Social Distribution of Crime and Deviance :Ethnicity

Hall et al (1978) -  “Policing the Crisis” 

Argued that the moral panic over black criminality at the time created a diversion away from the wider economic crisis. He found that while mugging was on an increase within the United Kingdom, the media overstated this rise in crime using black men as scape goats for the crisis. 

Macpherson Report (1999)

Following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the investigation concluded that the police investigation was marred by professional incompetence and institutional racism. It highlighted the failure to treat the murder as a racist attack from the start.

Lea and Young

Suggest that black people are overrepresented in statistics as result of discrimination they face in wider society. Utilitarian crime is a response to material deprivation and non-utilitarian crime is due to their frustration towards society. They posit that police racism is not a result of police racism as 90% of crimes are reported by the public. 

Gilroy 

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 it was criminalised. 

Sewell - Triple Quandary

Argues that black males becoming criminals is due to three factors: Lack of father figure role models, Street peer pressure, and Media Influence.

However, he argues that most black boys succeed in education but a minority of the, respond to marginalisation through anti-school or deviant subcultures.

Reiner - “Canteen Culture”

This refers to the informal police culture where police norms of racism, suspicion, cynicism, and machismo. He argues that this encourages the stereotype of “typical criminals”.

Phillips and Bowling - Cumulative Disadvantage

Racial bias builds up at each stage of the criminal justice process.