Patterns Of Crime - Ethnicity Flashcards
Why do ethnic minorities appear to commit more crime:
there are real ethnic differences in offending (left realism)
Lea and Young - ethnic differences in stats reflect real differences in offending.
They see crime as a result of relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalisation - which is the result of racism.
Lea and Young see that police racism has led to unjustified criminalisation of EM groups.
Police racism cannot explain Erie higher rate of black people than Asian. They would have to selectively be racist against black people only.
Real ethnic differences in crime LR AO3:
Another explanation would be demographic factors. Ems are over represented in the groups that are likely to be stopped and searched.
However, Lea and Young can be criticised for their views on the role of police racism. E.g. arrest rates for Asian may be lower than for blacks because they are less likely to offend, but for the police stereotypes they see Asians as passive.
Ethnic differences are socially constructed (labelling/neo-marx/critical criminology)
Gilroy - black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes.
This is the product of labelling., EM ‘crime’ is a form of political resistance against racist Society.
Black people faced anti colonial struggles,which taught them how to resist oppression, through riots etc.
In Britain, this was the same case but they were criminalised for it.
Hall et al - neo Marxist approach
Think back to the black muggers in the 1970s.
People were unemployed and they were protesting, this caused the RC to use force to keep control. Which had to be legitimate so people didn’t fight back, so the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention of the real cause, unemployment.
This divided the WC - think about divide and conquer.
Gilroy AO3:
LRs Lea and Young point out those first immigrants were law abiding, so it’s unlikely they had anti colonial struggles.
Most crime is intra-ethnic so not a struggle against white oppression.
Gilroy romanticises street crime as revolutionary.
Hall says that black crime is not just a moral panic based on police labelling, it was also the result of marginalisation.
Hall et al AO3:
Downed and Rock - hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, it was and it was due to unemployment.
They don’t show how the capitalist crisis has led to a moral panic.
More recent approaches
Neighbourhood (EMS are more likely to live in poorer areas with high crime)
Fitzgerald et al - found that rates were highest in very poor areas and where very deprived young people came into contact with more affluent groups, young blacks are more likely to live in poorer areas.
More recent approaches AO3:
Whites affected by these factors were also likely to commit street crime, so ethnicity is not a cause.
However, black peoples may be more likely to live in poor areas because of racial discrimination in the housing and job market.
Getting caught - EMs are more likely to get caught
Some groups run a greater risk of being caught.
Sharp and Budd - black offenders were more likely than whites to be arrested, for crimes such as robbery. Where the victims can be identified and known as criminals, raising their ‘visibility’ to the authorities.
