x as likely to be arrested than white men. 60 arrests for every 1000 black men vs. 17 arrests for every white men.
- people with mixed ethnicity were nearly 2x as likely to be arrested as white people. There were 18 arrests for every 1000 mixed person.

Question 7

Structural explanations for ethnic differences in crime

Answer 7

• material deprivation
• age profiles
• underachievement in school
• social exclusion and racism

Question 8

Material deprivation

Answer 8

There is a clear link between ethnic minority groups and living in poverty. Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage people are over 6x more likely to live in poverty compared to people with white backgrounds. Black Caribbean people have a higher than average rate of single parent households, also increasing the rate of poverty due to the single income.

Question 9

Material deprivation criticism

Answer 9

• doesn’t explain why white collar crimes exist,
• FSM and pupil premium exist: if poverty leads to crime, why do Pakistani and Bangladeshi people have lower crime rates than black people?
• even if poverty and crime do have a link, why do the majority of people don’t commit crimes?

Question 10

Age profiles

Answer 10

Crime statistics suggest that 16-24 y/o males commit more crime than anybody else. Among ethnic minority groups, there is a large young age profile due to ethnic minority groups having higher fertility rates. The representation of different ethnic minority groups in crime may be explained by age rather than itself.

Question 11

Age profiles criticisms

Answer 11

• why is there not an even rate of offending across all ethnic groups?
• Pakistani and Bangladeshi parents have the most children.

Question 12

Underachievement in school

Answer 12

57% of adult prisoners have a reading age of a primary school child. Government statistics show that black African and black Caribbean heritage boys are excluded from school more than any other ethnic group. They are at greater risk of leaving school with few, if any, qualifications. In contrast, Chinese and Indian heritage pupils leave education system highly qualified, increasing their chances of employment and so, lower crime rates.

Question 13

Underachievement in school criticism

Answer 13

• white British, working class boys underachieve the most in schools, crime rates are lower than black men.
• negative teacher labelling may explain high expulsion rates.

Question 14

Social exclusion and racism

Answer 14

Ethnic minority groups often experience racism and marginalisation in society, often leaving them feeling isolated and cut off. People who feel socially excluded from society are also more likely to experience the negative effects of relative deprivation. The temptation to commit crime can therefore increase.

Question 15

Social exclusion and racism criticisms

Answer 15

Why don’t all ethnic minorities have an equal crime rate? Why do white people commit crime?

Question 16

Lee and Young

Answer 16

Point out that 92% of crime is brought to the police’s attention from the public, making it difficult to blame discrimination for the disproportionate number of young black men in the CJS. Believes the following factors are the reason for higher rates of crime for young black men:
- social marginalisation: pushed to the edge of society, feeling alienated by society
- relative deprivation: feeling continuously disadvantaged and let down by society
- subculture: break away groups holding anti society norms and values provide a support for these young black men

Question 17

Crime and conformity - British Asians and crime

Answer 17

Despite the over representation of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people living in poverty, they have low crime rates, supported by government figures relating to stop and searches. British Asians are less likely to experience this. A reason for low crime rates may be:
- izzat: family honour, the strength of cultural influences among British Asians results in relatively low offending, with the way it acts as an informal social control.
Despite experiencing lower rates of stop and searches, figures relating to British Asians across the UK have increased. An increased risk taking behaviours have been seen in young, British Asian men, including a higher willingness to combat racism and discrimination with violence. However, some sociologists want to take this apparent rise in crime at face value, due to the role of the media fear mongering the public by linking British Asians with terrorism. It dangerously influences the public into stereotyping who commits crime.

Question 18

The portrayal of young, Muslim men in the media

Answer 18

By fear mongering the public into dangerously linking Islam with terrorism, Islamophobia rates increase, causing deviant amplification. Due to the stereotyping and racism, British Asians may commit more violent crimes, causing more deviance and crime in society, further causing a moral panic, and causing radicalisation to occur on both ends.

Question 19

Case - 2013, child exploitation ring

Answer 19

A lot of news coverage, found that over 20 men were involved, mainly of British Pakistani heritage.
Defeats the stereotype that all British Asians care for izzat, increases the risk of racism and stereotyping due to the media focusing too much on the ethnicity of the defendant.

Question 20

Paul Gilroy - the myth of black and Asian criminality

Answer 20

Racist stereotyping in society and in the police force created a myth of black criminality. This was created by negative stereotyping by the police, who saw ethnic minority groups as untrustworthy. African Caribbean youth were labelled as ‘potential muggers’ and people from Asian backgrounds as potential illegals immigrants, which helped to generate official statistics on crime as these groups were treated unfairly by the police. Crimes from black men form a part of symbolic resistance towards racism and discrimination form society, seen in the August riots of 2011. The myth of criminality can cause a moral panic.

Question 21

Paul Gilroy - criticisms

Answer 21

1980s: the police force was primarily white. It is a lot more diverse now, as a result, a lot less racist. The met police told recruiters that 40% of recruits must be from BAME background heritages.

Question 22

George Floyd - case

Answer 22

2020 - murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. ‘I can’t breathe’ - 9 minutes.
Chauvin was convicted in 2021, giving a lot of African Americans relief that the CJS was starting to slowly take their side and punish unlawful aggressors. This helps illustrate Gilroy’s point: there is racism in the police force and it kills innocent people.

Question 23

Waddington et al - stop and searches in Reading and Slough

Answer 23

Conducted interviews with police officers, examined official records of stop and searches snd conducted overt participation observation with police during the course of their work on their streets of Reading and Slough. Found that young, ethnic minority groups were often stopped and searched more than white people, but it wasn’t a product of racism or bias, more so the fact that ethnic minority groups lived in poorer areas, where crime rates tended to be the highest, therefore being stopped more often as a byproduct of them living in the area.

Question 24

Waddington et al - criticisms

Answer 24

Police could’ve been lying about their racist views in interviews (social desirability effect and the interviewer effect), official records could be incredibly inaccurate, during the participant observation, they could’ve been acting a lot less racist due to the Hawthorne effect.

Question 25

Ethnicity and sentencing

Answer 25

CPS were more likely to terminate cases involving suspects from ethnic minority backgrounds, preventing miscarriage of justice taking place, however leads to the questions of why ethnic minority suspects are referred to the CPS in the first place. A higher portion of white heritage individuals are tried in court for indictable offences and subsequently convicted compared to black and Asian heritage individuals. However, of these white individuals, they were least likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence compared to black and Asian heritage people.

Question 26

Ministry of justice - 2019

Answer 26

Among those convicted after pleading ‘not guilty’ in court, the average sentence was 46.3 months for black heritage individuals, 37.9 months for Asian heritage individuals and 36.5 months for white heritage individuals. Among those convicted of burglary, white heritage individuals were more likely than black heritage individuals to be sentenced to prison, but the sentence was longer for black heritage individuals.

Question 27

Canteen culture

Answer 27

Stereotypes and assumptions about offenders can easily be transmitted through informal interactions between police colleagues.
Of 270 people who were interviewed through having taking part in the 2011 riots across Britain, 45% were black, 4.5% Asian, and 17% mixed/non white heritage. 73% of rioters had been stopped and searched within the past year. Revenge on the police was cited as a major factor behind society.

Question 28

The Stephen Lawrence case

Answer 28

Following the McPherson inquiry into police handing of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the police service has been deemed institutionally racist. With less than 10% of officers of ethnic minority heritage, a lot more needs to be done to ensure the police are truly inclusive.

Question 29

Ethnicity and victimisation

Answer 29

British Asian communities are particularly vulnerable to burglary, possibly linking to low income areas, low SES areas. Young black men are particularly vulnerable to being victims of street robbery, possibly linking to them spending more time in dangerous areas, having associations with dangerous gangs, etc. between 2016 and 2017, police recorded over 62,000 racially motivated hate crimes following high profile terrorist attacks on streets.