Outline and assess sociological explanations of the relationship between ethnicity and crime Flashcards
intro
Just discussing the relationship between criminality and race is itself a difficult task, and some sociologists argue that making the subject part of the A level specifications actually helps perpetuate the link. After all there are no discussions on ‘white people and crime’!
Despite these reservations, sociologists have set out to examine the argument that there is a higher rate of crime by certain ethnic minorities, and the counter claim that the criminal justice system is racist.
point 1
Some sociologists see the higher arrest rates as evidence of police racism. Within this broad approach there are a number of different explanations
evidence 1
Studies by Smith and Gray, Holdaway who was himself a serving police officer at the time and Graef, all demonstrated racist views amongst police officers. They held stereotypical views on the criminality of African-Caribbean origin youths, for example. Most importantly, it led them to stop and search these youths to a far greater extent than any other group. In fact, African-Caribbean people are seven times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched by the police.
furthermore 1
After the racist murder of a black youth, Stephen Lawrence in 1993, and after very considerable pressure from his parents, the Macpherson Inquiry was set up to look at the circumstances of his death and the handling of the situation by the police. Lord Macpherson concluded that the police were characterised by institutional racism. By this he meant that the police have ‘procedures, practices and a culture that tend to exclude or to disadvantage non-white people’.
eval 1
Phillips and Brown found no evidence that ethnic minorities were treated any differently during the arrest process, with about 60% of both ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ and about 55% of Asians eventually being charged.
Lea and Young, marxists accept that there are racist practices by the police. However, they argue that, despite this the statistics do bear out a higher crime rate for street robberies and associated ‘personal’ crimes by youths of African-Caribbean origin. They explain this by suggesting that British society is racist and that young ethnic minority males are economically and socially marginalised, with lesser chances of success than the majority population.
point 2
A third approach overlaps with the Marxist approach. According to this approach, linked with Scraton (1987), and Gordon (1988) policing, media coverage and political debates all centre around the issue of ‘race’ being a problem. Ethnic minorities have been on the receiving end of discrimination since the first migrants arrived, leaving them in a significantly worse socio-economic position than the ‘white’ majority.
furthermore 2
In response to this, ‘cultures of resistance’ have emerged, in which crime is a form of ‘organised resistance’ which has its origins in the anti-colonial struggles. When young members of the ethnic minorities commit crimes they are doing so as a political act, rather than as a criminal act.
eval 2
There are a number of criticisms of this approach. Lea and Young (1993) have been particularly scathing, pointing out that the majority of crimes are actually ‘intra-racial’, that is ‘black on black’. This cannot therefore reflect a political struggle against the white majority. Secondly, they accuse writers such as Scraton as ‘romanticising’ crime and criminals, and in doing so ignoring the very real harm that crime does to its victims.
point 3
Bourgois spent seven years living and researching the street life and economy of ‘El Barrio’, whose inhabitants were overwhelmingly Puerto Ricans, illegal Mexican immigrants and ‘African- Americans.
evidence 3
Bourgois argues that the economic exclusion of these ethnic minority groups, combined with negative social attitudes towards them, has forced them to develop an alternative economy. This involves a wide range of marginally legal and clearly illegal activities.
furthermore 3
Running alongside this informal economy has developed an ‘inner-city street culture’ which is a set of rebellious practices that in the long term have emerged as an oppositional style. This subculture causes great damage because the illegal trade in drugs eventually involves its participants in lifestyles of violence. The result is a chaotic and violent ‘community’ where the search for dignity in a distinctive culture leads to a worsening of the situation.
eval 3
This study is based on one case – it is ethnographic. Perhaps this does not reflect patterns in the UK or elsewhere
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.
