Ethnicity and crime

• What are the prison statistics?

  Black people make up 3% of the population but 13.1% of the prison population.

  Asian people make up 6.5% of the population but 7.7% of prison population.
• What are the police statistics?

  Ethnic minorities are 3 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police.
• What are the court statistics?

  Ethnic minorities are more likely to be given a custodial sentence then those of the ethnic majority.
• What did Morris say about the demographic explanation of ethnicity and crime?

  BAME groups contain a disproportionate number of young people compared to the white ethnic majority, explain why there is higher ethnic minority criminality as young people are more likely to commit crimes.
• What’s an evaluation for Morris?

  Statistical Illusion – It is impossible to determine if it is the age of the offenders that causes the higher rates or their ethnicity.
• What’s Phillips and browning 2007 on policing targeting?

  EM are “over-policed and under protected”
• What’s Gilroy 1982 say on policing targeting?

  “Myth of Black Criminality” – Stereotyping Police focus on ethnic minorities and therefore they are more likely to be stopped and searched or arrested compared to the white majority.
• What’s some evaluation for police targeting ?

  Targeting could be caused by moral panics such as the Black Muggers in the 1970’s and therefore based on actual criminality.

  Can cause a chicken and egg scenario where the targeting leads to higher ethnic minority criminality which leads to more targeting.
• What’s locality theory waddington et al 2004 ?

  Certain areas are more densely populated with ethnic minorities which explains higher stop and search statistics. Additionally et minorities tend to live in the zones of transition where crime rates are much higher due to the lack of social cohesion.
• What’s an evaluation of locality theory?

  This maybe the case for first generation immigrants but many ethnic minorities have moved out of the zone of transition after 1 or 2 generations and tend to assimilate into the majority culture.
• What does Holdaway 1983 say about institutional racism?

  Canteen Culture – Police Officers in themselves are not racists but when together they can reinforce stereotypes which are then acted on duty.
• What does the McPherson Report say about institutional racism?

  McPherson Report – 1999 – result of the Stephan Lawrence murder which highlighted racists policies within the police force.
• What’s an evaluation for institutional racism?

  Since the publication of the McPherson Report the police force has been actively changing policies to deal with institutional racism, and recruiting more officers from ethnic minorities. However the crime rate amongst ethnic minorities has not decreased.
• What does hirshi say about social and sub cultural theory?

  Young people regardless of their ethnicity commit crime due to lack of social controls of attachment, commitment, involvement and belief, in their lives. Asian families have stricter controls over young people which could explain the lower rates of criminality amongst Asian communities.
• What’s an evaluation for social and cultural theory?

  This is not limited to ethnic minorities and is more of an explanation for age differences in criminality than ethnic minority.
• What does Lea and young say about subcultures?

  Left Realism (Lea and Young) – suggest that ethnic minorities suffer from marginalisation and relative deprivation, This can lead to ethnic minorities forming sub cultures which help to alleviate feelings of marginalisation but these can take deviant forms and lead to higher rates of criminality.
• What an evaluation for subcultures?

  Not all ethnic minorities join a sub cultures and not all sub cultures are criminal in nature.
• What does gilroy say about political protest?

  Ethnic Minorities, particularly Black men, often feel alienated by everyday experiences of racism and what they perceive as a racist police force, and as such crime becomes a form of protest, Street Crime are seen as forms of resistance against white oppression. For example the crimes of the Black Panthers.
• What’s an evaluation for political protest?

  This doesn’t account for the fact that most crime is commit within ethnic minority groups, therefore the majority of victims of black crime are black themselves which undermines Gilroy’s theory.
• What are the three risk factors Sewell says could be responsible for the relatively high levels of crime amongst black boys?

  • media 
  • Lack of father figure 
  • Negative experiences of white culture
• How is lack of a father figure a reason?

  Large numbers of single mother families amongst black families mean that boys look to their community for role models such as gang leaders.
• How is negative experiences of white culture a reason?

  Black boys are disaffected by their experiences of school, policing and employer racism.
• How is media a reason?

  Media influence of hip-hop and rap stars believe that status can be achieved in two ways:

  1. Acquisition of status symbol designer clothing and jewellery.
  2. Construction of hyper masculinity based on violence and sexual conquest.
• What are some evaluations of the triple quandary?

  The rise of positive black role models such as Barak Obama.

  There is no causality established between single parenthood and criminality.

  Black crime tends to victimise black people.
• Some statistics of black people (African caribbeans)

  • More likely to be arrested for robbery
  • More likely, if found guilty, to receive a custodial sentence.
  • If arrested, more likely to be charged & face court proceedings than to receive a caution
• Asian statistics

  • Twice as likely to be stopped & searched (mainly for drugs)
  • More likely to be arrested for fraud & forgery
  • More likely to be charged and face court proceedings than to receive a caution.