Ethnicity , Crime And Justice

Question 1

What are the 2 alternative sources of statistics which can give us insight on ethnicity and crime ?

Answer 1

-victim surveys
-self report studies

Question 2

What is an example of a victim survey and what are they ?

Answer 2

Crime survey for England and Wales ,
They ask individuals to say what crimes that they have been victims of , we can then gain information about ethnicity and offending as such surveyors can ask the victims to identify the ethnicity of the persons who committed the crime against them .
For example , mugging can be an example of where the black population are significantly over represented

Question 3

What type of crime do victim surveys show us is most prevalent ?

Answer 3

Victim surveys show is that a great deal of crime is intra ethnic - that is , it takes place within rather than between ethnic groups

Question 4

What are some criticisms of victim surveys ?

Answer 4

-they only cover personal crimes , which only make up for around a fifth of all crimes
-They exclude the under 10s , minority ethnic groups contain a high proportion of young people
-they exclude crimes by and against organisations so they tell us nothing about the ethnicity of white collar and corporate criminals

Question 5

What is a criticism of victim surveys put forward by Phillips and Bowling ?

Answer 5

-they rely on the victims memory of the events , Phillips and bowling found evidence that suggests that white victims may over identify blacks saying the offender was black even when they weren’t sure

Question 6

What are self report studies ?

Answer 6

Self report studies ask individuals to disclose their own dishonest and violent behaviour

Question 7

What evidence did Graham and Bowling discover about ethnic offending using self report studies using percentages ?

Answer 7

Graham and Bowling conducted a study on 2,500 people and found that blacks (43%) and whites (44%) had very similar rates of offending , while Indians (30%) and Pakistanis (28%) and Bangladeshi (13%) had much lower rates

Question 8

What did Sharp and Budd discover about the ethnic rate of offending using self report studies ?

Answer 8

Sharp and Budd note that the 2013 offending , crime and justice survey of 12,000 people found that whites and those of mixed ethnic origins were most likely to say they had committed an offence (around 40%) followed by blacks (28%) and Asians (21%)

Question 9

What do the findings of self report studies about ethnic offending challenge ?

Answer 9

The findings of self report studies challenge the stereotype of black people as being more likely than whites to offend , though they support the view that Asians are less likely to offend

Question 10

Who are most likely to be stopped and searched due to racism in the criminal justice system , statistic to support ?

Answer 10

Members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to be stop and searched by the police , police can use their power if they have reasonable suspicion of wrongdoings
Compared with white people , black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched and Asian people are over twice as likely as whites
However only a small amount result in an arrest

Question 11

What act makes ethnic groups more likely to be searched and what is it and what group is most likely to be stopped due to this act ?

Answer 11

Under the Terrorism Act 2000 , Police can stop and search persons or vehicles whether or not they have reasonable suspicion , statistics show that Asians are more likely to be stopped and searched than other people under the terrorism act

Question 12

When minority ethnic groups are stopped and searched what do they think about it ?

Answer 12

Members of minority ethnic groups are not likely to think the police acted politely when stopping them or to think they were stopped fairly.

Question 13

What did Phillips and Bowling discover about minority ethnic groups attitudes towards the police ?

Answer 13

Phillips and Bowling note that members of ethnic minority groups are more likely to think they are over policed and under protected and so have limited faith in the police

Question 14

What did Hoyle find about the use of tasers in stop and search ?

Answer 14

Hoyle - the chance of being involved in a taser accident varies with ethnicity , during 2010-14 , police deployed Tasers over 38,000 times. For Asians , the chance of involvement was 3 in 10,000 , whites 6 in 10,000 but blacks it was 18 in 10,000

Question 15

What are the 3 possible reasons to explain the disproportionate use of stop and search against members of minority ethnic groups ?

Answer 15

-Police Racism
-Ethnic differences in offending
-Demographic factors

Question 16

Explaining stop and search patterns , police racism , Explain the Macpherson report ?

Answer 16

The macpherson report on the police investigation of the racist murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence concluded that there was institutional racism within the metropolitan police , and deeply ingrained racist attitudes among individual offers

Question 17

Explaining stop and search Patterns , Police racism , an example by Phillips and Bowling ?

Answer 17

Phillips and bowling point out that many officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals , leading to deliberate targeting for stop and search against members

Question 18

Explaining stop and search pattens , why does ethnic differences in offending lead to increased stop and search ?

Answer 18

The disproportionately in stop and search simply reflects ethnic differences in the levels of offending

Question 19

Explaining stop and search patterns , ethic differences in offending what is the difference between low discretion and high discretion stops ?

Answer 19

-in low discretion stops , police act on relevant information about a specific offence , for example a victims description of the offender
-in high discretion stops , police act without specific intelligence , it is in these stops , where officers use their stereotypes that lead to discrimination

Question 20

Explaining stop and search patterns , how do demographic factors help to explain it ?

Answer 20

Ethnic minorities are over represented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped and searched such as the young , unemployed , manual workers etc, these groups are more likely to stopped and searched regardless of their ethnicity but have a high proportion of ethnic minorities in the so minorities get stopped more

Question 21

How do arrest rates and likelihood of a caution show racism in the criminal justice system ?

Answer 21

Figures for England and walkers show that in 2014/15 the arrest rates for blacks was three times the rate for whites , by contrast , once arrested blacks and Asians were less likely than whites to receive a caution o0o

Question 22

What is a reason that minority ethnic groups are more likely to be arrested and less likely to receive a caution ?

Answer 22

One reason for this may be that members of minority ethnic are more likely to deny the offence and to exercise their right to legal advice , however not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged

Question 23

How does prosecution and trial as a stage in the criminal justice system lead ethnic minority cases to be dropped according to Phillips and Bowling ?

Answer 23

Studies show that crown prosecution service is more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities , Phillips and Bowling argue that this may be because the evidence presented to the crown prosecution service by the police is often weaker and based on the stereotyping of ethnic minorities as criminals

Question 24

Why are black and Asian defendants less likely to be found guilty in the conviction and sentencing part of the criminal justice system ?

Answer 24

Black and Asian defendants are less likely to be found guilty , this suggests that the discrimination by the police , brings weaker or less serious cases against ethnic minorities that are thrown out by courts

Question 25

What did Hood find out about the sentences of black and Asian men which contradicted the statement that minority ethnic are less likely to be fond guilty ?

Answer 25

Hood found that black men were 5% more likely to receive custodial sentences and were given sentences on average 3 months and Asian men 9 months longer than white men

Question 26

What is a reason that ethnic minority are more likely to receive harsher sentences , what is a pre sentence report ?

Answer 26

One reason for harsher sentences is the pre - sentence reports written by probation officers .
A pre sentence report is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding on the appropriate sentence for a given offender

Question 27

How do Hudson and Bramhall argue that pre sentence reports allow for discrimination especially against Asian ?

Answer 27

Husdson and Bramhall argue that pre sentence reports allow for discrimination. They found that reports on Asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested that they were less remorseful than white offenders , they place this bias in the context of the “demonising “ of Muslims in the wake of the events of 11 September 2001.

Question 28

How does the prison population show racism ?

Answer 28

In 2014 , just over a quarter of the prison population were from minority ethnic groups
Among British nationals , 5.5 per 1,000 black people were jailed compared to 1.6 per 1,000 Asians and 1.4 per 1,000 white people

Question 29

How do prison sentences show racism ?

Answer 29

Black and Asian offenders are more likely than whites to be servicing longer sentences of 4 years or more

Question 30

What do the ethnic minority population have the highest number of prisoners on and why is this ?

Answer 30

Within the total prison population , all minority groups have a higher than average proportion of prisoners on remand (awaiting a trial rather than actually convicted and serving a sentence ) this is because ethnic minorities are less less likely to be granted bail while awaiting trial

Question 31

What are the 2 main explanations for ethnic differences in offending ?

Answer 31

-left realism - the statistics represent real differences in the rates of offending
-Neo Marxism - the statistics are a social construct resulting from racist labelling and discrimination in the criminal justice system

Question 32

What do left realists Lea and Young argue ethnic differences in offending reflect ?

Answer 32

Left realists , Lea and Young argue that the ethnic differences in the statistics reflect the real differences in the levels of offending by the different ethnic groups

Question 33

What do left realists lea and young believe is one response to relative deprivation of ethnic minority groups and what does this lead to ?

Answer 33

One response is the formation of delinquent subcultures especially by young unemployed black males . This produces high levels of utilitarian crime, such as theft and robbery as a means of coping with relative deprivation

Question 34

What do left realists lea and young believe marginalisation of ethnic groups leads to ?

Answer 34

Because ethnic minority groups are marginalised they have no organisations to represent their interests , their frustration leads to non utilitarian crime such as violence and rioting

Question 35

How do left realists note that discriminatory policing doesn’t fully explain the differences in statistics ?

Answer 35

Left realists Lea and Young note that over 90% of crimes known to the police are reported by member of the public rather than discovered by the police themselves therefore cannot account for all the difference in statistics

Question 36

How do left realists lea and young argue we cannot explain ethnic rates of criminlisation in terms of police racism ?

Answer 36

Blacks have a considerably higher rate of criminalisation compared to Asians , the police would have to be very selective in their racism against blacks but not Asians for it to be the cause of these differences

Question 37

How can left realists Lea and young be criticised for their views on the role of police racism ?

Answer 37

Arrest rates for Asian may be lower than for blacks not because they are less likely to offend but because police stereotype the 2 groups differently , seeing blacks as dangerous and Asians as passive
Furthermore , stereotypes for Asians have changed since 9/11 because police now regard Asians too as dangerous thus explaining the rising criminalisation rates of Asians

Question 38

What do neo Marxists believe about the difference in statistics of offending of ethnic minority ?

Answer 38

Neo Marxists argue that the differences in statistics do not reflect reality , these outcomes are the process a social construction that stereotype minority ethnic groups as inherently more criminal than the majority population

Question 39

What does Neo Marxist Gilroy belive about black criminality that leads them to appear in a greater number on official statistics ?

Answer 39

Gilroy believes that the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbean’s and Asians
When in reality these groups are no more criminal than any other but as a result of the police and the criminal justice system acting on these racist stereotypes ,ethnic minorities come to be criminalised and therefore appear in greater number in the official statistics

Question 40

How do left realists Lea and Young criticise Neo Marxist Gilroy on his myth of black criminality ?

Answer 40

-most crime is Intra - ethnic (criminals and their victims usually have the same ethnic background) so it can’t be seen as an anti-colonial struggle against racism
-Asian crime rates are similar to or lower than whites , if Gilroy was right then the police are only seen as racist towards blacks and not Asians which seems unlikely

Question 41

What did Neo Marxist Hall et al’s study find out about moral panics over black muggers ,whose interests did it serve ?

Answer 41

Hall et al argues that the 1970’s saw a moral panic over black muggers , that served the interest of capitalism
This is because in the 1970’s we saw the emergence of a media driven moral panic about the supposed growth of a new crime mugging , in reality mugging was just a new name for the old crime of street robbery with violence and Hall et al notes that there was no evidence of a significant increase in this crime at the time

Question 42

Why does Neo Marxist Hall et al argue that the emergency of the moral panic about mugging as a specifically black crime was no coincidence?

Answer 42

Hall et al argued the emergence of the moral panic about black mugging was coincidentally at the time of the crisis of capitalism , he believes that these weir linked
The myth of the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention from the true problems such as unemployment (the capitalist crisis )

Question 43

What did hall et al believe was the capitalist crisis ?

Answer 43

High inflation
Rising unemployment

Question 44

What are some criticisms of Neo Marxist hall et al include left realists ?

Answer 44

-they do not show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic ,nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking or blaming crime on blacks
-left realists argue that inner city residents fears about mugging are not panicky but realistic

Question 45

How do Downes and Rock criticise , Hall et al ?

Answer 45

Downes and Rock argue that Hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising but also was rising because of unemployment

Question 46

What are 2 more recent approaches in explaining ethnic differences in crime rates ?

Answer 46

-the role of neighbourhoods
-risk of getting caught

Question 47

Explanations of ethnic differences in crime rates - role of neighbourhood examined by FitzGerald et al?

Answer 47

Fitzgerald et al examine the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining the greater involvement of black youths in street robbery. They found that the rates were highest in very poor areas and where very deprived young people came into contact with more affluent groups .
However , whites affected by these factors were also more likely to commit street crime thus ethnicity was not a cause . However black people may be more likely to live in poor areas because of racial discrimination in the housing and job markets

Question 48

Explanations of ethnic differnces in crime rates - what did Sharp and Budd find out about risk of getting caught ?

Answer 48

Some groups run a greater risk of being caught . Eg , sharp and Budd found that black offenders were more likely than white offenders to have been arrested . Reasons included that they were more likely to commit crimes such as robbery where victims can identify them and have to be excluded from school or to associate with known criminals - these factors raised their visibility to the authorities

Question 49

What is meant by racist victimisation ?

Answer 49

Racist victimisation occurs when an individual is selected as a target because of their race , ethnicity or religion
Racist victimisation is not new but has been brought into greater public focus with the racist modern of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence and the handling of the police investigation (Macpherson report 1999)

Question 50

What are 2 main sources of racist victimisation ?

Answer 50

-victim surveys
-police recorded statistics

Question 51

What do victim surveys and police recorded statistics generally cover involving racist victimisation ?

Answer 51

-racist incidents - any incident that is perceived to be to be racist by the victim or another person
-racially or religiously aggravated offences - assault , criminal damage and harassment where the offender is motivated by the hostility towards members of a racial or a religious group

Question 52

What does the crime survey of England and wales show about how the risk of being a victim of any crime varies depending on ethnic background ?

Answer 52

The 2014 , crime survey for England and wales show that people from mixed ethnic backgrounds had a higher risk (28%) of being a victim of crime than did blacks (18%) , Asians (16%) or whites (15%)

Question 53

How can the differences between rates of victimisation be different depending on other factors as well as ethnic group ?

Answer 53

The differnces may be partly due to factors such as ethnicity but also result of other factors.eg violent crime has factors such as being young , male and unemployed which are strongly linked with victimisation
Ethnic groups have a high proportion of young males and thus are likely to have higher rates of victimisation

Question 54

What are ways that minority ethnic communities respond to victimisation ?

Answer 54

Responses to victimisation range from situational crime prevention measures such as fire proof doors and letterboxes , to organised self defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks