ethnicity and crime

Question 1

what are the 2 reasons for stop and search? and ethnic statistics

Answer 1

1. prevention of crime- spot check (sect 60)
2. match the description of…

87.1% of the population is white but 14.2% of stop and search is black

Question 2

ethnicity and crime statistics

Answer 2

• black ppl are twice as likely to be arrested and convicted
• black people are almost 3x as likely to be sent to prison
• in some areas black people are 29x more likely to be stopped and searched
• asian people are also more likely
• criminalisation of ethnic minority groups- defined as criminal by labelling

Question 3

Graham and Bowling (1995)- rates of crime

Answer 3

black (43%) and white (44%) had almost identical rates of crime, but Asian had lower rates

Question 4

Sharp and Budd (2005)

Answer 4

white and mixed ethnicity more likely to say they had committed crime

Question 5

left realist explanations for ethnic differences in crime

Answer 5

• marginalisation of ethnic minority groups in society are economically and socially excluded
• failures of education result in formation of subcultures as a response to blocked opps
• media representations of ethnic minority criminality further fuel marginalisation and exclusion
• male black youth is closely enmeshed in values of consumption, style and wealth, so they engage in crime because of blocked opportunities to have these.
• relative deprivation and high levels of unemployment

Question 6

Institutional racism as a factor- MacPherson report + others

Answer 6

• MacPherson report stated that metropolitan police operated on practices that were institutionally racist
• 70 reccommendations for zero tolerance for racism in society
• ‘canteen culture’ where people working in a particular workplace develop a shared set of values and prejudices- no one challenges it and it is normalised, which might explain police discrimination
• Waddington and Fielding both found evidence of racial stereotyping in the attitudes of off duty police and development of a ‘canteen culture’
• White ppl have lowest rates of stop and search, black 9x higher (2019 CSEW)

Question 7

Paul Gilroy and black criminality- “the empire strikes back” (1982)

Answer 7

• crime by young west indians is a political response to a racist society and oppression
• therefore crime of black youths isn’t due to poor socialisation or criminal subculture as media would have us believe, but it is a choice to make a political statement
• therefore, they are still in conflict with their white oppressors in modern Britain and it was part of their legacy
• they need to ‘win space’ by using criminality as a form of symbolic resistance.

Question 8

the myth of black criminality- Gilroy

Answer 8

• black youths are no more prone to crime than anyone else, but they are targeted by police, media and the state
• during the 1970s mugging scare, black youths faced harassment from police
• there were racist ‘sus laws’

Question 9

Evaluation of Gilroy

Answer 9

1. HALL- overemphasises that crime is a political struggle, if so most victims would be white and rich.
2. LEA & YOUNG- unrealistic because black youth are too far removed from colonialism for it to be such a powerful motivator, romanticises crime which has an effect on vitcims
3. LEA & YOUNG- most crime is reported to the police and is not discovered BY them
   - most crime are ‘black on black’ so how could it be rebellion

Question 10

what are the reasons why ethnic minority might commit more crime?

Answer 10

1. poverty and unemployment- w/c and BAME = material/relative deprivation
2. polic targeting- labelling, negotiations of justice
3. discrimination- canteen culture, institutional racism, marginalisation
4. different norms and values- lack of understanding = conflict and subcultures

Question 11

Neo-Marxist Hall

Answer 11

• capitalism was in crisis so to distract the public a moral panic over the black mugger was promoted
• the public then supported increased police prescence (RSA) to tackle it but the side effect was controlling unrest
• this justifies the ‘sus’ laws and black boys were scapegoated

Question 12

Evaluation of Hall

Answer 12

• wide ranging and imaginative, based on lots of evidence
• criminality and black youth are still associated, so it’s not necessary to have a crisis to scapegoat them

Question 13

evaluation of the left realist explanation

Answer 13

• self report studies: black people aren’t more criminal so the theory doesn’t make sense