Ethnicity and criminalisation Flashcards
(26 cards)
Victim Surveys: alternative source of statistics
- CSEW asks individuals what crimes they’ve been victims of, which tells us about ethnicity as victims will specify who
committed the crime against them. - EG: black people are overrepresented by victims as offender of mugging.
- Victim surveys show us that crime is intra-ethnic (happens within groups rather than between them)
limitations of vicitm surveys
- Only cover personal crimes (1/5 of all crime)
- Phillips & Bowling (2012)- white victims over-identify blacks as offenders.
- Excludes crimes by/against organisations (telling us nothing about the ethnicity of white collar/corporate criminals).
Self Report studies as a alternative source of statistics
These ask individuals to disclose crimes they’ve committed.
* Graham & Bowling (1995)- found ethnic offending differences in 2,500 people: white 44%, black 43%, Indian 30%, Pakistani 28%
and Bangladeshi 13%.
* Sharpe & Budd (2005)- 2003 Offending, Crime and Justice survey
found 40% of white and mixed ethnic origin admitted to a crime, black 28% and Asian 21%.
* Self-report study findings challenge the stereotypes that black people offend the most, and support the view that Asians offend very little.
Stop and Search: Ethnicity , racism and the cjs
Police can use powers of stop and search is they have ‘reasonable
suspicion’ of wrongdoing- minority ethnic groups are stopped and searched more.
* In 2020, blacks were 9x and Asians were over 2x more likely to be sopped and searched than whites.
* Stats show Asians are searched under the Terrorism Act 2000 more than other people.
* In 2019, blacks were 4x more likely to have force used against them by Met Police officers, and 5x more likely to have taser-like devices used on them.
* Phillips & Bowling (2007)- members of these communities therefore feel over-policed and under-protected, having no faith in the police.
three reasons for stop and search patterns
Police racism- the 1999 Macpherson report investigated
the murder of Stephen Lawrence, concluded the Met Police is institutionally racist.
thre* Ethnic differences in offending- stop and search
differences simply reflect the different levels of ethnic
offending.
- Demographic factors- minority groups are over-
represented in groups who are often stopped, like
unemployed, young and manual workers. Even though
these are stopped regardless of ethnicity, they have a high proportion of ethnic minorities- therefore making
minorities the ones who are stopped more.
Arrests and Cautions: ethnicity ,racism and cjs
- 2019 England & Wales figs show blacks arrest rates being 3x
higher than whites. - Black and Asian arrestees are less likely to get just a caution.
- This may be because minority groups are more likely to deny
the offence and exercise their right to legal aid (as they don’t
trust the police)- not admitting means you can’t get away
with a caution.
Prosecutions and trial: ethnicty racism and the cjs
The CPS decides if the police’s case can be taken to trial by judging
the chance of prosecution and if it’s in public interest.
* Studies suggest the CPS is more likely to drop cases with ethnic
minorities.
* Phillips & Bowling (2002)- this is because CPS see police evidence
as weak due to it being based on racist stereotypes.
* Minorities are more likely to elect for the trial to be at Crown Court
due to doubting magistrate’s impartiality.
Convictions and sentencing: ethnicity racism and the cjs
This means blacks and Asians are less likely to be found guilty,
which suggests discrimination- where the police/CPS bring in weak
cases that are thrown out by court.
* Black offender have an imprisonment rate 1 percentage point
higher and Asians 3.4 higher than whites- could be due to previous
convictions or more serious offences.
Prison: Ethnicity racism and the CJS
In 2021, blacks were over
4x more likely to be in
prison than whites, with
blacks and Asians serving
longer sentences than
them too.
* They are also most likely
to be prisoners on remand
due to being less likely to
be granted bail.
Pre sentence reports:ethnicity racism and the cjs
Hudson & Bramhall
(2005)- argue racist
attitudes in these
reports can lead to
higher conviction
rates, like how the
reports labelled
Asians/Muslims as
unremorseful after
9/11.
two main explanations for ethnic differences in statisitics
left realism -the statistics represent real differences in rates of offending
neo marxism-the statistics are social construct resulting from racist labelling and discrimination in the CJS
Left realism explaining ethnic differences in offending
(1993)- argues ethnic differences in stats reflect real
differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic
groups.
* Left realists argue that racism led to marginalising and
economically excluding ethnic minorities, who face more riskof poverty, unemployment and poor housing.
* The media’s emphasis on consumerism leads to a sense of relative deprivation, and many are unable to reach the materialistic gaols legitimately.
* Lea & Young argue one response from unemployed black males is delinquent subcultures, which raise levels of utilitarian crime like theft in order to resolved relative
deprivation.
* Because these groups are marginalised and have no one to represent their interests, they release their frustrations
through non-utilitarian crime like violence/rioting.
analysis and eval for left realism explanaition of enthnic differences
Lea & Young acknowledge that the police acts in racist ways, which unjustly criminalises minority groups. However, they don’t believes discriminatory
policing fully explains the differences in stats.
* EG: 90% of crimes known to police are reported by the public rather than police finding them themselves. Even if police act discriminatory here, this can’t
account for the ethnic differences in the statistics.
* Lea & Young also argue that we can’t explain differences in minorities in terms of police racism. EG: black people have higher rates of criminalisation than
Asians- police would have to be very selective in their racism to cause such big stat differences.
conclude of left realist argument of etrhnic differneces
Therefore, Lea & Young conclude that
the stats represent real differences in
the levels of offending in different
ethnic groups, which are caused by
different levels of relative deprivation
and marginalisation in groups.
* However- Lea & Young are criticised
for their role in police racism. The
differences in Black and Asian
offending are different because police
stereotype them differently- blacks as
dangerous, Asians as passive.
neo marxists argue
Unlike left realists, Neo-Marxists argue that the differences in statistics are
the outcome of a process of social construction that stereotypes minority
ethnic groups as inherently more criminal than others.
Gilroy:myth of black criminality(neo marxists)
- Argues that black criminality is a myth created by racists stereotypes about African Caribbean and Asian people.
- Minority ethnic groups come to be criminalised and appear more in official statistics all because of the police and CJS acting on these racist stereotypes.
- Gilroy argues that minority ethnic crime is a form of political resistance against racist stereotypes. As most black/Asian people originated in former British colonies, their anti-imperialist struggles taught them to fight oppression through riots and demonstrations- which is what they do now when facing racism in Britain, though this time they’re criminalised for it.
However Lea and young criticis gilroy on several grounds
First-gen immigrants in the ‘50s-60s were very law-abiding, they’re not likely to have passed down a tradition of anti-
colonial struggle.
- Most crime is intra-ethnic, so it can’t be a fight against racism. Lea & Young argues Gilroy romanticises street crime as revolutionary when it’s not.
asian crime reates are similar to or lower than for whites if gilroy were right then the police are only racist towards black people and not asians which seems unlikely
Neo Marixst:Hall et al :policing the crisis
They argue that the 1970s saw a moral panic over black ‘muggers’,
which served the interests of capitalism.
* Capitalism at the time was in crisis, high inflation and rising unemployment provoke industrial unrest and strikes.
* The ruling class needed to use force to maintain control, but this force needs to look legitimate so further opposition isn’t provoked.
* The black muggers moral panic was media driven, highlighting this new crime ‘mugging’.
* Hall et al note there wasn’t a significant rise at the time, though the media, police and politicians soon associated muffing with black youths.
* They argues that this made black people a scapegoat that distracted us from the true cause of problems like unemployment- capitalism in crisis. The WC were therefore divided and less of a threat to capitalism.
* Hall et al argue the crisis marginalised blacks and raised their unemployment, which is why they turned to petty crime to survive.
criticisms of hall et al
left realists argue that inner city residnents fear about mugging are not panicky but realsitic
they do not show how the capitalist crisis led to a moral panic nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking or blaming crime on black youth
More recent appraoches for ethnic diffences in Crime rates
Neighburhood: Fitzgerald examine the role of neighbourhood faactors ine xplaining the apparently greater involvement of black youths in stret robbery.They found that rates were highest in very poor areas and also where very deprived young people came into contact with more affluent gorups. young black poele were mroe likely to live in these areas and tob be poor. however black people more likely to live in poor areas because of racial discrimination in housing and job markets
Getting caught: some groups runa greater risk of being cauht.Sharp and Budd found black fofendors were more likely than white offendors to be arrested.Reasons included that they were more likely to commit crimes sucha s robbery where victims can identify them self and be excluded and associate with known criminals which are factors that raised visibility to authorities
factors raised to visibility to authoritiees
commiting crimes such as robberies-where victims can identify them
excluded from school
asssociate with known criminls
Racist victimisation
is where an individual is selected as a target because of their race, ethnicity or religion.
* This idea was brought to more attention after the racist murder of Stephen
Lawrence and the 1999 Macpherson report.
Info on racist victimisation comes for victim surveys like CSEW and police-recorded
statistics, which cover:
- Racist incidents- any incident perceived to be racist by the victim or another.
- Racially or religiously aggravated offences- offender is motivated by hostility
towards members of a racial or religious group.
Extent of Victimisation
In 2019/20, there were 76,000 race hate crimes and
6,800 religious hate crimes in England/Wales.
* Most incidents go unreported, the CSEW estimates
there were actually 104,000 racially motivated
incidents and 42,000 religious ones in 2019/20.
* There are ~60,000 racially aggravated offences per
year.
