ethnicity

• The Myth of Black criminality

  Gilroy - His concept of 'myth of black criminality' links differences in recorded criminality among ethnic groups to police stereotypes & racist labelling.

  Connects crime in Black British ethnic groups to the legacy of resisting White dominance in former colonies.

  Sees most Black ethnic group crime as a political resistance to white rule.

  Argues that the state criminalises this political struggle.
• Strengths of The Myth of Black criminality

  Lea and Young - Challenge the notion that ethnic minority groups engage in crime due to oppression or racism by highlighting that 1st-generation immigrants were law-abiding & didn't resist British colonial rule, therefore not passing on anti-colonial sentiments to their children.
• Weaknesses of The Myth of Black criminality

  Most crime occurs within the same ethnic group rather than across ethnic minorities/ the host nation.

  Gilroy romanticizes criminal behaviour as revolutionary which critics disagree with.

  It's unlikely police racism is solely directed at black communities.
• Canteen culture


  Canteen culture - the police hold cynical stereotypical views about communities which lead to disproportion policing - Lady Casey report in 2023 found the met to be institutionally racism

  Bowling and Philipson - Highlight police holding negative stereotypes against ethnic minority criminals, leading to targeted stop & search.

  Canteen culture in the police force perpetuated old-fashioned attitudes resulting in over-policing of BAME groups.

  Power dynamics influence policing - eg. Bianca Williams
• Strength of Canteen culture

  Lockdown relaxation led to increased police stop and search discretion - a significant rise in stop and search of black individuals under section 60 occurred.

  Surge in stops could explain the overrepresentation of minority ethnic groups in official statistics.

  Eg. the Met carried out 22,000 searches on young black men during lockdown
• Weaknesses of Canteen culture


  There have been attempts made by the police to further increase the professionalism of its workplace -g. the desire for new officers to hold an education to degree level with at least a 2-2 classification.

  There is an attempt to recruit a wider range of individuals from different backgrounds although only 77/3000 officers are BAME in the Essex police force.
• More likely to be victims of crime


  Homicide rates for ethnic minority groups are 2x that for white individuals.

  Black and Asian individuals are 14x more likely to be the victims of racially motivated attacks.

  Gilroy - Suggests early migrants in British faced discrimination drawing on anticolonial struggle traditions to resist White-dominated authorities, explaining ongoing racism against ethnic minorities.

  Historic events eg. 9/11 have fuelled prejudice and racist attacks towards entire religious/ethnic groups
• Strengths of More likely to be victims of crime

  BAME victims suffer greater impacts of crime.

  BAME individuals experience higher levels of fear of crime compared to white adults.
• Weaknesses of More likely to be victims of crime

  The data is misleading, apart from racial attacks and homicides, ethnic minorities don't face higher victimisation risks based on ethnicity compared to the white population.
• Victims of the CJS

  Institutional racism - racism embedded within an organisation.

  Blacks receive custodial sentences more often - 68%- more than white -55%- or Asian -59%.

  Police officers frequently use skin colour as a basis for 'stop and search', relying on stereotypes and generalisations about involvement in crime.

  Black men make up 13% of the prison population but 43% of pepper spray uses.
• Strengths of Victims of the CJS

  Marxists claim higher rates of victimisation among ethnic minorities can be explained by law enforcement and a racist police force that sees certain communities as perpetrators of crime rather than victims.

  Canteen culture theory - police have developed working values that include a thirst for cynicism, macho values and racism - explained by working long hours and facing danger/hostility from the public.
• Weaknesses of Victims of the CJS

  Left realists accept that certain groups in society are more likely to suffer from relative deprivation and marginalisation and therefore higher rate of criminality among certain ethnic minority groups may be social facts due to poverty rather than a social construction fuelled by police discrimination.
• Left Realism - Relative Deprivation

  Lea and Young - Highlight disadvantages faced by ethnic minorities, especially young black males; Higher level of unemployment & lower wages contribute to relative deprivation.

  Marginalisation due to under-representation in top societal institutions.

  Exposure to consumer culture through media can intensify frustration and resentment - can lead to the formation of deviant subcultures particularly among young black males. Crimes like looting and drug deal flourish in these subcultures
• Strengths of Left Realism - Relative Deprivation

  Bowling and Phillips - Suggested that higher levels of robbery by black people 'could be linked' to poverty & social exclusion, which black communities are more likely to suffer from.

  Criminal activities help to alleviate problems and create a peer group status and powerful sense of black identity that is otherwise denied.
• Weaknesses Left Realism - Relative Deprivation

  Gilroy - argues the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African-Caribbeans.

  These groups are no more criminal than any other group but as the CJS acts on these racist stereotypes, minorities are criminalised and therefore appear in greater numbers in the OCS.
• Cultural factors


  Sewell - Stated risk factors for African-Caribbean boys form a 'triple quandary';

  1. He observed that Black Caribbean boys may experience considerable pressure by their peers to adopt the norms of an 'urban' or 'street' subculture.

  2. They are heavily influenced by identity & status by the media.

  3. Single parent families, which may be related to higher rates of crime.

  The higher rates of single parenthood in African-Caribbean families may lead boys from this group to be more likely to offend because of a lack of male-role models to check them in check.

  In 2007, 48% of Black Caribbean families had one parent.
• Strengths of Cultural factors

  Right realists argue that absent fathers leads to a lack of discipline and male role models within the family causing criminal behaviour in young males.

  Right realists see OS as social facts - supports their claim for why ethnic minority groups are overrepresented with prison.
• Weaknesses of Cultural factors

  British Caribbean single parents are far from isolated and not even really 'single at all'.

  Driver - Research revealed that Caribbean single mothers are often well-connected to other people in their communities, so not necessarily isolated.