Topic 6-Ethnicity and Crime Flashcards
which 2 groups are overrepresented in the criminal justice system?
black
asian
Black people make up just ……% of the population, but …..% of the prison population
- 3%
- 13.1%
Asians make up ….% of the population, but ….% of the prison population.
- 6.5
- 7.7
what does ministry of justice 2008 say about members of black communities?
they communities are 7 times more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and searched, 3 and a half times more likely to be arrested, and 5 times more likely to be in prison.
what are 2 alternatives to statistics?
- victim surveys
- self report studies
what did victim surveys reveal about ethnic groups in relation to crime?
a great deal of crime is intra-ethnic – that is, it takes place within rather than between ethnic groups
what did Graham and Bowling find about offending in the 2,500 people they studied
black
white
indian
pakistanis
bangladeshis
black 43%
white 44%
indian 30%
pakistanis 28%
bangladeshis 13%
who was most likely to say they had committed an offence according to sharp and budd’s survey with 12,000 people?
mixed origins 40%
give 3 evaluations of using victim surveys
- They rely on victims’ memory of events
- They only cover personal crimes, which make up only about a fifth of all crimes.
- They exclude the under 10s: minority ethnic groups contain a higher proportion of young people
what does philips and bowling say about asian and black communities think as a result of being targeted in stop and search?
they are over policed and underprotected
what is the statistic that links arrest rate, blacks and whites?
the arrest rate for black people was three times the rate for white people in 2015
why are black and asian people less likely to recieve a caution?
members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to deny the offence and to exercise their right to legal advice. However not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged instead
what is one reason for harsher sentences?
pre-sentence reports written by probation officers. A PSR is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding on the appropriate sentence for a given offender. They found that reports on Asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested that they were less remorseful than white offenders
what are 2 groups that have explanatios for the statistics of crime and ethnicity
- neo marxism
- left realism
what goes Gilroy say about crime, ethnicity and official statistics?
- crime by black people was a form of political action, representing a culture of resistance to oppressors in the form of police racism and harassment.
- He denies that there was more crime by black people than whites, suggesting this was a myth created by negative stereotyping by the police
- African Caribbean youths were labelled as potential ‘muggers’
- This helped to generate official statistics on crime as these groups were treated unfairly by the police.
- Most black people and Asian people in the UK originated in the former British colonies, where their anti-imperialist struggles taught them how to resist oppression
- they adopted the same forms of struggle to defend themselves, but their political struggle was criminalized by the British state.
who evaluates Gilroy and what do they say?
- Lea and Young
- Most crime is intra-ethnic so it can’t be seen as an anti-colonial struggle against racism.
- Asian crime rates are similar to or lower than white people. If Gilroy were right, then the police are only racist towards black people and not Asian people, which seems unlikely.
- Lea and Young point out that most crimes are reported by the public so it is hard to explain black crime in terms of police racism and therefore Gilroy’s theory may be outdated.
what is the crisis of hegemony, what was created and who argues it?
- hall et al
- Britain was facing a crisis in the 1970s. Unemployment was high, students were constantly protesting
- This lead to a threat to the dominance of ruling class ideology in society (hegemony).
- There was also rising conflict between the police and African Caribbean community.
- This was fuelled by selective publication of crime statistics showing black youth involvement in particular offences, including street robbery (commonly known as mugging).
- The media picked up on this and promoted the idea that black people were more prone to criminality than whites, and media image of the black ‘mugger’ was born.
what happened after the creation of a black mugger?
- moral panic
- black mugger became a folk devil symbol and justified repressive policing
- . The myth of the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention from the true cause of problems such as unemployment – namely the capitalist crisis.
what did the black mugger symbolise?
- the disintegration of the social order
give 3 evaluations of Hall et al’s theory on black muggers
- Downes and Rock argue that Hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, but also that it was rising because of unemployment.
- They do not show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic, nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking or blaming crime on black people.
- Left Realists argue that inner city residents’ fears about mugging are not panicky, but realistic.
what do Lea and Young argue about statistics about ethnicity and crime?
- that ethnic differences in the statistics reflect real differences in the levels of offending by ethnic groups
- They argue racism has led to the marginalization and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities, who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing.
what is a response to the media’s emphasis on consumerism and the feeling of relative deprivation?
- formation of delinquent subcultures
what is the affect of more delinquent subcultures?
- produces higher levels of utilitarian crime, such as theft and robbery as a means of coping with relative deprivation.
- These groups are marginalized and have no organisations to represent their interests; their frustration is liable to produce non utilitarian crime such as violence and rioting.
what do left realists say about crime statistics?
- crime statistics on ethnicity are socially constructed.
- They are not a valid record of ethnicity and offending but are created as a result of discrimination by the police and other criminal justice agencies.
what is an example of institutional racism in the police and criminal justice system and suggests that labelling, stereotyping and racism is an explanation for the links between ethnicity and crime?
- murder of stephen lawrence 1993
- led to the Macpherson Report in 1999.
- ‘lack of urgency’ and mishandling of the police investigation, including their assumption that Stephen Lawrence was involved in a street brawl rather than being the victim of an unprovoked racist attack.
- It highlighted institutional racism in the police force as they sent police instead of emergency services
give 2 evaluations of left realism
- arrest rates for Asian people may be lower than for black people not because they are less likely to offend, but because police stereotypes the two groups differently, seeing black people as dangerous, Asian people as passive.
- These stereotypes may have changed since 9/11, because police now regard Asian people too as dangerous thus explaining the rising criminalization rates for this group.
what is the statistic about which ethnic group is more likely to be victims?
people from mixed ethnic backgrounds had a higher risk (27.9%) of becoming a victim of crime than did black people (18%) or white people (15.7%).
what are responses to ethnic victimisation?
- situational crime prevention measures (fireproof doors)
- to organised self-defense campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks
why do ethnic groups feel as though they need to respond in such a way to protect themselves?
- by under protection by the police who have often ignored the racist dimensions of victimisation
- failed to record or investigate reported incidents properly
how many racist incidents were recorded in England and Wales in 2014/15
54,000
Lea and Young’s (1984) (Left Realism) approach accepts that black crime, for some offences is higher than for the white population. What were the 3 explanations they used to explain this?
- marginalisation
- relative deprivation
- subcultures
