Topic 8 Ethnicity

Question 1

What are the key trends in terms of offending amongst ethnic minority groups?

Answer 1

• Black people make up 3% of the population, but 13.1% of the prison population.
• Asians makeup 6.5% of the population but 7.75 of the prison population.
• Black people are 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched, 3 ½ times more likely to be arrested and 5 times more likely to be in prison.

Question 2

What did Phillips and Bowling identify in terms of stop and searches for ethnic minority groups?

Answer 2

They point out that many police officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals, this is known as canteen culture.

Question 3

What are the 3 explanations for the differences in stop and searches?

Answer 3

• Police racism, this is when the police are institutionally racist and hold negative stereotypes.
• Ethnic differences in offending, the disproportionality of stop and search reflects ethnic differences in levels of offending.
• Demographic factors, ethnic minorities are over-represented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped. Young unemployed, manual workers and urban dwellers.

Question 4

What do left realists believe about ethnic minority crime?

Answer 4

They argue racism has led to the marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities, who face higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing. The media emphasis consumerism which promotes relative deprivation by setting materialistic goals that many members of minority groups are unable to reach by legitimate means.

Question 5

Why are statistics on minority ethnic crime socially constructed according to neo-Marxists?

Answer 5

They believe statistics are a social construct resulting from police’s negative stereotypes of ethnic minority groups and racism within the institution of the criminal justice system.

Question 6

Why is black criminality a myth according to Gilroy?

Answer 6

He argues that the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbean’s and Asians. As a result of the police and the criminal justice system acting on these racist stereotypes, ethnic minorities come to be criminalised and therefore to appear in greater numbers in the official statistics.

Question 7

What did Hall discuss?

Answer 7

They argue that the 1970s saw a moral panic over black ‘muggers’ that served the interests of capitalism. The 70s saw the emergence of this new crime ‘mugging’. It was just a new name for street robbery with violence. There was no evidence to suggest that it had risen, and it became associated with black youths. The myth of the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention away from the true cause of problems such as unemployment. By presenting black youths as a threat to social order, the moral panic served to the divide the working class on racial grounds, weakening the opposition of capitalism.

Question 8

What is the Macpherson report?

Answer 8

This report was published in 1990 and concluded that the police are institutionally racist against ethnic minorities.

Question 9

What are the patterns of ethnic victimisation?

Answer 9

The police recorded 54,000 racist incidents in England and Wales in 2014/15, mostly damage to property and verbal harassment. The CSEW estimates there were around 89,000 racially motivated incidents in 2014/15. Police also recorded 38,000 racially or religiously aggravated offences in 2014/15. 8,600 people were prosecuted or cautioned for racially aggravated offences in 2014.

Question 10

What are the responses of ethnic groups to being victimised?

Answer 10

They have ranged from situational crime prevention measures such as fireproof doors and letterboxes, to organised self-defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks. They do this because they don’t think the police will thelp, they deal with it themselves

Question 11

What is the Neo Marxist explanation of ethnic crimes and crime statistics?

Answer 11

They argue the statistics do not reflect reality. These differences are the outcome of a process of social construction that stereotypes ethnic minorities as inherently more criminal than the majority of the population

Question 12

Define institutional racism

Answer 12

It is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. In this instance it refers to the police holding racist views and ideas

Question 13

What did the Macpherson report conclude?

Answer 13

This report concluded that the police investigation into the death of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers

Question 14

What does Gilroy argue?

Answer 14

He argues that the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbeans and Asians. In reality, these groups are no more criminal than any other

Question 15

Define canteen culture

Answer 15

A set of conservative and discriminatory attitudes said to exist within the police force. For example police officers hold racist and sexist ideas

Question 16

What do Sampson and Phillips note?

Answer 16

They note that racist victimisation tends to be ongoing over time, with repeated ‘minor’ instances of abuse interwoven with periodic incidents of violence.
This results in long term psychological damage as well as damage to property by the offenders

Question 17

What is the left realist explanation of ethnic differences in crime?

Answer 17

They argue that ethnic differences in the statistics reflects real differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic groups, it is the product of marginalisation, subcultures and relative deprivation

Question 18

What is Hall et al’s approach?

Answer 18

He adopts a neo-marxist approach and argues that the 1970s saw a moral panic over black muggers that served the interests of capitalism

Question 19

Define the crown prosecution service

Answer 19

They are a body responsible for deciding whether a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court. They decide whether there is a realistic prospect of prosecution and conviction

Question 20

What do Phillips and Bowling say about victim surveys?

Answer 20

They argue that victim surveys are limited because they rely on victims’ memory of events. They argue that victims over-identify blacks – saying the offender was black even when they were not

Question 21

Outline two reasons for ethnic differences in offending?

Answer 21

• marginalisation - black people more likely to face economic exclusion and commit more crime than people (left realism)
• relative deprivation - young black males more likely to commit crime due to not being able to afford the goods advertised in the media (left realism)

Question 22

How can Lea and Young be criticised?

Answer 22

• They are criticised for their view on the role of police racism. Arrest rates may be lower than for blacks not because they are less likely to offend but because police stereotype the two groups differently.
• They may see black people as dangerous and Asians as passive

Question 23

How do Lea and Young criticise Gilroy?

Answer 23

• Asian crime rates are similar to whites. If Gilroy were right, then the police are only racist towards black people and not Asians, which seems unlikely.
• Most crime is intra-ethnic - so it can’t be seem as an anti-colonial struggle against racism

Question 24

How can Hall et al be criticised?

Answer 24

• Downes and Rock argue that Hall et al were inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, but also saying that it was rising because of unemployment
• They do not show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic
• Left realists argue that inner-city residents’ fear about mugging are not panicky, but realistic

Question 24

Why did Hall argue black crime was not solely a product of media and police labelling?

Answer 24

The crisis of capitalism was increasingly marginalising black youth through unemployment and this drove some in to a lifestyle of hustling and petty crime as a means of survival

Question 25

How many racist incidents did the police record in 2014/15?

Answer 25

54,000

Question 26

How many racist incidents did the CSEW estimate in 2014/15?

Answer 26

89,000

Question 27

How many racially or religiously aggravated offences did the police record in 2014/15?

Answer 27

38,000

Question 28

How many people were prosecuted or cautioned for racially aggravated offences in 2014?

Answer 28

8,600

Question 29

What percentage are people from mixed ethnic backgrounds at higher risk of becoming a victim of crime?

Answer 29

27.9%

Question 30

What percentage are black people at higher risk of becoming a victim of crime?

Answer 30

18%

Question 31

What percentage are asian people at higher risk of becoming a victim of crime?

Answer 31

15.8%

Question 32

What is a key issue with statistical records on victimisation according to Sampson and Phillips?

Answer 32

• It doesn’t capture the victim’s experiences - only a snapshot
• Racist victimisation tend to be ongoing for a long period of time, with repeated minor incidents of abuse
• Doesn’t look at long term psychological impact

Question 33

In what way does Gilroy see ethnic minority crime as political?

Answer 33

Gilroy sees ethnic minority crime as a form of political resistance against a racist society. Their anti-imperialist struggles taught them to resist oppression when facing racism.

Question 34

How many times more likely are black citizens to be stopped and searched by police, according to the 2019 crime survey?

Answer 34

9 times more likely

Question 35

What statistic suggest that there’s a high number of black people in the prison population?

Answer 35

Black people make up 3% of the population, but 13.1% of the prison population.

Question 36

What subculture do the police have?

Answer 36

• canteen culture
• because they work unsociable hours and often only socialise with their work colleagues, they form a tight bond
• this informs their decisions when in work and leads to decisions being made based on preconceptions