Gilroy 1982 - Myth of Black Criminality

• Gilroy 1982 - Myth of Black Criminality: Black Criminality a myth created by racist stereotypes. As a result of the criminal justice system acting on stereotypes, minority ethnic groups come to be criminalised more.
• Gilroy 1982 - Myth of Black Criminality: Minority ethnic group crime is a form of political resistance - similar to critical criminology’s view that working class crime is resistance to capitalism
• Gilroy 1982 - Myth of Black Criminality: Most Black and Asian people originated from former British colonies where their anti-imperialist struggles taught them how to resist oppression. When facing racism in Britain, they adopted the same forms of struggle to resist racism. 
• But...Lea and Young: 

  1. First generation were law abiding and thus their children were unlikely to adopt anti-colonial struggle 
  2. Most crime is intra-ethnic and thus cannot be a resistance against racism 
  3. Gilroy romanticises street crime 
  4. If Gilroy were right, the police are only racist towards Black people and not Asians