Crime and Deviance - Ethnicity, Crime and Justice

Question 1

What is the issue with use of official statistics in finding out about ethnic differences in offending rates?

Answer 1

They don’t tell us directly about the differences in offending, only the filtered perceptions of the criminal justice system; differences in stop and search rates may be due to police strategies of racism (Macpherson (1999))

Question 2

What do victim surveys tell us about ethnic differences in offending?

Answer 2

• Black people are significantly overrepresented in being identified as offenders of ‘mugging’ by victims
• A great deal of crime is also intra-ethnic

Question 3

What is the issue with victim surveys in regard to ethnicity?

Answer 3

• Phillips and Bowling (2012): white victims ‘over-identify’ black people as offenders even when not sure
• Only covers personal crimes, 20% of all crime
• Tell nothing about crime by and against organisations, such as white collar and corportae crime

Question 4

Graham and Bowling (1995) and ethnic differences in crime:

Answer 4

Using a self-report study, they find that Black and white people have a similar offending rate, ~45%, while South Asian people have a much lower offending rate (Indians having the highest at 30%)

Question 5

Sharp and Budd (2005) and class A narcotics:

Answer 5

White people participate in class A drugs like heroin and coke 3x more than black people and 6x more than Asians.

Question 6

Give three examples of oppressive policing, given by Phillips and Bowling (2012).

Answer 6

• Police violence
• Mass surveilance
• Failure to address racist crime

Question 7

How much more likely are Black people to be stopped and searched than White people?

Answer 7

According to a Parliament Comittee, black people are 9.5x more likely to be stopped and searched.

Question 8

What makes Asian people more likely to be stopped and searched?

Answer 8

Asians, specifically South Asians, have been disproportionately stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act 2000

Question 9

Phillips and Bowling (2007) and the effect of stop-and-search:

Answer 9

Members of affected communities have limited faith in the police and feel ‘over-policed and under-protected.’

Question 10

What are three possible explanations for ethnic differences in stops and searches?

Answer 10

• Police racism: Phillips and Bowling (2012) found that, reinforced by police ‘canteen culture’, officers deliberately targeted ethnic minorities due to negative stereotypes
• Ethnic differences in offending: it is important to note that officers only act on information in low discretion stops but discrimination is more likely in high discretion stops where they act without intelligence
• Demographic factors: Ethnic minorities are overepresented in other groups more likely to be stopped, such as the young, manual workers, or the unemployed.

Question 11

How are arrests and caustions affected by ethnicity? Why?

Answer 11

Black people are 3x more likely to be arrested but still less likely to recieve a caution. This may be due to distrust of the police leading many deny any offence and exercise right to legal council, making a caution impossible.

Question 12

What is the Crown Prosecution Service?

Answer 12

The government body that decides whether a case brought by the police has adequate evidence to go to court.

Question 13

Bowling and Phillips (2002) and the Crown Prosecution Service:

Answer 13

CPS is more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities as the evidence is seen as insufficient and often based on stereotyping.

Question 14

What type of trial is preferred by ethnic minorities? What is the result?

Answer 14

They often opt for trial by jury in a Crown Court rather than a magistrates’ court, fearing discrimination from a magistrate. However, Crown Courts can also give harsher sentences.

Question 15

How is sentencing for different ethnic groups perculiar?

Answer 15

Black and Asian defendants are less likely to be found guilty; however, they are also give much harsher sentences, Black and Asian men recieve 3 and 9 months more respectively than White men (Hood (1992)).

Question 16

Hudson and Bramhall (2005) and pre-sentence reports:

Answer 16

PSRs, provided to magistrates courts to asisst in sentencing, are less comprehensive for Asian defendants and often suggest that they are unremorseful, causing harsher sentencing. This reflects post-9/11 demonisation of Muslims.

Question 17

How does imprisonment reflect ethnic differences?

Answer 17

• Black people are 4x more likely to be in prison
• All minority ethnic groups have higher proportions of prisoners on remand (awaiting trial) as they are less likely to be granted bail

Question 18

What are the 5 main explanations for ethnic differences in offending?

Answer 18

• Lea and Young (1993): delinquent subcultures
• Gilroy (1979): resistance against racism
• Hall et al (1978): capitalist manipulation
• FitzGerald (2003): neighbourhoods
• Sharp and Budd (2005): more likely to get caught

Question 19

What is the core dispute between left realists and neo-marxists on ethnic differences in offending?

Answer 19

Left realists see stats as representing real differences in offending, neo-marxists see it as a social construction resulting from racial bias.

Question 20

What do Lea and Young (1993) disregard as an explanation for ethnic differences in offending?

Answer 20

Discriminatory policing:
- Over 90% of crime known to the police is reported by the public, the police lack the adequate knowledge to cause such a drastic difference
- Black people have a significantly higher rate of criminalisation than Asians so police would need to be incredibly selective

Question 21

Refute Lea and Young’s (1993) denial.

Answer 21

• Pre-9/11, Asians were viewed as passive (Wright (1997)) causing them to be arrested less; however, since, we have seen increasing arrests of Asians due to Islamaphobia

Question 22

Why do Lea and Young (1993) see black people as more vulnerable to crime?

Answer 22

Black people are disproportionately affected by all the main causes of crime: societal racism causes marginalisation and inhibits them from lifting themselves out of poverty, exacerbating relative depravation. A response to this is the formation of subcultures that commit utilitarian crime to reduce relative depravation and non-utilitarian crime to vent frustrations at the system.

Question 23

Give a criticism of Lea and Young (1993).

Answer 23

The entire theory depends on the idea that official statistics are entirly valid reflections of offending rates but these are also informed by racism: Phillips and Bowling (2012) find that white victims over-identify black people as offenders even when uncertain.

Question 24

Gilroy (1982) and racial resistance:

Answer 24

Ethnic minority crime is a form of political resistance against a white supremacist UK, utilising the same forms of struggles that their ancestors utilised against imperialism and colonialism. This political struggle is a threat to white supremacy so is criminalised.

Question 25

How many people were arrested in the George Floyd Protests in the UK?

Answer 25

More than 135

Question 26

Give 2 criticisms of Gilroy (1982)

Answer 26

Lea and Young (1993) give two criticisms: - First-generation immigrants were law-abiding and often held positive views of the UK so likely did not pass down traditions of anti-colonial struggle - Most crime is intra-ethnic, not very revolutionary. They argue that Gilroy romanticises ethnic crime with little regard for its actual effects.

Question 27

Hall et al (1978) and policing the crisis:

Answer 27

During crises, where peole are more likely to turn against capitalism, the ruling class will present an alternative boogeyman to blame and to legitimise their use of force to maintain control. In the 70's, amidst high inflation and unemployment, this was the black 'mugger' whose increasing prevalence (a myth) was blamed, dividing the working-class on racial divisions and legitimising increased policing. However, this crisis was also pushing many black people into crime as a means of survival.

Question 28

Give a criticism of Hall et al (1978)?

Answer 28

Downes and Rock (2011): Hall inconsistently claims both that the 'mugging crisis' was fictional and that black people were pushed into crime by the crisis of capitalism.

Question 29

FitzGerald et al (2003) and neigbourhoods:

Answer 29

They found that crime is most common in deprived areas with high contact with affluent groups; although young black people were most likely to live in these areas, offending rates of black and white people in these areas was similar. Ethnicity is not the direct causal factor, but poverty is more common which causes crime.

Question 30

Sharp and Budd (2005) and getting caught:

Answer 30

Black people are more likely to be caught because of multiple things that raise the 'visibility' to authorities: - More likely to commit crimes where they can be identified (robbery) - Be excluded from school - Associate with known criminals

Question 31

Give 3 official statistics on ethnicity and victimisation.

Answer 31

- Police recorded more than 50,000 racist incidents in 2014 - The CSEW estimate 35,000 more went unreported - Police recorded 40,000 racially or religiously aggravated offences, only 20% were cautioned or prosecuted

Question 32

CSEW (2015) and ethnicity and victimsation:

Answer 32

- Mixed: 28% - Black: 18% - Asian: 16% - White: 15.5%

Question 33

Why may ethnic minorities be more likely to be victimised?

Answer 33

- Intra-racial crime - More likely to be part of groups affected by crim (young, unemployed, etc.). However this can be due to racism, such as job discrimination.

Question 34

Sampson and Phillips (1992) and racist victimisation:

Answer 34

Stats fail to capture the experience of racist victimisation, it can be ongoing with multiple 'minor' instances with periodic physical violence, causing long-term psychological harm that stats don't account for.

Question 35

How are minority ethnic communities more responsive to victimisation?

Answer 35

Responses can range from situational crime prevention like fireproof doors and letterboxes or crime mitigation like self-defence classes to defend against racist violence. This is due to the lack of faith they hold in the police's ability to discourage and solve crime.

Question 36

Macpherson (1999) and racism:

Answer 36

The investigation of the death of Stephen Lawrence was was ‘marred by... incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers’.

Question 37

Give a way that the police failed to adequately investigate the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Answer 37

The Head Detective claimed they didn't investigate the suspect's house for four days as he didn't know an arrest could be made under reasonable suspicion, a basic fact of law.