ethnicity + crime

• examples of crime statistics

  official statistics, victim surveys, self report studies
• official statistics

  black people make up 3% of the general population but 12% of the prison population. black males 4 times more likely to have their DNA profiles stored for longer than white people
• issues with official statistics

  not always accurate

  do not cover crimes which go unrecorded/unreported

  may lack validity due to institutional racism
• victim surveys

  asks the respondent to identify if they have been a victim of crime in the last 12 months - may be asked to identify ethnicity of offender

  commonly reported 'muggers' are black

  crime is intra-ethnic - within ethnicities and not between
• issues with victim surveys

  may actually be inaccurate and biased - people more likely to identify an offender as black if they are unsure
• 
  

  self report studies

  ask people to report their own dishonest and violent behaviour

  found black people and white people had similar rates of offending at about 44% each

  black were more likely to have contact with the police, been to court and convicted
• issues with self report studies

  people may lie in their answers in order to appear better than they are (social desirability, right answerism) e.g understate the amount of crime they may have committed
• police and institutional racism

  black people treated as 'muggers' due to stereotypes - this view seen in media coverage and political commentaries

  ideological construction of black criminality has led to discrimination and institutional racism

  e.g macpherson report after murder of stephen lawrence found police to be institutionally racist - failed to take statements, dismissed evidence, had a cavalier attitude to evidence
• evaluation of institutional racism


  support from reiner and 'canteen culture'

  police all expected to display certain traits e.g displaying masculinity (by being racist), holding traditional conservative values and attitudes, labelling ethnic minorities as troublesome, racism going unchallenged
• stop and search

  some ethnic minority groups are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than others. black people are 9 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. asian people are 2 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. however only a small number of stop and search's result in arrest.
• what are the reasons for disproportionate numbers of stop and search rates?

  institutional racism, ethnic differences in offending, demographic factors
• ethnic differences in offending

  some sociologists argue the disproportionate number of stop and searches reflects ethnic differences in offending - supported by official statistics and victim surveys
• demographic factors

  ethnic minorities are over-represented in the groups who are most likely to be stopped and searched e.g young, unemployed, manual workers, those living in urban areas. these groups are stopped regardless of ethnicity but have a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities within them
• arrests and cautions

  arrest rate for black people is 3 times higher than white people however once arrested, black and asian people are less likely to receive a caution

  may be as they less likely to admit guilty straight away and exercise their legal rights due to mistrust in the police
• persecution and trial

  ethnic minority cases are more likely to be dropped than white people's

  black and asian people are less likely to be found guilty - never enough evidence to prosecute as mainly based on racist stereotyping (Bowling and Phillips)

  ethnic minorities more likely to elect for crown court rather than magistrates due to distrust in magistrates
• convictions and sentencing

  jail sentences are more likely to be given to black people (68%) than white people (55%) whereas white and asian people were more likely to be given community services - however could be due to seriousness/previous convictions

  Hood - even when context taken into account, black men still 5 times more likely to be jailed compared to white men and receive three times longer sentences than white people
• left realism - difference in offending

  see crime as the product of relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation

  racism has led to marginalisation which leads them to turn to crime in order to overcome this

  media emphasises consumerism leading people to feel relatively deprived

  unemployed black males commit utilitarian crimes in subcultures to deal with relative deprivation and marginalisation
• evaluation of left realism- difference in offending

  ignore the fact that statistics of ethnic minority offending can be due to institutional racism
• neo-marxist - difference in offending

  black criminality is a product of racist stereotyping - no actual difference in criminality between ethnic groups but racist CJS makes it appear so

  ethnic minority crime is a resistance to racism in society - resistance roots from former british colonies - adopted when ethnic minority groups faced racism upon immigration to the UK

  Hall - media drove a moral panic over muggings by black youth - ruling class divert the focus from inflation and unemployment - crisis of capitalism marginalised black youth through unemployment
• evaluation of neo-marxist explanation

  Hall criticised for inconsistency - stating black criminality was not rising (it was a moral panic) but then state that black criminality was rising (due to marginalisation and unemployment)
• exclusion and alternative economies

  Bourgois studied El Barrio - argues discrimination excluded black and hispanic people from legitimate opportunities so they have created their own alternative economies combining legal and illegal activities including drug dealing

  a separate 'inner city' street culture developed parallel to this, rejecting mainstream values - drug use permitted leading to more drug addicts - lifestyle of violence, substance abuse and internalised rage

  exclusion of em groups leads to crime as a source of income + culture of crime through drug addiction
• evaluation of el barrio

  only studies one place - lacks representativeness as only explains ethnic offending in el barrio and not everywhere

  lacks reliability - another observation in a different city may bring up different findings
• other explanations


  neighbourhoods - crime rates higher in poorer areas - young black people more likely to live in these areas due to discrimination

  getting caught - some groups run greater risk of being caught and black offenders more likely to be arrested due to committing robbery where they can be easily identified