Ethnicity & Crime

Question 1

Black Britons

Answer 1

Compared with white ethnic groups in 2013:
* 2x as likely to get police caution
* 3x as likely to be arrested
* More likely to be charged & prosecuted after arrest
* More likely to be sent to prison if convicted
* 5x as likely to be in prison

Question 2

British Asians

Answer 2

Compared to white ethnic groups
* More likely to be charged instead of getting police caution
* More likely to get custodial sentence if found guilty
* More likely to spend longer in prison if sent there

Question 3

2019: People from BAME background made up:

Answer 3

• 16% of general population
• 23% of arrests
• 24% of people remanded by Magistrates’
• 26% of people remanded by Crown Court
• 23% of people prosecuted
• 21% of convictions
• 22% of people sentenced to immediate custody
• 27% of prisoners

Question 4

Neo-Marxists: Gilroy (1982)

Answer 4

• Black crime is political action - resistance to oppression/repression
• Police racism & the media - ‘Black Muggers’ & ‘migrants’ - Moral Panic

Question 5

Neo-Marxists: Hall et al (1978)

Answer 5

• Crisis of Hegemony - resist challenges to power
• Scapegoating

Question 6

Left Realism

Answer 6

• Representation
• Quota system for police - number of officers from local area
• Education, not criminal records, for minor offences
• Funding for mental health services

Question 7

Right Realism

Answer 7

• Body cams for all officers - opportunity/rational choice
• Accountability to community stakeholders - police & crime comissioner
• Sack discriminatory officers
• Police in schools

Question 8

Labelling

Answer 8

• Argue crime stats are socially constructed
• Evidence of selective enforcement rather than higher rates of criminality

Question 9

Labelling: Reiner (2000)

Answer 9

• Racist ‘canteen culture’ among police
• Permeated by macho values and racism

Question 10

Phillips & Bowling (2012): Indirect Racial Discrimination

Answer 10

• Mistrust of police - BAME community less likely than white offenders to cooperate with police
• Social position - more likely to demonstrate characteristics that make a remand in custody more likely than release on bail

Question 11

Phillips & Bowling (2012): Direct Racial Discrimination

Answer 11

• Stop & Search
• Institutional Racism
• Arrest charges & Court proceedings
• Discrimination in Sentencing
• Overrepresentation in Prison

Question 12

Institutional Racism

Answer 12

• Overrepresentation of Black people in CJS at all levels
• Legal system, police, and society are prejudiced against black people and look to punish/blame them
• Others believe individuals can hold racist opinions, but law and state are not prejudiced against anyone