Race, Crime and Culture Revisited

Key points from semester 1

• Longstanding recognition of the ‘newsworthiness’ of race

• Historic reporting mirrored and reinforced existing racial stereotypes and assumptions

• Overt racist reporting is evident in the press but gradually decrease as the 20th century progresses

• However, ‘racialised’ narratives that connect minority groups to crime and deviance remain a feature remain a feature of news discourse

Foundations

• Race is a social construct with significant implications for crime and justice (Gilroy, 1982).

• The criminal justice system has historically marginalised ethnic minorities (Hall et al., 1978).

• Institutional racism was formally acknowledged in the UK following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (Macpherson, 1999).

Experiences with the CJS

• As you will read in the Newburn (2017) Chapter, there are many experiences in relation the ethnicity, that can be highlighted within the CJS

• The range is huge, and you choose to focus on any of them within your work

• Hate crime and victimisation, imprisonment, fear of crime, violence, representation within the CJS agencies, representation in the legal profession, police contact, self-reporting, to name a few…

• Ethnic minorities are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice process (Lammy, 2017).

• The prison population in England and Wales is disproportionately Black and minority ethnic (Ministry of Justice, 2022).

• Sentencing disparities: Black individuals receive longer sentences for similar crimes compared to White individuals (Sentencing Council, 2021).

• Stereotyping and racial profiling reinforce systemic inequalities (Bowling & Phillips, 2002).

• You are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police if you are black

• You are more likely to receive a custodial sentence if you are black

• You are most likely to receive a longer sentence if you are black, Asian, Chinese, Mixed

• Black prisoners serve more of their sentence behind bars

• Judges are 93% white

• Magistrates are 88% white (these numbers have got better over the last 5 years!)

Stop and search

• Stop and search is a controversial police power to stop, question and search a person who is suspected of doing something illegal, including carrying drugs

• In 2017/18, there were 3 stop and searches for every 1,000 white people, compared with 29 stop and searches for every 1,000 black people

• The police have the power to stop and search under legislative powers including Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984, Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Section 44/47A of the Terrorism Act 2000 and Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

• Stop and search: police powers

• A police officer has powers to stop and search you if they have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect you’re carrying:

• illegal drugs

• a weapon

• stolen property

• something which could be used to commit a crime, such as a crowbar

  
  

Reasonable grounds

• You can only be stopped and searched without reasonable grounds if it has been approved by a senior police officer (s.60). This can happen if it is suspected that:

• serious violence could take place

• you’re carrying a weapon or have used one

• you’re in a specific location or area

• What are ‘reasonable grounds?’ – Often a point of contention…

  
  

A returning issue or one that never left?

• Historical continuity: Issues of race and crime are not new but persist over time (Alexander, 2012).

• Media influence: Sensationalised media reports reinforce racial stereotypes (Jewkes, 2015).

• The role of activism: Black Lives Matter and other movements highlight ongoing systemic racism (Taylor, 2016).

• Policy stagnation: Despite reforms, racial disparities in criminal justice remain significant (Hough et al., 2013).

• The first half of this lecture looked at some ethnicity related experiences in relation to contact with the police from a suspect/perpetrator perspective

• This part of the lecture looks more closely at victimisation experiences

• In particular I will share a timeline of event around the death of Stephen Lawrence that will introduce the concept of institutional racism

We rely on our CJS

• When we consider police responses to crime there are a number of areas to think about

• Finding the people responsible and gathering evidence

  • This is a clear obligation (to the state)

• Supporting the people who have been victimised

  • Increasingly formalised over time (Victims Code)

  • This could be in the immediate situation and more long term

• More broadly, attempting to ensure that the circumstances in which the crime occurred can be avoided (pre-crime measures like education (static), patrols (active)).

• Symbolic roles

  • There is much to be said about the symbolic element of police responses to crime

  • Visual presence on the streets and in homes

  • They represent an official response – they are the entrusted with upholding the law. This has practical and symbolic value to those victimised (in theory)

  • We do (and should) hold our police service to a high standard – any failure in that has hugely relevant implications far beyond the symbolic

Consequences

• Very broadly failures here and the resulting investigations into police responses showed issues beyond the immediate investigatory team

• Systematic and institutional failures strike at the very legitimacy of the police within society – this might be considered as society as a whole but also specifically with certain communities

• This increases the chances of barriers to reporting

• Reduces the chances of people trusting the police to appropriately solve crimes and bring people to justice

• It means that not all victims are valued in the same way – remember ideal victims

• Potential for deep cultural and community damage