Ethnicity and crime
Laws/Policy
keywords
Theory
quotation
criticisms
https://app.glean.co/event/5a2148d9-6e8b-493e-bffd-195896cd75cbhttps://app.glean.co/event/f326675b-84b8-44b8-9769-f006c198f204
Statistics:
Crime surveys of England and Wales show that adults from ethnic minorities are at more risk of being a victim of a personal crime by white individuals. However, some groups are often over-represented as the victims of crimes as well as things such as the perpetrators of crimes and stop and searches.
Bowling and Philips 2012:
They argue that statistics saying that black and Asian people are more likely to be offenders are misleading and this evidence, shows examples of selective law enforcement.
They identified there are 7 ways in which racial discrimination is shown in 2 ways direct and indirect.
Mistrust of the police - Indirect - They feel that they are unable to cooperate with the police so they are unlikely to admit to small crimes making them less likely to get a warning, caution or reduced sentence because they don’t admit what they have done.
Social Position - Indirect - The social characteristics of some ethnic groups mean they have poor housing and a lack of community so there is no one to post bail. This means that they must remain in custody.
Stop and search - Direct - Black and Asian fit the police stereotypes. Fitzgerald 1993 argued that police discrimination is most prevalent when the police officer has to rely upon their institution i.e. Stop and Search.
Ministry of Justice
asian people were twice as likely to be stopped and searched whilst black people were 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to white people.
90% of stop and searches do not result in arrest showing that 90% of suspects they stop and search are not guilty of anything implying that it’s based upon prejudice instead of suspicion.
Bowling and Philips argue that this has led to further unfair criminalisation of ethnic minorities.
They also argue that the result of stop and searches and over-policing may have contributed to the London Riots in 2011.
They also believe that this may have led to the self-fulfilling prophecy for black youths so they commit more crimes leading to them acting in accordance with police stereotypes.
Institutional Racism - The Macpherson Report 1999 was created to highlight the institutional problems within the metropolitan police after the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The police had originally investigated the murder as a ‘street brawl’ instead of a racist attack. It highlighted the police’s lack of ability to understand racism threats towards ethnic minorities.
Arrests, charges and court proceedings - Some officers charge ethnic minorities despite the lack of evidence. The CPS are more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities before they reach court. The cases that are still brought to court, have a lower conviction rate compared to the white offenders.
Discrimination in sentencing - Compared to white people, black people who have committed the same act are more likely to be given a longer sentence.
Over-representation in prison - because of issues such as social exclusion, and direct and indirect racism, imprisonment rates for ethnic minorities are disproportional. Philips and Bowling identified that ethnic minorities face harsher treatment in jail and Asian prisoners are often described/ stereotyped as ‘Islamic terrorists’ making them more of a security risk.
Sociological Theories:
Marxists: (Neo)
Gilroy
Hall et al.
Gilroy - The Empire Strikes Back - He argues that black criminality is a response towards the political struggle and capitalist struggles they face within society. He also argues that working-class crime is a response towards poor conditions and political marginalisation. Gilroy blames the police for the over-reporting of black criminality within official statistics. It is argued if in fact gilroys political struggle idea is true as the victims were also often on ethnic minorities os is it politcial opression?
Hall et al - Argued that street crime was exaggerated in the press and tabloids. They mostly focused on young black men in inner city areas which they linked to mugging. This created a moral panic and Hall argued they used these young black men as a scapegoat. He argued that this moral panic was used to reinforce ruling class standards during an economic recession and high levels of unemployment. Hall can be criticised for media reporting as it can be argued that the use of media tabloids and the police have had a constant report of these topics even when there hasn’t been a specific crisis.
Left Realists:
Lea and young
Bowling and Phillips
Left Realism Overview - They recognise the practice of racist police but also highlight how there are higher rates of crime with African Caribbeans relating to street robbery or personal crimes. It rejects the idea that ethnic minority crimes are used as a political struggle against white people but instead, crime is often interracial against each other. It is also argued that crime is glamorised where the offender is romanticised and it ignores the effects on the victim.
Bowling and Phillips - High levels of robbery by black people are linked to poverty and social exclusion. These activities may create peer group status and a powerful sense of identity. Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups may also suffer from economic deprivation. Despite that, they have a lower reported crime rate as they argue that they have stronger controls within the family and community which can limit opportunities and a desire to offend.
Lea and Young - They argue that British society is racist and ethnic minority males are economically and socially marginalised leading to less chance of success. This creates a relative sense of deprivation. These can all cause the construction of deviant subcultures to deal with marginalisation and relative deprivation. There are 3 factors: marginalisation, relative deprivation, and subcultures.
Interactionism:
Tony Sewell
Alice Goffman
Tony Sewell - He argued that black underachievement within schools and issues such as offending could be related to the impacts of popular black culture. However, he also argued that this was an important source of identity for the youth but it had begun to act as a barrier to potential progress. But this barrier had similar practices to racist acts in which black individuals were confronted within society. Tony blamed black people for the disadvantages they faced within society. He also ignores issues such as labelling and stereotyping.
Alice Goffman - Longitudinal Study - She did a participant study in a black neighbourhood in Philadelphia over 6 years. She focused on how the criminalization of young black men had a greater risk of arrest and imprisonment within the wider community. At the time of the study, imprisonment for young black men was 11% whilst it was 2% for young white males. They found it very easy to break the rules of parole and if they did break it, they would be arrested, but many ran away and became fugitives.
They would avoid situations where they can be caught i.e family functions.
Avoid hospital appointments and even chop off their fingertips to avoid detection.
Even avoid police help if theyre a victim to a crime.
because of this, they would be unable to secure legitimate forms of work.
She concluded that all of this had negative impacts towards fugitives and their families and wider communities. Disadvantaged communities were then further disadvantaged by their fugitive lifestyles.
Laws/Policy
keywords
Theory
quotation
criticisms
https://app.glean.co/event/5a2148d9-6e8b-493e-bffd-195896cd75cbhttps://app.glean.co/event/f326675b-84b8-44b8-9769-f006c198f204
Statistics:
Crime surveys of England and Wales show that adults from ethnic minorities are at more risk of being a victim of a personal crime by white individuals. However, some groups are often over-represented as the victims of crimes as well as things such as the perpetrators of crimes and stop and searches.
Bowling and Philips 2012:
They argue that statistics saying that black and Asian people are more likely to be offenders are misleading and this evidence, shows examples of selective law enforcement.
They identified there are 7 ways in which racial discrimination is shown in 2 ways direct and indirect.
Mistrust of the police - Indirect - They feel that they are unable to cooperate with the police so they are unlikely to admit to small crimes making them less likely to get a warning, caution or reduced sentence because they don’t admit what they have done.
Social Position - Indirect - The social characteristics of some ethnic groups mean they have poor housing and a lack of community so there is no one to post bail. This means that they must remain in custody.
Stop and search - Direct - Black and Asian fit the police stereotypes. Fitzgerald 1993 argued that police discrimination is most prevalent when the police officer has to rely upon their institution i.e. Stop and Search.
Ministry of Justice
asian people were twice as likely to be stopped and searched whilst black people were 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to white people.
90% of stop and searches do not result in arrest showing that 90% of suspects they stop and search are not guilty of anything implying that it’s based upon prejudice instead of suspicion.
Bowling and Philips argue that this has led to further unfair criminalisation of ethnic minorities.
They also argue that the result of stop and searches and over-policing may have contributed to the London Riots in 2011.
They also believe that this may have led to the self-fulfilling prophecy for black youths so they commit more crimes leading to them acting in accordance with police stereotypes.
Institutional Racism - The Macpherson Report 1999 was created to highlight the institutional problems within the metropolitan police after the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The police had originally investigated the murder as a ‘street brawl’ instead of a racist attack. It highlighted the police’s lack of ability to understand racism threats towards ethnic minorities.
Arrests, charges and court proceedings - Some officers charge ethnic minorities despite the lack of evidence. The CPS are more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities before they reach court. The cases that are still brought to court, have a lower conviction rate compared to the white offenders.
Discrimination in sentencing - Compared to white people, black people who have committed the same act are more likely to be given a longer sentence.
Over-representation in prison - because of issues such as social exclusion, and direct and indirect racism, imprisonment rates for ethnic minorities are disproportional. Philips and Bowling identified that ethnic minorities face harsher treatment in jail and Asian prisoners are often described/ stereotyped as ‘Islamic terrorists’ making them more of a security risk.
Sociological Theories:
Marxists: (Neo)
Gilroy
Hall et al.
Gilroy - The Empire Strikes Back - He argues that black criminality is a response towards the political struggle and capitalist struggles they face within society. He also argues that working-class crime is a response towards poor conditions and political marginalisation. Gilroy blames the police for the over-reporting of black criminality within official statistics. It is argued if in fact gilroys political struggle idea is true as the victims were also often on ethnic minorities os is it politcial opression?
Hall et al - Argued that street crime was exaggerated in the press and tabloids. They mostly focused on young black men in inner city areas which they linked to mugging. This created a moral panic and Hall argued they used these young black men as a scapegoat. He argued that this moral panic was used to reinforce ruling class standards during an economic recession and high levels of unemployment. Hall can be criticised for media reporting as it can be argued that the use of media tabloids and the police have had a constant report of these topics even when there hasn’t been a specific crisis.
Left Realists:
Lea and young
Bowling and Phillips
Left Realism Overview - They recognise the practice of racist police but also highlight how there are higher rates of crime with African Caribbeans relating to street robbery or personal crimes. It rejects the idea that ethnic minority crimes are used as a political struggle against white people but instead, crime is often interracial against each other. It is also argued that crime is glamorised where the offender is romanticised and it ignores the effects on the victim.
Bowling and Phillips - High levels of robbery by black people are linked to poverty and social exclusion. These activities may create peer group status and a powerful sense of identity. Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups may also suffer from economic deprivation. Despite that, they have a lower reported crime rate as they argue that they have stronger controls within the family and community which can limit opportunities and a desire to offend.
Lea and Young - They argue that British society is racist and ethnic minority males are economically and socially marginalised leading to less chance of success. This creates a relative sense of deprivation. These can all cause the construction of deviant subcultures to deal with marginalisation and relative deprivation. There are 3 factors: marginalisation, relative deprivation, and subcultures.
Interactionism:
Tony Sewell
Alice Goffman
Tony Sewell - He argued that black underachievement within schools and issues such as offending could be related to the impacts of popular black culture. However, he also argued that this was an important source of identity for the youth but it had begun to act as a barrier to potential progress. But this barrier had similar practices to racist acts in which black individuals were confronted within society. Tony blamed black people for the disadvantages they faced within society. He also ignores issues such as labelling and stereotyping.
Alice Goffman - Longitudinal Study - She did a participant study in a black neighbourhood in Philadelphia over 6 years. She focused on how the criminalization of young black men had a greater risk of arrest and imprisonment within the wider community. At the time of the study, imprisonment for young black men was 11% whilst it was 2% for young white males. They found it very easy to break the rules of parole and if they did break it, they would be arrested, but many ran away and became fugitives.
They would avoid situations where they can be caught i.e family functions.
Avoid hospital appointments and even chop off their fingertips to avoid detection.
Even avoid police help if theyre a victim to a crime.
because of this, they would be unable to secure legitimate forms of work.
She concluded that all of this had negative impacts towards fugitives and their families and wider communities. Disadvantaged communities were then further disadvantaged by their fugitive lifestyles.
