ETHNICITY AND CRIME

What percentage of the UK population are white?

87%

What percentage of the UK population are black?

3%

What percentage of the UK population are Asian?

7%

What percentage of the UK population are other ethnicties?

3%

What percentage of convictions are white?

73%

What percentage of convictions are black?

8%

What percentage of convictions are asian?

5%

What percentage of convictions are other ethnicities?

3%

What is the average custodial sentence for white people?

13.9 months

What is the average custodial sentence for black people?

23.4 months

What is the average custodial sentence for asian people?

22.4 months

What is the average custodial sentence for other ethnicities?

What are the two different arguments for why ethnic minorites seemingly commit more crimes and are victims of more crime?

structuralist and social constructionist

What do Structuralists argue?

Ethnic minorities are more criminal

What do Social Constructionists argue?

The justice system is unfair

What does Gilroy say about the political natureof crime?

agrees that young blacks are targeted by the british media and the police, but argues that black crime is different in that it is a conscious continuation of anti colonial struggles in the West Indies, therefore crime is potentially revolutionary and this political response has been criminalised by the British State, thus they do not commit more crime but are just targeted more and their behaviour is criminalised more

What perspective is Gilroy?

Neo-Marxist

What are some examples of Gilroy’s argument?

The Black panthers, or the 1980s Uk race riots

What are the evaluation points for Gilroy?

useful to see crime as active, doesn’t consider the fact that most crime is intra-ethnic, links to Functionalist ideas about the positive functions of crime

What does Hall believe?

that the issues in the 1960s/70s wre casuing a ‘crisis in hegemony’ ehich was creating moral panics

What example of a moral panic does Ha;; use?

black muggers

How does hall argue that the Black muggers were a moral panic?

increasing unrest between the black community and the police, media began to publish stories about a new crime called ‘mugging’ that was perpetarrate by black people, creating a moral panic ad the stereotypical image of the black mugger

How could Hall’s theory be applied to a modern setting?

reform UK and immigration

What do neo marrxists say about Hall’s moral panic?

this creation is not accidental, and is created by the Bourgoise

What does Hall say about the creation of moral panics?

not accidental as it was a distraction from the real problems of the time, the black mugger began to symbolise the disentigration of the ‘British way of life’ and the working class became divided on racial grounds

Why is Hall’s argument limiting?

it only tells us about the social construction of crime stats at the time, not why EMG’s are still overrepresented today

Why can it be argued that Hall’s study is no longer relevant?

no longer a ‘crisis in hegemony’, there is still lots of strife and poverty but people are content to do nothing (voting maintains inequality)

What do lea and Young (left realists) acknowledge?

that black people were not simply victims of a racist police force and  criminal justic system but are actually more likely to be involved than street cime than white people?

According to lea and Young what 3 reasons cause EMGs to commit more crime?

marginalistation, relative deprivation and sub cultural responses

How does the family link to crime here?

black families are more likely to be singe parent (poorer) so less likely to succeed in mainstream society

How does educational success link to black crime?

2006 - only 23% of Afro-caribbean boys achieved 5 GCSEs

How does family structure (specific) link to black crime?

60% of young black males live with only one parent (often mother)

How does mass media link to black crime?

influence of black ‘rap artists’, New Right believe rap music encourages bling violence and criminality

How does secularisation link to crime?

less structure, also caused the rise of fundamentalism (9/11, ISIS)

What do labeeling theorists say about the over-representation of Afro-Caribeans in statistics?

social construct, created as a result of discrimination

What do Philips and Bowling say about policing?

many allegations of oppressive policing from minority ethnic communities are made (mass stop and search)

What statistics relate to arrests and caution?

arrests for blacks was 3.5% the rate for whites (2014/15), once arrested less likely to recieve a caution, perhaps due to distrust of the police and not admitting to offences

How do stop and searches link to crime statistics?

racism means that more ethnic minorites are stopped, thus more likely to catch a criminal, may lead to labelling and SFP

What do Sampson and Phillips (1992) argue?

racist victimisations tends to be on going with periods of minor and major incidences

Which ethnicity is most likely to be a victim of crime?

mixed race

What is a racist incident?

incidents which are seen by the victim or otherperson to be racist

What is a racially or religiously aggraced offence?

where the offender is motivated by either hatred of race or religion

What is the evaluaion of Sewell’s ‘triple quandry’?

1) acquisition of status symbol designer clothing and jewellry

2) construction of hyper masculinity based on violence and sexual conquest

3) rise of positive black role models 9eg Obama)

4) no causility between single parenthood and criminality

5) Black crime tends to victimise black people

What are the three risk factors sewell identifies for crime amongst balck boys?

1) lack of a father figure (look for role models sucha s gang leaders)

2) negative experiences of white culture (disaffected)

3) media influnece (rap and hip hop)

Under the 2000 terrorism act, what are the stop and search stats like?

black people 7x more likly to get stooped, asians 3x

Why may the stop and search may have increased due to demographic factors?

ethnic minorites are over represented in population groups more likely to be stopped (young, unemployed, urban dwellers)

Why may the stop and search have increased due to police racis according to Philips and Bowling?

many officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals, leading to deliberate stopping

How has prosecution and conviction impacted ethnic minorites?

crown prosecution services more likely to dro cases against ethnic minorities, may be because evidence presented by police is weaker and based on stereotypes of ethnic minorties as criminals. 

How has sentencing and prison impacted ethnic minorites?

custodial sentences are more likely to be given to black offenders, blacks and asians are over represented in prisons and more liekly to be given longer sentences

What does Reiner (2000) say about canteen culture?

canteen culture amongst the police, including; suspicion, macho values and racism which encourages racist stereotypes and a mistrust of those from non white backgrounds

What do Bowling and Philips (2202 say?

higher levels of robbery among black people could be the product of labelling that arises from the use of regular stop and search procedures, leading to SFP

What do Sharp and Budd (2005) say?

black offenders were most likely yo have contact with the criminal justice system, more likely to have been arrested, been to court and convicted, despite low levels of offending compared to white people an white youths. Balck and asian offenders more likely to be charged rather than cautioned, remanded rather than bailed, given prison sentences rather than probation/community punishment rather than white people

What does Waddington (2004) say?

published in the British Journal of Crimonology, argues that the police stop and search more blacks than whotes, HOWEVER he argues that there are more ethnic minority youths out at night in inner cities and that the police simply targeted those in high risk areas, if areas are sisproportionately represented by young black males they are more likely to be stop and searched

How was Stephen Laurence (1999)

black teen, killed at bus stop by white youths who were heard using racist language, killers became known and were not prosecuted (outlined in follow up Mcpherson report)

What do Lea and Young say about marginalisation and relative deprivation?

suggest that ethnic minorities suffer from marginalisation and relative deprivation, leads to subcultures, alleiviating marginalisation but can lead to deviancy and higher rates of criminality

What is the evaluation point of Lea and youngs marginalisation theory?

not all ethnic minorities join subcultures and not all subcultures are criminal

What does Hirschi argue?

young people (regardless of ethnicity) commit crime due to a lack of social controls of attachment, commitment, involvment and belief, in theier lives. Asian families have stricter controls (less criminality)

What are the evaluation points for Hirschi?

not limited to ethnic minorites and is more of an age issue

What was the 1999 Mcpherson report?

result of the Stephen Lawrence murder which highlighted racist policies in the police force

What are the evalaution points for the Mcpherson report?

since its publishing the police force have been actively changing policies to deal with institutional racism and used positive discrimination - crime rate within ethnicities have not decreased

What do Philips and Browning say about police targeting?

stereotyping police focus on EMS and therefore more likely to be stopped and searched

Quote about EMs?

over-policed and under protected

What is the evaluation of police targeting?

targeting could be caused by moral panics and thus based on actual criminality - which coes first?

How is merton’s strain theory relevant?

argue that EM groups innovate due to legitimate means being restricted by racism

What does Waddington et al (2004) argue?

certian areas have more Ems, explains higher stop and search rates, additinally often live in zones of transition, where high crime rates exist due to lack of social cohesion

What is the evlaution of Waddington et al?

may be the case for first generation migrants but many ethnic minorities have moved out of the zone of transition by 1 or 2  generations and assimilate into majority culture