Ethnicity and crime

Selective law enforcement

Selective law enforcement

The argument that statistics on black and Asian offenders are misleading and indicate discriminatory practices in law enforcement.

Mistrust of the police

Indirect form of racial discrimination where ethnic minorities are less likely to cooperate with the police, leading to less favorable outcomes in terms of warnings, cautions, or reduced sentences.

Social position

Indirect form of racial discrimination where poor housing and lack of community support result in ethnic minorities being unable to post bail and remaining in custody.

Stop and search

Direct form of racial discrimination where black and Asian individuals are disproportionately targeted based on police stereotypes, leading to unfair criminalization.

Institutional racism

The Macpherson Report highlights the institutional problems within the metropolitan police and their inability to understand and address racism towards ethnic minorities.

Arrests, charges, and court proceedings

Ethnic minorities are more likely to be charged without sufficient evidence, have cases dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, and receive longer sentences compared to white offenders.

Discrimination in sentencing

Black individuals who commit the same act as white individuals are more likely to receive longer sentences.

Over-representation in prison

Disproportional imprisonment rates for ethnic minorities due to social exclusion, direct and indirect racism, and harsher treatment in jail.

Neo-Marxist theorists

• Gilroy

• Hall et al.

Neo-Marxist theories summary

Gilroy argues that black criminality is a response to political and capitalist struggles, while Hall et al. argue that street crime is exaggerated in the media and used to reinforce ruling class standards during economic recessions.

Left Realist Theorists

• Lea and Young

• Bowling and Phillips

Left Realist theories summary

Lean and Young argue that ethnic minority crimes are inter-racial and related to street robbery, while Bowling and Phillips link high levels of robbery by black individuals to poverty and social exclusion.

Interactionist Theorists

• Tony Sewell

• Alice Goffman

Interactionism theories summary

Tony Sewell argues that black underachievement and offending are related to the impacts of popular black culture, while Alice Goffman's study highlights the criminalization and negative impacts of young black men in disadvantaged communities.

Which sociologists spoke about canteen culture?

Bowling and Phillips

What 7 ways did Bowling and Phillips identify Racial discrimination?

1. Mistrust of the police

2. Social Position

3. Stop and Search

4. Institutional Racism

5. Arrests, Charges and Court cases

6. Discrimination in sentancing

7. Over-Representation in prison

Hall

The increase of street crime was exaggerated. Media put alot of focus on young black men created a moral panic and using them as a scape goat to cover up for the economic recession and potential crisis for capitalism.

Hall Criticisms

It can be argued that the media always spoke about young black men and not just during occasions so they therefore cannot be a scapegoat.

Gilroy

black criminality is a response towards the political struggle and capitalist struggles they face within society and so is working-class crime. He blames the police for over-reporting black crimes in official statistics.

GIilroy Criticims

As the victims were often ethnic minorities is it actually a political struggle?

lea and young

society is racist and ethnic minority males are more socially and economically marginalised reducing their chance of success. this leads to a sense of relative deprivation. These have led to deviant subcultures to deal with the marginalisation.

lea and young criticisms

bowling and phillips

The high levels of petty crimes committed by black people are linked to poverty and social exclusion, these activities give them a sense of identity and peer group status. They also believe that Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups also face economic deprivation but because of stronger controls within the family and community, they are less likely to commit crime or have the opportunity to do so.

bowling and phillips criticisms

Very deterministic, he assumes that all ethnic minorities are poor and lack a community - Tony Sewell would argue that Black communities are actually very prominent and instead are a restricting factor.

Tony Sewell

Black underachievement and crime is related to black culture. He also says that this can be used to create identity for young black youths but it also acts as a barrier to progress futher within society. further

Tony Sewell criticisms

He blames black people for the issues they face i.e. racism. He also ignores other issues such as labelling, stereotyping etc.

alice Goffman

She did a longitudinal study in a black neighbourhood in Philadelphia across 6 years. She identified how imprisonment for black males was 11% whilst for white males it was only 2%. Many found it simple and easy to break probation leading to them running away and becoming fugitives this had many impacts including:

• avoiding family

• missing appointments

• avoid help from services if in trouble or a victim of a crime.

• They would also be unable to secure legitimate means of work.

Alice Goffman Criticicms

AS it was a longitudinal study, it is qualitative meaning it would be hard to replicate and she may also have issues such as researcher bias and as it was limited to groups within Philidelphia, America, it would not be representative of the black population of America.