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Ethnicity and Crime - Coggle Diagram
Ethnicity and Crime
Institutional Racism
MacPherson Report:
Investigated the Stephen Lawrence murder and found severe police failings. Police didn't acknowledge racist motives of killers, no prosecution until 19 years later, ignored key evidence, including video footage of the gang planning how they would kill a black man.
Report described the Met Police as ‘institutionally racist’. Problems not due to a "few bad apples", its policies and procedures were racist.
- Stop and Search Stats:
- 2010: 118/1000 black people stopped and searched, with even higher rates for Black Caribbeans and Black other groups, compared to 18/1000 white people stopped and searched.
- 2020: 53/1000 black people stopped and searched, 7.5/1000 white people.
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- Prison Stats: Ministry of Justice (2013):
- Black people make up 3% of the population but 13% of the prison population- disproportionate.
- White people make up 88% of population but 74% of those in prison- underrepresented
- Arrest Stats
- Black people are arrested at a much higher rate than other ethnicities.
- Arrest rates per 1000 in 2017:
- White: 11, Black: 38, Mixed: 20
- 2011 Census: ethnic minorities are hugely underrepresented within the police force:
- Asian: 3% (7% of population)
- Black: 1% (3%)
- White: 93% (88%)
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Measuring Crime
Interpretivists: Official crime statistics are a social construct- they're based on police statistics and this only measures what the police record, not an accurate picture of real crime. Fantasy crime waves can be created based on increased police activity or crackdowns and give illusions of increased crime= not representative of actual crime.
Dark Figure of Crime: Crime stats miss out a wide range of criminal activity that is not recorded. Most recorded crime is reported to the police by victims/ witnesses but many people do not even report the crime. This can be due to: fear of reprisal, think complaint won't be taken seriously, resolve issue outside of police, don't even realise they have been a victim of crime. Some criminal behaviour is "victimless" and victims are dispersed= no one reports activity e.g. corporate crime, fraud.
Crime Survey of England and Wales: victim survey where a representative sample of the public is asked about crimes they have been victim to in past 12 months. Captures some of the dark figure of crime but is not comprehensive, depends on memory, victims' prejudice and stereotypes can impact data.
In 2014 the Office for National Statistics removed their "gold standard" from police statistics as they were deemed unreliable due to inconsistencies in recording and even deliberate alteration of statistics= biased, not true reflection
Right Realism/ New Right
Triple Quandary Theory
Lack of a father figure:
- Many black boys are brought up in SPFs headed by mothers. They lack discipline when growing up, making them more vulnerable to peer pressure. This is why a disproportionate amount of black boys turn to gang culture which largely encourages violence and materialist displays of wealth=CRIME
Sewell: Right Realist who identifies 3 quandaries that are responsible for high crime rates amongst black boys:
Negative experience of white culture:
- Black boys are frustrated with their experience of school, policing and employer racism. This frustration is channelled into to crime.
Media
- Street culture is valued more than education and jobs
- Because of their lack of father figure, they are more influenced by media role models such as rap and hip hop stars where status can be achieved via 2 ways:
- Acquisition of status-symbol designer items.
- Construction of a hyper-masculine identity based around violence
Black families= more likely to be female-headed lone parent families= lack of male role model, more welfare dependency, workless culture= more crime.(Murray, Moynihan)
Functionalists
Strain Theory, Subcultural Theory (Cohen, Cloward&Ohlin)- black people likely to suffer from strain due to underachievement in school, not given status, denied social mobility through legitimate means, turn to deviant subcultures or illegitimate opportunity structures.
Bonds of attachment (Hirschi): new and first-gen immigrants often live in transient communities in inner cities where there are few tight-knit communities= less attachment, more crime
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Evaluation
Waddington et al (2004): While crime stats may be disproportionate to the whole population, they are proportionate to the available population. Those on the street at the time of s&s aren't going to be reflective of the whole of society- more likely to be young adults, ethnic minorities. Thus, it is not a matter of police discrimination- it is about the people available to be stopped.
Self report studies show black and white people have near-identical rates of offending- thus it is police reporting that is perhaps discriminatory which inflates ethnic minority crime. (However people will not always be honest about their crimes so this has less validity)
Two main explanations for ethnic differences in crime:
- Realism: argue statistics show a REAL difference in rates of offending
- Neo-Marxism: crime statistics are a social CONSTRUCT resulting from racist labelling and stereotyping of minorities, they do not reflect reality.