Ethnicity And Crime Flashcards
What percentage of whites were found guilty compared to blacks and Asians?
60% of whites, 52% of blacks, and 44% of Asians were found guilty.
What percentage of the UK prison population is black compared to their percentage in the over 15 population?
13.2% of the UK prison population is black, while they are 2.8% of the over 15 population.
What is the representation of white people in the prison population compared to their population percentage?
White people represent 88.3% of the population but only make up 73.8% of the prison population.
When was Stephen Lawrence killed and by whom?
Stephen Lawrence was killed on 22nd April 1993 by a gang of white men in a racist attack.
What happened to the charges against some suspects in Stephen Lawrence’s murder?
The charges were dropped before a trial could happen due to lack of evidence.
What did the Metropolitan Police declare about the investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s death in August 2020?
The investigation was declared ‘inactive’ until further notice.
Who were found guilty for the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 2012?
Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty after new evidence.
What did the MacPherson Inquiry claim about the police?
The inquiry claimed that the police are characterised by ‘Institutional Racism’.
What does ‘Institutional Racism’ refer to?
Racism that isn’t necessarily intentional, based on racist ideas and practices in day-to-day activities.
List three recommendations from the MacPherson Report.
- Openness and accountability
- Racism awareness and diversity training
- Treatment of victims and witnesses
What is Reiner’s concept of Canteen Culture?
Canteen culture among the police includes suspicion, macho values, and racism.
encourages racist stereotypes and a mistrust of those from non-white backgrounds
What can explain the higher levels of robbery among black people for example?
According to Bowling and Philips, labelling that arises from regular stop and search procedures.
In turn leads to self fulfilling prophecy
Who examined the moral panic over ‘mugging’ in the early 1970s?
Hall et al
What did Hall et al. examine regarding moral panic in the early 1970s?
Using marxist insights, the moral panic over ‘mugging’ and its representation of young black men as potential muggers.
- mugging wasnt increasing dramatically
Selective and stereotypical reporting represented young black men as potential muggers and given the role of folk devils
What was the crisis of British Capitalism explained by Hall?
The state deflected attention onto a small group to scapegoat them and justify repressive policing.
Young blacks suitable for this role because of their low visibility and powerlessness
(lack of organisations to speak on their behalf)
Who evidenced the role of ethnicity in crime and deviance?
Sharp and Budd
What did Sharp and Budd find regarding black offenders and the Criminal Justice System?
Black offenders were more likely to have contact with the CJS (arrests, court visits and conviction) despite lower levels of offending compared to white people/youths
2014 data: 65 blacks, 23 asians and 28 mixed individuals stopped and searched per every 1000 of the population
> compared to 15 white individuals per 1000
What about class differences and crime?
Lea and Young (left realism) say high levels of crime really do exist in inner city areas where there are often high numbers of members of ethnic minorities
draw attention to the fact that those who live here are main victims of crimes as well
What is the role of relative deprivation in crime?
Minorities suffer relative deprivation in areas shared with sections of the white working class (high unemployment and poor environment)
also suffer racial discrimination and racially motivated attacks
What is marginalization in the context of young unemployed blacks?
They are unorganised and have few pressure groups to talk on their behalf.
Frustrations are more likely to be expressed in illegal activity
Who looked at subcultural responses to marginalisatio and deprivation?
Pryce in his ethnographic study of St Paul’s in Bristol
What subculture response is described by Pryce in his study of St Paul’s in Bristol?
The hustling subculture with young blacks, involving petty street crime, drug dealing, and prostitution.
What do right realists argue about African-Caribbean families?
They are statistically more likely to be matrifocal lone parent families.
Overall creating the ‘underclass’
Children from single parent families more likely to commit crime due to lack of male role model and creation of a work-less, welfare-dependent culture
What does the Broken Window thesis suggest about inner city areas?
According to Shaw and Mckay, they’re transient communities that lack social solidarity and less likely to self-regulate than suburban or rural communities.
Thus more likely to have broken windows
What explanation is given for the low levels of Asian criminality?
Strong religious and family ties within Asian culture help cope with disadvantages.
In the past, asians did fit a police stereotype of a typical offender and an illegal immigrant
Who looked at the political nature of crime?
Gilroy
According to Gilroy, what is the nature of black crime?
It is a conscious continuation of anti-colonial struggles and a political response to inequality and discrimination.
Black crime is political and potentially revolutionary
What’s an example of the political nature of black crime?
Rastafarianism, a set of revolutionary political ideas about overthrowing white authority (Babylon)
Tends to bring its followers into confrontation with the police over marijuana use for example
According to Marxists, who makes the laws?
The bourgeoisie to control the proletariat.
- can apply social class and crime concepts to ethnicity and crime
For a range of reasons like minority ethnic groups more likely to be working class
What did Hall suggest about black people and the informal economy?
They were forced into the informal economy (and potentially criminal activity) due to being a reserve army of labour required to do ‘white man’s shit work’
What is deviance amplification?
A moral panic effectively advertises deviance.
What did Cohen’s study identify about folk devils and moral panics?
Sensationalized reporting turned minor scuffles between mods and rockers into a media event.
