Explanations for ethnicity and crime - stats are misleading Flashcards
Locality theory - Waddington
Certain areas are more densely populated with ethnic minorities which explains higher stop and search statistics. Additionally, minorities tend to live in zones of transitions where crime rates are higher due to a lack of social cohension
Zones of transition have higher ethnic minorities.
Areas of social disorganisation produce delinquent subcultures
There isn’t informal control from peers, families etc which leads to delinquent subcultures
Marshall et al - sink estates lacking any sense of social control
Differential association - everyone else is doing it
A03
many 3rd gen immigrants move out of zone of transition and tend to assimilate into the majority culture
Gravitate towards areas of their own ethnic groups - china town: these are enclaves where there is informal social control
Demographics - Morris
BAME groups contain a disproportionate number of young people compared to the white ethnic minority, explains why there is higher ethnic minority criminality as young people are more likely to commit crime
A03- But there is statistical illusion here, its impossible to determine if its the age of the offender, or the ethnicity that causes the higher rates of criminality
Statistics are misleading
Neo-Marxism: Myth of Black Criminality and the Political nature of black crime- Gilroy
Gilroy- Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes, these groups are no more or less criminal than any other. A racist criminal justice system means they appear in greater numbers than official statistics
Young black men are targeted by the media and the police
He argues that black crime is different in that it is a conscious continuation in a new context of anti-colonial struggles in the West Indies whereby resisting oppression was demonstrated through protesting and riots. When they found themselves facing racism in Britain they adopted the same form strategies, but their political struggle was demonized by the British state.
Crime is therefore political and potentially revolutionary. A political response to inequality and discrimination caused by capitalism.
It has been criminalized by the British state and media, Hence Black peoples over-representation.
They are targeted more and therefore their behaviour is criminalised
UK 1981 Riots, 2011 Riots, BLM
How can you relate Halls ‘policing the crisis’ to the myth of black criminality
Mugging was a crime perpetrated by black people, there was no increase in crime at that time, but it caused a moral panic and a stereotypical image of Black muggers was born.
They will police more aggressively.
Evaluation of Gilroy
Most crime is intra-ethnic so how is it based on a struggle against racism - crime is committed against the same race
Lea and Young argued that the majority of crimes are reported by the public and not uncovered by the police, suggesting the general public might be racist, not the police.
Romanticizes criminals
Labeling, stereotyping and racism in policing and CJS
the statistics are misleading evidence of selective law enforcement.
Police are a part pf a racist ‘canteen culture’ = Police officers in themselves are not racist but when they are together can reinforce stereotypes which are acted on duty.
Phillip and Bowling identified 6 ways racial discrimination is shown.
Phillip and Bowling: 1. Stop and search
Black and Asian people fit the stereotype of ‘troublemakers’ and are therefore targeted for heavier policing.
7x more likely to be stopped
Only 1 in 10 lead to arrests.
This was a spark of the London riots
Phillip and Bowling: 2. Institutional racism
Stephen Lawrence - 18 year old murdered by a racist gang, no one was prosecuted until 19 years later despite there being video evidence.
McPherson Report- police reform and MET police identified as institutionally racist
Since they have tried to deal with institutional racism, they have tried to recruit more ethnic minorities but crime rates have not been decreased
