ethnicity, crime and justice T9 Flashcards
explaining ethnic differences in offending
- neo-marxists
- left realists
explaining stop & search patterns
- police racism
- ethnic differences in offending
- demographic factors
statistics on ethnic differences in crime
- BCS - black people 7x more & Asians 2x more likely to be stop & searched than whites
- Black people more likely than any other ethnic group to be involved n a taser incident - 18/10,000 compared to 6/10,000 for whites
Philips & Bowling - stop & search
since 1970s may allegations f oppressive policing of minority communities - armed raids, violence, mass stop and search operations
Macpherson Report 1999
found clear evidence of institutional racism in met police
Philips & Bowling - police racism
police stereotype ethnic minorities = deliberate targeting
ethnic differences in offending - explaining stop & search
higher rates of stop & search reflect rates of offending
demographic factors - explaining stop & search
some ethnic minority groups more likely to be part of a demographic that gets stop and searched regularly e.g. young, unemployed, living in inner city areas
canteen culture
Reiner - police develop distinct work values as a result of their job
‘thirst for action, suspicion, cynicism, macho values, racism’ - core characteristics of policing
Neo-marxist response to OCS
reject - see as a social construction
Gilroy (NM)
black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes - powerless groups overrepresented due to police bias
should be explained in terms of casual processes - political resistance to racist society
criticism of Gilroy
Lea & Young - most crime intra-ethnic (victims & criminals have same ethnic background) = not an anti-colonial struggle against racism
Hall et al (NM)
attempted to explain ‘black mugging’ (and Toxteth riots) moral panic in terms of causes and social construction factors
Hall’s wider causes
marginalising effects of long term unemployment
Hall’s immediate causes
police racism e.g. Mark Duggan
Hall’s social construction factors
moral panic of ‘black mugging’ drew attention away from crisis of capitalism. divided w/c on racial grounds
stereotypes, selective law enforcement, canteen culture
Fitzgerald - recent approach (NM)
statistical link between high crime levels and lone parent families (more common amongst African-Carribeans)
subculture developed that provided justification for crime (linked to school failure & alienation)
however - whites affected by same conditions likely to committ street crimes = ethnicity not a factor
empirical evaluation of Neo-marxism
BCS shows black males 7 =x more likely to be stop and searched by white
black feminist evaluation of Neo-marxism
Player - black women are treated more harshly by courts than white women
fail to consider issues surrounding black women
left realist explanations for ethnic differences in offending
Young
- marginalisation
- relative deprivation
- subcultures
positive evaluation of left realism
Jones et al’s local Islington crime survey found levels of victimisation & fear of crime high, especially amongst Asians
Murray’s evaluation of left realism
- growth of underclass key cause of crime
- young black males turn to crime for status
OCS extent of victimisation
- 54,000 racist incidents occur each year
- 42,600 racially or religiously aggravated offences
reasons for racial incidents
- racism & discrimination
- relative deprivation downwards
effects of victimisation
- psychological
- fear
- lack of faith
