Ethnicity, crime and justice

• ethnic differences in stop and searches

  for every 1000 people, the number of stop and searches on black people is 5 times higher than that on white people
• prison population vs overall population of black people (2020)

  overall population = 3%

  prison population= 13%
• alternative sources for statistics

  victim surveys (CSEW)

  self-report studies (Graham and Bowling)
• Terrorism Act 2000


  Police can stop and search persons or vehicles whether or not they have reasonable suspicion
• explaining stop and search patterns

  1- police racism

  2- real ethnic differences in offending

  3- demographic factors e.g. young, unemployed, urban dwellers
• Bowling and Phillips and the crown prosecution service


  more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities because evidence presented is often weaker and based on stereotypes
• Roger Hood's study on 5 Crown Courts


  found that even when ethnic minority cases more likely to be dropped, black men still 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence and an average of 3 months linger than white men
• Left Realism explanation


  Lea and Young argue that racism = marginalisation and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities. Media = promotes relative deprivation so ethnic minorities turn to utilitarian crimes (poverty) and non-utilitarian crimes in subcultures (marginalisation)
• criticism of left realism explanation

  over 90% of crimes are reported by public so police racism can't be the most significant cause
• Neo-Marxism explanation - Gilroy


  myth if black criminality

  ethnic minorities crime seen as a form op political resistance against racism rooted in resistance against colonial resistance. This resistance has become crimilalised
• criticism of Gilroy


  first generation immigrants were very law abiding, so resistance would not have bene inherited from them

  most crime is intra-ethnic, not anti-colonial
• Neo-Marxism explanation - Stuart Hall et al


  policing the crisis

  inflation, unemployment and conflict in Northern Ireland in 1970s = capitalist crisis.

  Media created a moral panic about black 'muggings' as a scapegoat from the crisis. Also muggings result of marginalisation
• neighbourhood explanation


  FitzGerald et al found rates of criminality higher in poorer areas and black people more likely to live in these areas due to discrimination in work and housing
• Explanation of getting caught

  Sharp and Budd - found black offenders are more likley to get caught because they are more likely to be visible to authorities from previous offences, being a victim or exclusion from schools.
• racially motivated incidents in 2014/15 according to CSEW victim survey


  89,000
• response to racist victimisation

  situational crime prevention measures e.g. fireproof doors and letter boxes

  organised self defence campaigns

  Macpherson Enquiry after murder of Stephen Lawrence