Topic 10: Ethnicity and crime

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

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. It has partly been on this crime-race linkage that the police have justified the much greater levels of stop and search of young, black males, than of white males. Images of Asian criminality have, until recently, portrayed the Asian communities as generally more law abiding than the majority population. However after the ‘Rushdie Affair’ and then the September 11th 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, a new discourse has emerged regarding Muslim youths.

Question 2

Conclusion

Answer 2

Sentencing - 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. 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 more likely than average to be found guilty, but have an 18% lesser chance of being imprisoned.

Question 3

Alternate point

Answer 3

Cultures of resistance