Ethnicity & crime

Sources of statistics on ethnicity + criminalisation

→ Official statistics

→ Victim surveys

→ Self-report studies

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→ Generally, evidence is inconsistent

Official statistics on ethnicity

→ Black people are 7x more likely to be stopped & searched than whites

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EVAL:

→ are they @@**more likely to commit, or to be suspected?**@@

Victim surveys and ethnicity

→ Ask people to say **what crimes theyve been victims of**

→ May ask the ethnicity of the offender; black people more likely to be identified as muggers

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EVAL:

→ reliant on V’s memory, and crime tends to be **intra-ethnic**

Self-report studies and ethnicity

→ These are where individuals disclose crimes theyve committed

→ Tend to show consistent patterns amongst themselves

Graham & Bowling -- self-report

Black/white people have **near identical offending rates**, Asian people lower

Policing and racism in the CJS

The **justice system is institutionally racist**; many allegations of oppressive policing

→ Stop/search, failure to respond to racist hate crime, police violence, etc.

→ M/e groups are **more likely to see themselves as** ==**over-policed and underprotected**==

Stop and search statistics

→ Black people are 9x more likely to be stopped

→ Asian people 3x more likely

→ Very few stops result in an arrest

Why are more ethnic minorities stopped and searched?

→ **Ethnic differences in offending**; maybe some groups are just more likely to offend

→ **Police racism**; may influence decisions to stop

→ **Demographic factors**; more young/unemployed/urban dwelling ethnic minorities, and these demographics also get stopped more

Waddington -- stop and search

Police stop more black people because htey are **more often out at night in inner cities** (which are higher policed)

→ More likely to be stopped because of **where they are**, not their ethnicity

Stats on arrests and cautions

→ Arrest rate for blacks is 3x higher than whites

→ Black/Asian less likely to receive cautions

Stats on prosecution and trials

→ Crown Prosecution Service is **more likely to drop cases against whites**

* Found guilty more often

→ M/e more likely to elect for **trial by jury** in the Crown Court

* Leads to higher sentences

→ Higher imprisonment rate for blacks than whites

Sentencing and prison statistics

→ More jail sentences given to black offenders than white/asian

→ Black/asians serve longer sentences

→ M/E groups less likely to get bail

MacPherson Inquiry

→ Followed death of Stephen Lawrence

→ Said police are **institutionally racist**

Lea & Young -- left realism

Ethnic differences in stats reflect **real differences in the levels of offending**

→ Crime is a product of ==**relative deprivation, subculture, marginalisation**==

→ Racism leads to marginalisation/economic exclusion of m/e groups

→ Racist policing cant account for ALL of the difference in statistics

* Also cant explain why blacks convicted more than Asians

Conclusions drawn by Lea & Young -- left realism

→ Statistics represent **real differences** between ethnic groups

→ These are caused by a **difference in levels of relative deprivation/marginalisation**

Other explanations given by the New Right

→ ==**Lack of education**==; affects self-confidence (^^**Merton**^^ strain theory)

→ ==**Lone parents**==; single parents often poorer, also usually headed by mother if black (NR say this leads to deviant boys)

→ ==**Influence of black rappers**==; believe this encourages violence/criminality

* EVAL: @@**cant blame on one form of entertainment**@@

What do Neo-Marxists say?

Statistics are actually the outcome of a **social construction process**

→ This **stereotypes minorities as more criminal**

Gilroy -- myths

Black Criminality is a **myth creates by racist stereotypes of A-C/Asian people**

→ No more criminal than other groups, but CJS act on racist stereotypes

Gilroy -- crime as political resistance

M/e crime is a form of **political resistance** against racist society

→ Rooted in early struggles against imperialism

→ Mirrors **anti-colonial methods of resisting oppression** e.g. riots

* Now we criminalise it though

Evaluation of Gilroy

→ ^^**Left realists**^^: first-gen immigrants were law-abiding so **likely** @@**wouldnt pass on traditions of anti-colonial struggle**@@

→ @@**Romanticises**@@ street crime as revolutionary

→ Most crime is @@**intra-ethnic**@@; not a struggle against racism

Hall et al -- policing the crisis

Moral panic over **black muggers** in 70s served interests of capitalism

→ Was a scapegoat to distract attention from a crisis of capitalism

→ Helped to divide the w/c, weakening opposition to capitalism

Evaluation of policing the crisis

→ Inconsistent; say black street crime wasnt rising, but also show it was due to unemployment

→ Doesn’t explain HOW crisis led to moral panic

More recent explanations of ethnicity and crime

→ Neighbourhood factors

→ Getting caught

Fitzgerald et al -- neighbourhood factors

Street robberies highest in poor areas, but where people had contact with richer groups

→ Young black people more likely to live in these areas, but white people in these areas are more likely to commit crimes

→ Shows **ethnicity wasnt a cause**

Sharp & Budd -- getting caught

Black offenders commit **crimes where victims can identify them, and are often more visible to police**

→ Means theyre more likely to be arrested

→ e.g. assoc. with known criminals, previous school exclusions

Risk of being a victim

→ Varies by ethnic groups

→ Differences could be due to racism, but also being unemployed/young/male

* Groups with higher proportions of young unemployed males have higher rates of victimisation

Impact of racist victimisation

→ Repeated instances can cause **psychological and physical harm**

→ Many ethnic communities are **overpoliced/underprotected**, so communities may **organise their own defences**