Topic 6 - Ethnicity and Crime

Question 1

Why EMG’s appear more criminal - Lea and Young [3] + C

Answer 1

• Differences in statistics are the result of black people being discriminated in wider society.
• Utilitarian crime is a response to material deprivation and non-utilitarian crime is due to their frustration towards society.
• Believe police racism is not the main cause of this because 90% of crimes are reported by the public.

C: Arrests rate may be different between black people and Asians because they are stereotyped by police differently

Question 2

Why EMG’s appear more criminal - Gilroy [2] + C

Answer 2

• BME do not commit more crime than others. It is the result of racist policing who act on stereotypes.
• BME often come from former colonies where they resisted oppression. However, when they resisted racism in Britain it was criminalised.

C: First-generation immigrants in 1950s and 1960s were very law-abiding, so unlikely

Question 3

Why EMG’s appear more criminal - Hall et al [3] + C

Answer 3

• In the 1970s, there was a moral panic about black people and mugging.
• This is because capitalism was in crisis and they used this story to cover it up.
• Thus, black people were not more criminal but a mere victim of capitalism. However, this made black people more unlikely to get jobs and then turn to crime.

C: Doesn’t show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic

Question 4

Ethnicity statistics [3]

Answer 4

• Black people 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than whites
• 3.5x more likely to be arrested
• 5x more likely to be in prison

Question 5

What is racist victimisation?

Answer 5

• Occurs when an individual is selected as a target for crime because of their race, ethnicity or religion

Question 6

What do racist victimisation incidents cover? [2]

Answer 6

• Racist incidents - Any incident that is perceived to be racist by the victim or another person
• Radically or religiously aggravated offences - where the offender is motivated by hostility towards members of a radical or religious group

Question 7

What are the responses to victimisation? [2]

Answer 7

• Situational crime prevention measures

- Organised self-defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks