Topic 12 - Ethnicity & Crime

• Graham & Bowling

  • White and black respondents had very similar rates of offending
  • 44% vs 43%
  • The notion that ethnic minorities commit more crime is a social construction
• McPherson Report - result of Stephen Lawrence murder

  • Metropolitan police are 'institutionally racist'
  • 'Collective failure'
• Casey Report 2023

  • 'Culture of bullying, racism, sexism, and misogyny' within the Metropolitan Police
• Waddington

  • 'Canteen Culture' within police forces promotes racism and stereotypes and this becomes normalised
  • Trade 'war stories' to help cope with the stress of the job
• Abbas

  • Previous stereotypes of Asians as passive and law-abiding are changing into a culture of islamophobia after 9/11 and the London 2001 bombings
  • Led to 'racial profiling'
• Scarman Report

  • There were the occasional 'bad apples' in the Metropolitan Police who were racist
  • Unrealistic to expect otherwise - simply a reflection of the population at large
• Scraton

  • Ethnic minorities do commit more crime, but do so out of a 'culture of resistance' to the media using them as scapegoats
  • Origins in anti-colonial struggles - political act, not criminal!
• Scraton is criticised by Lea & Young who accuse him of 'romanticising' crime and ignoring the very real harm to victims. Focus should be on victims instead. Also, if crime is an 'anti-colonial struggle' then why is most crime intraracial?
• Venkatesh

  • Crime is a type of 'outlaw capitalism'
  • Economic exclusion has forced gangs into alternative ways of seeking success
• Carlen

  • Sociologists have failed to research the relationship between women, ethnicity, and crime.
  • Ethnic minorities are more disadvantaged than other women so commit more crime due to radically impaired life chances.
• Murray & Herrnstein

  • Low intelligence is linked to unemployment and welfare dependence, which they argue is more common in black families
  • Black people commit more crime due to the link between low IQ and crime.
• Murray & Herrnstein were widely criticised for using IQ tests which favour white ethnic groups, and they have ignored the evidence that official statistics show social construction due to a racist justice system.
• Glynn

  • Ethnic minorities do face racism but this racism does create a defiant reaction among some black males.