Neo-Marxist explanation of ethnic differences in offending Flashcards
What do neo marxists argue about statistics?
They are false and a social construct from racist labelling in the criminal justice system
Neo-marxist belief about ethnic differences in offending
It’s a social construction that wrongly stereotypes ethnic minorities as more criminal
Fitzgerald - neighbourhood
Neighbourhood factors can explain the greater involvement of black youths in street robbery. They are more likely to live in poor and deprived areas, marginalised from more affluent areas
Sharp and Budd findings about getting caught
Black offenders are more likely than whites to be arrested. This is because they committed crimes where victims could idenify them, excluded from school or association with criminals - factors that raised their visibility to the police
Who studied the ‘myth of black criminality’?
Gilroy
What does Gilroy argue?
Black criminality is a myth, created by racist sterotypes. In reality BAME & Asian groups are no more criminal than others. As a result of CJS acting on these STs, EMGs come to be criminalised thereforre appearing in greater numbers in official statistics
In Gilroy’s view, what can ethnic minority crime be seen as?
A form of politicial resistance against a racist society
How do left realists criticise Gilroy?
First generation immigrants in 50s and 60s were very law-abiding so its unlikely they passed down a traditonal anti-colonial struggle
Hall’s view
The 70s saw a moral panic over black muggers in the uk, serving interests of capitalism & bourgeoisie
During the 70s, what was Britain experiencing?
Social and economic problems, high inflation, rising employment, strike action and student protests
Mugging meaning
Street robbery and violence
What was mugging considered?
A specifically black crime
What did the myth of the black mugger serve as?
A scapegoat to distract attention away from the true cause of British social problems: capitalism
Result of presenting black youths as a threat to society
The moral panic divided the working class on racial grounds and weaken the opposiiton to capitalism
Evaluation of Hall’s policing the crisis
They don’t show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking ot blaming crime on blacks
