sociological explanations

• lea and young


  left realists

  crime is a product of relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation
• relative deprivation


  Relative deprivation refers to a perception of being deprived of something
• marginalisation


  The social process of becoming or being isolated and left out
• subculture


  A group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations
• utilitarian crime


  Crime committed for material gain, e.g. theft and fraud
• non-utilitarian crime


  Crime or deviance with no material gain, e.g. vandalism, truancy, fighting
• Gilroy - myth of black criminality 


  • neo-marxist
  • argue ethnic minorities commit no more crime than others
  • due to racist stereotypes they are targeted more
• hall et al - black mugger 


  • Neo-Marxist
  • argue that through the media, the bourgeoisie have used moral panics about ethnic minorities, leading to racial tensions
  • 70s saw moral panic over black 'muggers' - led to labelling, demonising young black men
  • divide and rule - suggest ruling class use racism as a tool to divide the proletariat, prevent revolution against bourgeoisie
• Fitzgerald et al - street robbery 


  • examine the role of neighbourhood factors in explaining involvement of black youths in street robbery
  • found both black and white people from poor areas were more likely to commit crime
• holdaway- canteen culture

  • claimed that many officers held prejudicial thoughts about members of the African carribbean community
  • often told negative stories and shared derogatory jokes
• Moynihan - family structures

  • right realist
  • claim main cause behind ethnic minority crime is poor socialisation caused by ineffective family structures
  • e.g single parent families
• sewell - absent of fathers

  • found 57% of Black Caribbean families with dependent children were headed by a single parent
  • many young black boys grow up without father figure
  • leads them to lacking in 'tough love'
  • turning to criminal subcultures to fulfil that role