Outline and assess sociological explanations for ethnic differences in patterns of crime Flashcards
intro
A recurring theme in media reporting of street crime since the mid-1970s has been the disproportionate involvement of young males of African-Caribbean origin and Asians are now seen as being potentially dangerous and a threat to British culture. There are three ways of gathering statistics on ethnicity and crime. Official statistics, Victimisation studies, Self-report studies
point 1
After arrest, those of African-Caribbean backgrounds are slightly more likely to be held in custody and to be charged with more serious offences than whites. But they are more likely than average to plead not-guilty, and to be found not-guilty. However, if found guilty, they are more likely to receive harsher sentences - in fact those of African Caribbean backgrounds have a 17% higher chance of imprisonment than ‘whites’. Those of Asian origin are also more likely than average to plead not guilty, but more likely than average to be found guilty, but have an 18% lesser chance of being imprisoned.
furthermore 1
Sociologists are divided as to whether these statistics mean that members of the ethnic minorities are discriminated against. Bowling (2002) summarises the ‘patchy’ knowledge of sociologists, by saying that the research indicates both direct and indirect discrimination (advice being given, types of charges laid, access to bail etc.) against members of the ethnic minorities does exist.
eval 1
inaccurate because Many people are being imprisoned for relatively minor offences for which community punishments may be more suitable. In the past, these offences would not have attracted a custodial sentence, Matthews suggests that up to 50% of the prison population have committed minor offences for which prison is inappropriate and possibly damaging.
point 2
Victim based studies are gathered by asking victims of crime for their recollection of the ethnic identity of the offender. The majority of crime is intra-racial, with 88% of white victims stating that white offenders were involved, 3% claiming the offenders were ‘black’, 1% Asian and 5% ‘mixed’.
furthermore 2
About 42% of crimes against ‘black’ victims were identified as being committed by ‘black’ offenders and 19% of crimes against Asians were by Asian offenders. The figures for ‘white’ crimes against ethnic minorities are much higher - about 50%, though this figure needs to be seen against the backdrop of 90% of the population being classified as ‘white’.
eval 2
For a start, only about 20% of survey recorded crimes are personal crimes (such as theft from the person), where the victims might actually see the offender.
Bowling and Phillips (2002) argue that victims are influenced by (racial) stereotypes and ‘culturally determined expectations’ as to who commits crime. Certainly, research by Bowling (1999) indicates that where the offender is not known, white people are more likely to ascribe the crime to those of African-Caribbean origin. victims’ memories is that recollections are often faulty or biased. Marxists: Victim surveys also omit a range of crimes such as fraud and corporate crime, and any crime where the victim is unaware of or unable to report a crime.CSEW does not cover the population living in care homes, halls of residence or the homeless
point 3
Self-report studies use an anonymous questionnaire to ask people what offences they have committed. Graham and Bowling’s study of 14-25 year olds, for the Home Office (1995) found that the self-reported offending rates were more or less the same for the ‘white’, ‘black’ and Asian respondents.
furthermore 3
Bowling and Phillips, “Young People and Crime”. Based on a large sample of young people, ‘this study found that ‘white and black respondents had very similar rates of offending (44% and 43% respectively), while Asian respondents- Indians (30%), Pakistanis (28%) and Bangladeshis (13%)- had significantly lower rates’
explain 3
This study challenges the widespread view that the rate of offending of Black ethnic groups is higher than that of the White ethnic group. And it supports the suggestion that the rate of offending of Asian groups is somewhat lower.
eval 3
It may be that youths from minority ethnic backgrounds are less likely to tell the truth in self report studies because of distrust and suspicion of racism of the police and authority figures. The problem of validity - it is possible that those replying to questionnaires or interviews might not be truthful about the amount of crime they commit, even if they are guaranteed confidentiality. a further difficulty is the impossibility of including all criminal acts in the questionnaire or interview. Thus, the researcher has to be selective, which raises problems as to which offences should be mentioned and questioned about and which not. The majority of the crimes uncovered tend to be trivial.
conclusion
In British prisons, the numbers of African and African-Caribbean prisoners is proportionately (that is in terms of their proportion of the population as a whole) 7.8 times higher than would be expected, and 0.77 times higher for those of Asian origin. In 1998 the rate of imprisonment per 100,000 of the general population was 1,245 for black people, 185 for whites and 168 for Asians.
