Ethnicity and Crime

Question 1

What do prison statistics show about trends in ethnicity and crime?

Answer 1

• Black people make up 3% of the population but 13.1% of the prison population.
• Asian people make up 6.5% of the population but 7.7% if the prison population.

Question 2

What do police statistics show about trends in ethnicity and crime?

Answer 2

• Ethnic minorities are 3 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police.

Question 3

What to court statistics show about trends in ethnicity and crime?

Answer 3

• Ethnic minorities are more likely to be given a custodial sentence than those of the ethnic majority.

Question 4

What is a demographic explanation of ethnicity and crime statistics?

Answer 4

BAME groups contain a disproportionate number of young people compared to the white ethnic majority.

Question 5

What is an evaluation of the demographic explanation of ethnicity and crime statistics?

Answer 5

Statistical illusion: it’s impossible to determine if it’s the age of the offenders that causes the higher rates of their ethnicity.

Question 6

What are some reasons for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 6

• Police targeting
• Locality theory
• Institutional racism
• Social and cultural theory
• Subcultures
• Political protest
• Triple quandary

Question 7

What is police targeting as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 7

~ EM are ‘over-policed and under-protected’.
~ ‘Myth of black criminality’ - stereotyping
Police focus on ethnic minorities and therefore they’re more likely to be stopped and searched or arrested compared to the white majority.

Question 8

What is locality theory as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 8

~ Certain areas are more densely populated with ethnic minorities which explains higher stop and search statistics.
~ EMs tend to live in the zones of transition where crime rates are much higher due to the lack of social cohesion.

Question 9

What is institutional racism as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 9

~ Canteen culture: police officers in themselves aren’t racists but when together they can reinforce stereotypes which are then acted on on duty.
~ MacPherson report (1999): result of the Stephen Lawrence murder which highlighted racist policies within the police force.

Question 10

What is social and cultural theory as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 10

~ Young people, regardless of their ethnicity, commit crime due to lack of social controls of attachment, commitment, involvement and belief in their lives.
~ Asian families have stricter controls over young people which could explain the lower rates of criminality amongst Asian communities.

Question 11

What are subcultures as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 11

~ Left realists suggest that ethnic minorities suffer from marginalisation and relative deprivation. This can lead to EMs forming subcultures which help to alleviate feelings of marginalisation, but these can take deviant forms and lead to higher rates of criminality.

Question 12

What is political protest as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 12

~ Ethnic minorities, particularly black men, often feel alienated by everyday experiences of racism and what they perceive as a racist police force, and as such crime becomes a form of protest. Street crime is seen as a form of resistance against white oppression. E.g. BPP.

Question 13

What is triple quandary as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 13

3 risk factors identified which could be responsible for relatively high levels of crime amongst black boys:
1. Lack of a father figure
2. Negative experiences of white culture
3. Media: influencers believe they can achieve status in 2 ways:
1. Acquisition of status symbol designer clothing and
jewelry.
2. Construction of hyper masculinity based on
violence and sexual conquest.

Question 14

What are some evaluations of police targeting as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 14

• Targeting could be caused by moral panics and therefore based on actual criminality.
• Can cause a scenario where the targeting leads to higher ethnic minority criminality which leads to more targeting.

Question 15

What is an evaluation of locality theory as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 15

• This may be the case for first generation immigrants but many ethnic minorities have moved out of the zone of transition after 1/2 generations and tend to assimilate into the majority culture.

Question 16

What is an evaluation of institutional racism as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 16

• Since the publication of the MacPherson report, the police force has been actively changing policies to deal with institutional racism, and recruiting more officers from EMs. Despite this, the crime rate amongst EMs hasn’t decreased.

Question 17

What is an evaluation of social and cultural theory as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 17

• This isn’t limited to EMs and is more of an explanation for age differences in criminality than ethnic minority.

Question 18

What is an evaluation of subcultures as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 18

• Not all ethnic minorities join subcultures and not all subcultures are criminal in nature.

Question 19

What is an evaluation of political protest as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 19

• Doesn’t account for the fact that most crime is committed within EM groups, therefore, the majority of victims of black crime are black themselves.

Question 20

What are some evaluations of triple quandary as a reason for ethnic minority criminality?

Answer 20

• The rise of positive black role models.
• There is no causality established between criminality and single parenthood.
• Black crime tends to victimise black people.