1.6 - Ethnicity and Crime

• What do official stats show about ethnicity?


  • People from minority ethnic groups are more likely to be arrested and convicted for a crime than the white majority
  • Black people are 2 times more likely to be arrested and convicted
  • Black people are 3 times more likely to be sent to prison
  • Asians are more likely to be stopped and searched than white people
• What do official stats show about ethnicity?


  • these stats reveal how many people have been suspected of being criminal by not counting crimes. This indicates that the police and courts are biased and label due to racism.
• What do self report studies show about ethnicity?

  • Highest rates of offending were shown amongst white people
  • Black people are slightly higher in terms of robbery - but robbery cannot be used to overgeneralise the crimes of black.
  • This data suggests there is some bias in CJS, as whites are likely to offend, but blacks are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned
• What does ethnicity and victimisation show?

  • CSEW - the risk of being a victim is higher for minority ethnic than white people.
  • Phillips + Bowling - the higher the risk of victimisation is from inner city areas and a result of racially motivated attacks
  • CSEW - found that there were 124,000 racially motivated offences, but only 30,000 were reported
• What does newburn say about victimisation?


  • the fear of crime amongst minority ethnic groups are high but these people do not respond passively, there have been active attempts to combat victimisation
  • Battle of Brixton
• What are the factors affecting ethnicity in the CJS?


  1. Policing + Canteen Culture
  2. Stop + Search
  3. Arrests
  4. Sentencing + Imprisonment
• How does policing affect ethnicity?

  • there has been a growing controversy over the relationship between police and minority ethnic groups
  • Stephen Lawrence case led to the Macpherson inquiry - found that the Metropolitan police were institutionally racist
• How does a canteen culture affect ethnicity and crime?


  • Reiner argues that police officers have developed a distinctive working value and strong collective identity as a result of pressure from their job
  • Core characteristics - cynicism, conservatism, suspicion, macho values and racism
• How does stop + search affect ethnicity?

  • Black people are five times more likely to be stopped and searched than white and these are intrusive searches (Phillips + Bowling)
  • when serious crimes such as violence and terrorism occur, police can stop and search without reasonable suspicion of crime
  • BBC - 'The Secret Policeman' - racism is reflected through stop and searches
  • Notting Hill Carnival - random stop and search
• How do arrests affect ethnicity?

  • Black people make up a higher proportion of arrests than the population
  • Phillips + Bowling - ethnic minorities are more likely to seek advice and remain silent and deny offence
  • More likely to be arrested for a crime they did not commit
  • People from minority ethnic groups are less likely to be released after a caution
• How does sentencing + imprisonment affect ethnicity?


  1. White people are more likely than Black and Asian to be convicted of serious offences
  2. Black and Asian are more likely to be given an immediate, custodial sentences
  3. Black people are more likely to be sent to prison for possession of Class A drugs
  4. Black people were given longer sentences than white
• What are examples of the link between ethnicity and crime?

  • Stephen Lawrence - black teen murdered with clear evidence, police did not properly examine
  • Mark Dugan - black man who was shot in the Tottenham Riots
  • Rodney King - brutally beaten by Los Angeles police
  • George Floyd - brutally murdered by police - led to BLM movement
• What is the left realist's approach to ethnicity and crime?


  • Lea and Young accept that there are racist practices amongst the police but the stats do show a higher crime rate for crimes by black youths
  • They explain this by suggesting that minority ethnic groups are deprived and disadvantaged as compared to other groups in society
  • Have much higher levels of unemployment and tend to be less successful than other ethnic groups
• What is the left realists approach to ethnicity and crime?


  • argue ethnic males are economically and socially marginalised with little representation in political voice
  • this leads to the formation of subcultures which may react to the situation by turning to protests
• Do Lea + Young think the CJS is racist?


  • claim that the stats on certain crimes show a difference in offending rates which are unlikely to be produced by racist perspectives
  • British asian have low recorded crime rates when they could be subject to racism
• Evaluation of left realism -


  1. Lea + Young are criticised for ignoring police racism and the effect of police typifications
  2. Interactionists argue that by focusing on black males and crime, they are negatively labelling the blacks
• What is the anti racist/neo marxism approach to crime -


  • Gilroy - describes a 'myth of black criminality' and attributes statistical differences to police stereotyping and racist labelling
  • He sees crime as a result of the struggle against white colonies
  • When early migrants came from the Carribbean they faced discrimination and drew upon an anticolonial struggle to develop resistance against white dominated police forces and rule
  • Gilroy argues that most black crime is part of the resistance to white race
• Evaluation of Gilroy -

  1. Lea and Young argue that majority of crimes committed by black are inter racial (black on black)
  2. Accuse Gilroy of romanticising crime and ignoring the harm it does to victims
  3. Gilroy takes a one sided view of black criminality and has little empirical evidence
• What is Hall's view on the capitalism in crisis?


  • Hall studied the panic over mugging in 1970's. This was a period of british capitalism as there was recession in the economy, rising unemployment and political instability
  • The mugging was manufactured by the police and media which led to an increase in officers arresting black men despite a lack of evidence for mugging. Successful in producing a manufactured crime wave
  • Linked this to hegemony and how ruling class groups were able to hide the capitalism crisis by using black crime as a scapegoat
• Evaluation of Hall -


  1. Analysis of Hall has been criticised for not making any actual research into black youth's mindsets
  2. 1970's crime stats showed a genuine increase in black crime rate, no need for a scapegoat.
• What is Parmar's view towards ethnicity and crime?


  • Parmar points out that that some Asian groups have experienced high levels of deprivation, but are less likely to commit offences.
  • Notes that cultural differences such as differences in family life may be responsible for apparent differences in criminality
• Evaluation of Parmar -


  1. Dangerous to generalise family structure in ethnic groups as not all black people have a single parent, increase in asian single parents
  2. Differences are largely due to social and economic factors
  3. Racism and stereotyping play a role in differences between offending rates between ethnic groups