Ethnicity & Crime Flashcards
Which ethnic group is most likely to be stopped and searched, arrested or end up in prison?
Black people
what % of the population of England and Wales are black?
3.3%
What % of arrests in England and Wales are of Black people?
8.3%
What % of atop and searches in England and Wales are of Black people?
14.2%
What % of the prison population in England and Wales are black?
13.5%
Why can we not just use ethnic crime statistics to make assumptions about crime?
These statistics are not actually representative - they are skewed by other factors such as age and gender.
EG the majority of all stop and searches are carried out on young males. There is a high proportion of young males in the black population so black people are being over represented in crime statistics
What % of reported crimes were solved in 2013-14 and why is that impact ethnic crime statistics?
Only 29% of reported crimes were solved.
The social profile of those who committed the unsolved crimes could alter these patterns.
Bowling and Phillips
police racism results in higher suspicion of black people in general.
Link to the Macpherson Report (1999)
The Macpherson Report (1999)
Supporting Bowling and Phillips
Concluded that the police were institutionally racist.
There are very few black people in the police and legal system and even less in high power positions.
The court has been accused of favouring white middle-class defendants.
Hall and Gilroy
Neo-marxists
Argue that young black people do not commit more crime than other ethnic groups. They’ve been labelled as criminal by modern British society.
Hall
Neo-marxist
Black youths have been used as scapegoats to distract society from social issues caused by capitalism, especially in the 1970s.
High levels of unemployment among young black men lead some of them to opt out of mainstream society and turn to crime.
Gilroy
Neo-marxist
Black people are victims of racial stereotypes that paint them as more criminal than other groups.
The CJS subscribes to these stereotypes and convicts a high proportion of black people as a result.
Ethnic minorities may use crime to fight back against inequalities caused by capitalism as a kind of resistance. (similar to critical criminology)
Left Realists
Favour a subcultural explanation for the differences in ethnicity and crime.
Ethnic minorities are more likely to commit crime but this is because of factors other than their ethnicity.
They argue that relative deprivation and marginalisation are more common among ethnic minorities so they are more likely to conform to criminal subcultures.
Ethnic minority households are more at risk of being victims of crime than any other household.
the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that they were more likely to be mugged than white groups and slightly more at risk of vehicle theft.
Which ethnic group is most at risk of being a victim of crime?
Mixed ethnicity groups
