Ethnicity And Criminalisation

Question 1

What have the ministry of justice found out about ethnicity and crime?

Answer 1

Members of black communities are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched
3 1/2 times more likely to be arrested
5 times more likely to be in prison

Question 2

What are victim surveys?

Answer 2

Ask individuals to say what crimes they have been victims of
Ask individuals what ethnicity they believed the offender to be

Question 3

What have victim surveys shown?

Answer 3

In mugging black people are over represented among those identified as offenders
When a great deal of crime is intra-ethnic, taking place within ethnic groups not between
In 90% of cases where a victim was white, at least one of the offenders was also white

Question 4

What are some of the draw backs of using victim surveys?

Answer 4

Rely on the victims memory: Bowling and Phillips suggested that white victims over identify blacks as the offender when they are unsure
Only cover personal crimes which make up a 5th of all crimes: mugging makes up 1.7% of recorded crimes
Don’t include under 16s which minority ethnic groups contain a higher proportion of young people
Exclusion of crimes by/against organisations telling us nothing about the ethnicity of white collar crime and corporate crime
Only tell us the ethnicity of a small amount of offenders which may not be representative of offenders as a whole

Question 5

What are self report studies?

Answer 5

Ask individuals to enclose their own dishonest and violent behaviour

Question 6

What are some of the findings of self report studies?

Answer 6

Graham and Bowling- sample of 2500 people finding that blacks and whites had similar levels of offending while Pakistanis, Bangladeshi and Asians had low levels

Sharp and Budd- OCJS involving 12000 people found that whites and those of mixed ethnic groups were most likely to say they’d committed an offence followed by blacks and Asians

Question 7

What are some of the benefits of using self report studies?

Answer 7

Sharp and Budd- 27% of mixed ethnic males said they'd used drugs in the past year compared to 16% White/Black and 5% Asian 
Whites were more likely to use class A drugs 

Data from self report studies have challenged the stereotypical view that blacks are more likely to commit crime, however they also found that Asians were the least likely group to commit crime

Question 8

What is the flow diagram of ethnicity, racism and the CJS?

Answer 8

Policing
Stop and search

Police racism
Ethnic differences
Demographic factors

Arrests and cautions 
Prosecution
Trial
Convictions 
Sentencing 
Pre sentence reports 
Prison

Question 9

What are left realists views of official statistics?

Answer 9

Official statistics represent real differences in the rates of offending between ethnic groups
Caused by differences in the levels of relative deprivation and marginalisation

Question 10

What is relative deprivation and how does it explain the differences in the levels of offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 10

Lack of resources to sustain the lifestyle that society encourages us to have
BME homelessness 2002/3 found that those classed as black and other were 3 times more likely to be homeless than all other ethnic groups
Because they find it harder to find employment so turn to illegitimate means to obtain the material goods that society deems us to have to be accepted

Question 11

What is a subculture and how does it explain the differences in the levels of offending between different ethnic groups?

Answer 11

Cultural group within a larger culture often having beliefs and interests in variance to the larger group
Arrest rates for blacks were 3.6 times the rates for whites, and once arrested they were less likely to receive cautions
This is because they were relatively deprived so they turned to delinquent subcultures especially the young, unemployed black men. Producing higher levels of non-utilitarian crimes like theft and robbery as a means of coping with relative deprivation

Question 12

What do official statistics show about the incidence of ethnic minorities in relation to crime?

Answer 12

Blacks and Asians are over represented in the system
Black people make up 2.8% of the population yet in prisons they make up 11% of the population
Likewise Asians make up 4.7% of the population yet in prisons they make up 6% of the population

Question 13

What is racist victimisation?

Answer 13

When someone is targeted because of their race, religious or ethnicity

Question 14

What are the main sources of gathering information on racist victimisation?

Answer 14

Victim surveys
BCS
Police statistics

Question 15

What are racist incidences?

Answer 15

When the victim or another person identifies the incident as racially motivated

Question 16

What are racially or religiously aggravated offences?

Answer 16

When the offender is motivated by hostility towards members of a racial or religious group

Question 17

What are some of the risks of victimisation?

Answer 17

Police: 61,000 racist incidences in England/Wales in 06/7
BCS: 184,000 racially motivated incidences in 06/7
BCS: those of mixed ethnicity more likely to be victims than any other group

Question 18

What are some evaluation points of victimisation?

Answer 18

Victimisation is not always caused by racism it could be due to a number of other factors such as being young, male and unemployed
Minority ethnic groups with a higher proportion of young males in it will be likely to have higher rates of victimisation
Unemployment is partly due to discrimination
Statistics don’t capture the experiences of victims
Sampson and Phillips: racist victimisation is an ongoing process involving repeated minor incidences interwoven with physical abuse

Question 19

What are some of the responses to victimisation?

Answer 19

Fireproofing doors and letterboxes as well as organising self defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks
However some argue under protection from the police who ignore the dimensions of victimisation failing to record or respond to reported incidences properly

Question 20

What are some of the evaluation points of the responses to victimisation?

Answer 20

Steven Lawrence: Macpherson Enquiry highlighted the death of Lawrence as due to incompetence, institutional racism and failure of leadership by senior officers
Backed up by racist views of individual officers when Mark Daley carried out his covert participant observation within the training of the police

Question 21

What are left realists view of official statistics?

Answer 21

They represent real differences in rates of offending between ethnic groups, caused by differences in relative deprivation and marginalisation

Question 22

What is relative deprivation and how does it link in with rates of offed in between ethnic groups?

Answer 22

Lack of resources to sustain the lifestyle that society deems we should have
Ethnic minorities find it difficult to find employment therefore they don’t have the money to buy goods society deems us to have, so turn to illegal crime to gain them
BME homelessness in 2002/03 found those classed as black or other are more than three times as likely to be homeless than other groups

Question 23

What are subcultures and how do they relate to the differences in offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 23

A cultural group within a larger group often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture.
As ethnic minorities are often relatively deprived they will turn to delinquent subcultures, producing higher levels of non-utilitarian crimes as a mean if coping with relative deprivation
Arrest rates for blacks were 3.6 times the rate for whites, and once arrested blacks and Asians were less likely to receive cautions compared to whites

Question 24

What is marginalisation and how does it relate to the differences in offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 24

A group is pushed to the edge of society due to have less of an importance, often excluding their needs and desires
Racism has led to the marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who subsequently face higher levels of unemployment, pie try and poor housing
No longer have organisations to represent their needs leading to frustration producing non-utilitarian crime like violence and rioting
Police and CPS discriminate against black and Asians by bringing weaker or less serious cases against ethnic minorities that are then thrown out by the courts

Question 25

What is an evaluation point for marginalisation?

Answer 25

Arrest rates for Asians are lower than blacks but not because they are less likely to offend but because police stereotype he two groups differently
Blacks are seen as dangerous while Asians are seen as harmless

Question 26

What is Lea and Young’s view of differences in offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 26

Police do act in racist ways which results in unjustified criminalisation of some members of minority groups
Phillips and Bowling found that the police did hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minority which led to the deliberate targeting of stop and search, often these views held up in the canteen culture
Statistics for 2006/7 show Asians were 3 times more likely to be stopped and searched than other people under the terrorism act

Question 27

what are some evaluation points of discriminatory policing?

Answer 27

Cannot fully explain the differences in statistics
90% of crimes known to the police were reported by members of the public rather than discovered by the police
If the police did act in discriminatory ways it is unlikely that this can ace quality account for the ethnic differences in statistics
Hudson and Bramhall: why is it that pre-sentence reports on Asians were less comprehensive- this suggests that the police are still less remorseful than towards a white offender

Question 28

Why can’t we explain the differences between minorities in terms of police racism?

Answer 28

Because blacks have a considerably higher rate of criminalisation than Asians
Therefore the police would need to be selective in their racism for it to be considered the cause of these differences
Police do hold stereotypes on different ethnic minorities: blacks are seen as less dangerous while Asians aren’t

Question 29

What are Neo-Marxists views of official statistics?

Answer 29

Official statistics are social constructs resulting from racist labelling and discrimination in the CJS

Question 30

What is a social construct and how is it related to differences in the rates of offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 30

An idea or notion that has been created and defined by society
The stereotype that ethnic minorities are more inherently criminal that the majority of the population
Blacks and Asians are more likely to serve longer sentences of four years or more compared to white offenders

Question 31

What is a evaluation point of the idea of official statistics being a social constructs?

Answer 31

Asian crime curates are similar to or lower than whites and if Gilroy’s view was correct then the police are only racist towards backs and not Asians which is unlikely

Question 32

What is Gilroy’s view of the differences in offending between ethnic groups?

Answer 32

They myth of black criminality is created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbean and Asians when in reality they are no more criminal than any other group
Roger Hood: black men are 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence and were given on average 3 months longer than white men

Question 33

What is an evaluation point of Gilroy’s view?

Answer 33

Most crime is intra-ethnic so can’t be seen as an anti-colonial struggle against racism
Gilroy romanticises street crime as revolutionary when it isn’t