Ethnicity and Crime

Question 1

How is OCS accurate according to Lea and Young?

Answer 1

OCS is accurate in relation to differences in offending by different ethnic groups.

Question 2

What is crime caused by according to Lea and Young?

Answer 2

Relative deprivation, marginality and subcultures.

Question 3

Why are e/m marginalised? (Lea and Young)

Answer 3

Racism had led to marginalisarion and economic explusion of e/m - face higher levels of unemployment. Lack an organisation to represent their views in society.

Question 4

What does unemployment lead to? (Lea and Young)

Answer 4

Suffer relative deprivation - can’t afford consumer products promoted by the media..

Question 5

How do e/m respond to relative deprivation? (Lea and Young)

Answer 5

Respond by forming subcultures - especially young, unemployed black males.

Question 6

What type of crime do e/m commit according to Lea and Young?

Answer 6

Utilitarian crime - help cope with relative deprivation.

Question 7

What can fustration lead e/m commit? (Lea and Young)

Answer 7

Non-utilitarian crime - violence, rioting.

Question 8

Why are police methods not based on stereotypes? (Lea and Young)

Answer 8

Most crimes are brought to the police by members of the public. Even is the police act in discriminatory ways - unlikely that this can account for ethnic differences in statistics.

Question 9

What does OCS represent? (Lea and Young)

Answer 9

Statisics represent real differences in offending between ethnic groups - caused by real differences in levels of relative deprivation and marginalisation.

Question 10

What is the evalutation of the Left Realist theory on ethnicity and crime?

Answer 10

It is possible thay police stereotype black and Asain people differently.

Question 11

What did Waddington et al research?

Answer 11

Research in Reading and Slough, non-participation observation of the police through CCTV.

Question 12

What were Waddinton et al’s findings?

Answer 12

Police stop and search more e/m people, but this is not based on stereotypes. Police patrol areas where there is more crime, police presence reduces crime. Areas with hgih crime rates - deprived areas. E/m more likely to be deprived. Being stopped - presence in an area, not racism.

Question 13

Why are e/m more likely to be targeted apart from their presence in an area? (Waddington et al)

Answer 13

More e/m - make up younger population - more likely to be out at night - get stopped and search.

Question 14

What is the evaluation if Waddington et al’s theory on ethnicity and crime?

Answer 14

Possible data is not valid, police officiers may have not told the truth about their motives for stop and search.

Question 15

How does educational underachivement cause e/m to commit crime according to Right Realism?

Answer 15

Educational underachievement - Afro-Caribbean - affects the ability to go to further edu or higher edu or get employment. Turn to crime as a means of surviving.

Question 16

How does family structure cause e/m to commit crime according to Right Realism?

Answer 16

Murray - live in lone parent families headed by women, lack make role model. Lone parent families tend to live in poverty - leads to crime

Question 17

How does influence of mass media cause e/m to commit crime according to Right Realism?

Answer 17

Influence of rap music’s emphasis on violence, guns, gangs, sex and drugs - lead to criminality.

Question 18

What is the evalutation of the Right Realist theory on ethnicty and crime?

Answer 18

Vast majority of Afro-Caribbean - live the 2 parent households. There is plenty music about equality and respect, cannot blame 1 type of music, deterministic.

Question 19

What to Philips and Bowling claim about the CJS?

Answer 19

CJS is racist.

Question 20

Why is stop and search racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 20

E/m are more likely to be stopped and searched. Terrorism Act 2000 - can stop, individuals without reason. Police hold racist stereotypes, e/m more likely to be identified as perpetrators of a crime by the public, e/m more likely to be w/c - likely to be stopped and searched.

Question 21

Why are arrests and cautions racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 21

E/m are more likely to be arrested. E/m are more likely to deny an offence - don’t trust the police. E/m are less likely to receive a caution as they deny the offence - can’t be let off.

Question 22

Why is prosecution racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 22

CPS more likely to drop cases against e/m. May be because evidence presented - weak and based on stereotyping.

Question 23

Why is the trial racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 23

E/m more likely to be put on trial in the crown court than the magistrates court. This is perhaps due to mistrust of magistrates impartiality. But the crown court imposes severe sentences.

Question 24

Why is the sentencing racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 24

E/m more likely to be given custodial sentences. White people are more likely to be given community service.

Question 25

Why are pre-sentence reports racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 25

Written by as probation officer - assists the magistrates in deciding the sentence. Repots for Asian offenders - less comprehensive and suggested they were less remorseful then white offenders.

Question 26

Why is the prison system racist? (Philips and Bowling)

Answer 26

E/m more likely to be imprisoned than whites and serve longer sentences. They are alos more likely to be on remand - in jail while awaiting trail rather then being granted bail.

Question 27

What moral panic was there in the 1970s? (Hall)

Answer 27

1970s - high inflation, unemployment (mines) - provoked protests, strikes, conflict in Northern Ireland. Moral panic over black muggers that served the interests of capitalism.

Question 28

Wha becomes difficult for the r/c in times of crises? (Hall)

Answer 28

R/c - normally able to rule subordinate classes through discontent, times of crises - difficult.

Question 29

How did the r/c regain control? (Hall)

Answer 29

Used the media to create a moral panic - about the growth of a ‘new’ type of crime - mugging. Reality - mugging - new name for an old crime of street robbery. Black men were used as scapegoats - blamd for the crisi, divert attention from the economic crisis.

Question 30

What happened to the w/c as a result of the moral panic? (Hall)

Answer 30

Divided the w/c on the grounds of ‘race’ - maintaing FCC, protectignt the status quo.

Question 31

What forced black people to commit crime because of the moral panic? (Hall)

Answer 31

Economic crisis and unemployment forced black people into crime.

Question 32

What is the evaluation of Hall’s theory on ethnicity and crime?

Answer 32

Contradicts himself, first claims black people were scapegoats, then argues that they were really muggers because of poverty.

Question 33

What does Gilroy claim about black criminality?

Answer 33

It is a myth created by racist stereotypes. Police + CPS - act on racist stereotypes, over-represent black people as criminals.

Question 34

What can the 1970s Southall and Brixton riots be seen as? (Gilroy)

Answer 34

Can be seen as a form of political resistance against society + imperialism. In fromer British colonies, black people resisted the British Empire and fought for their independence. Once they came to the UK and faced racism, used same resistance methods to fight against racism - riots.

Question 35

What is the evluation of Gilory’s theory on ethnicity and crime?

Answer 35

1st generation immigrants are law abiding, so couldn’t have passed the resistance strategies to their children. Most crime is intra-racial so it can’t be a form of resistance to racism.

Question 36

What have police officers developed according to Holdaway?

Answer 36

Police officiers have developed a distinctive set of working values - nature of their job. These values are passed on through the canteen culture.

Question 37

Why have police officers developed a canteen culture? (Holdaway)

Answer 37

Police work is often dangerous and unpredicatable, so officiers have developed a culture to help them deal with this.

Question 38

What is part of the canteen culture? (Holdaway)

Answer 38

Within culture there is an emphasis on team work with jokes and banter being used to cement solidarity. Main characterisitics of the canteen culture - thirst for action, conservatism, suspicion, macho values, racism. This can impact police practice.

Question 39

What is crime linked to according to Fitzgerald et al?

Answer 39

Crime is not linked to ethnicity, instead to the place you live. Deprived areas - more crime.

Question 40

Why are e/m more likely to live in deprived areas according to Fitzgerald et al?

Answer 40

E/m live in deprived areas - due to racist housing system. White people in deprived areas also commit more crime.

Question 41

Why are black offenders more likely to be arrested than white offenders according to Sharp and Budd?

Answer 41

More likely to commit crimes such as robbery, where victims can identify them and so have been excluded from school or associate with known criminals. Factors that raised their ‘visibility’ to the authorities.

Question 42

Why are there low crime rates among Asians?

Answer 42

Strong influence of religion and close-knot communities prevents criminality through informal social control.

Question 43

Why has there been a rise in crime rates among Asians?

Answer 43

Increased integration into mainstream culture has weakened the informal social control of religion and close-knit communities.