Ethnicity and Crime - Crime Flashcards
What are the rates of stop and searches on black people?
4-6x more likely to be stopped than any other group
What did the Macpherson report claim about police?
That they were racists
What is the statistical artefact approach (Fitzgerald)
Age profiles of ethnic minority’s tends to be younger = young people more likely to commit crime
What does Miller argue (Subcultural)
Might suggest that EM have focal concerns which make them more likely to commit crime e.g carrying knives, looking tough
What do Cloward and Ohlin argue (Subcultural)
Ethnic minorities might have greater access to the illegitimate opportunity structure which increases their likelihood to commit crime
What does Ecological theory suggest about ethnic minority crime rates?
- More likely to live in the zone of transition (Shaw and McKay)
- more likely to live in estates which are socially disorganised and are tipped
- tend to be younger = more likely to be involved in the nocturnal economy
How are ethnic groups represented in prison?
- white people are underrepresented
- black people are over represented -4x the amount compared to in the general population
- Asian people are over represented
How do the mass media and poor levels of educational achievement effect ethnic minorities? (Labelling)
Media may show a lot of ethnic minority crime as it is overrepresented = SFP
- EM more likely to be w/c = see m/c on the media causing them to suffer from relative deprivation
What does Cicourel argue? (Labelling)
- EM are less likely to be able to negotiate out of a sentence because they are more likely to be w/c
- More likely to be given harsher sentences
What does Becker argued? (Labelling)
- Moral entrepreneurs are more likely to label acts that EM carry out as criminal due to them being overrepresented
- More likely to have a master status of criminal as seen to commit more crime
What does traditional Marxism suggest about ethnic minority crime?
EM groups, especially black groups, are disproportionately working class:
- R/c choose to ignore white collar crime therefore focus is on w/c crime (who many are EM)
- W/c crime is highly caught = more EM crime is caught
- Criminogenic capitalism
What does New Criminology suggest about ethnic minority crime?
Hall’s study on mugging shows how the media and society use EM crime as a scapegoat for wider problems in society - labelled as folk devils
What does Left Realism suggest about ethnic minority crime?
- They are more likely to suffer relative deprivation and so feel marginalised, may respond through the formation of subcultures.
- EM are also more likely to be the victims of crime
What does Right Realism suggest about ethnic minority crime?
- Increased number of SPFs within particular EMs is to blame for the disproportionate amount of crime they commit
- Do not provide adequate socialisation = produce delinquents (lack of father figure)
How does Gilroy suggest that the statistics are incorrect?
Argues black criminality is a myth; the CJS is racist;
- e.g. in 1998/99 black people were 6x more likely to be stopped than white people
How does the Macpherson report suggest that the statistics are incorrect?
Argues there is institutional racism:
- Police have ‘procedures, practices and culture that tend to exclude or disadvantage non-white people’
What is a ‘canteen culture’?
Suspiciousness, internal solidarity, conservatism and masculinity - which include particular stereotypes of ethnic minorities
How does Karla suggest the statistics are incorrect?
Argues the police identify certain groups as ‘trouble’ - there actions are regarded with suspicion e.g. black men BUT more recently muslim men
How do Lea and Young suggest that the statistics are accurate?
The high level of black people in the statistics cannot just be due to police racism:
- most crimes are reported by the public
- A high % (42%) of victims of black criminality are themselves black
- the high rate of offending is likely due to relative deprivation, marginality and membership of subcultures
How does Waddington suggest that the statistics are accurate?
Found that although police do stop a high number of young people from EMs they also stop a high number of young white people
- These numbers are proportional to type of people most likely to be on the streets, especially at night = SUS rates reflect the composition of people on the street rather than being racist.
What is the conclusion of the ethnic minority debate?
The evidence cannot demonstrate whether the over-representation of black people in prison is better explained by:
(a) A rascist CJS OR
(b) a higher rate of offending by black people
But both these contribute to the criminalisation of EMs
What does Reiner suggest?
Discrimination on the one hand and Black crime on the other, reinforce and feed off one another in a vicious cycle of amplification
