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ETHNICITY & CRIME - Coggle Diagram
ETHNICITY & CRIME
STOP & SEARCH
- Members of MEGs are more likely to be stopped and searched by police
- police can use this power if they have 'reasonable suspicion' of wrong doing
- only a small proportion of stop and searches result in arrest
- under the terrorism act 2000 police can stop and search vehicles whether they have reasonable suspicion or not
- compared with white people, in 2020 black people were 9 times more likely to be stopped and searched
- Asian people over twice as likley to be s&s
- Asians more likely to be s&s under the terrorism act
- black people 4 times more likely to have force used against them by met police officers
- black people 5 times more likely to have taser devices used on them (GRIERSON 2020)
- Its therefore unsurprising that members of MEGs are less likely to think the police are acting politely when stopping them, or to think they were stopped fairly
- PHILIPS AND BOWLING note that members of these communities are more likely to think they are over-policed and under protected, and have limited faith in the police
EXPLAINING S&S PATTERNS:
POLICE RACISM :
- Macpherson report of racist murder of Stephen Lawrence concluded there was institutional racism within met polic
- PHILIPS AND BOWLING point out many officers hold negative stereotypes about MEGs as criminals leading to deliberate targeting for s&s
- stereotypes upheld by 'canteen culture's officers
ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN OFFENDING:
- Disproportionality in stop and searches simply reflects ethnic differences in levels of offending
- LOW DISCRETION STOPS: police act on relevant information about a specific offence.g victims description of offender
- HIGH DISCRETION STOPS: [police act without specific intelligence (officers most likely use their stereotypes, disproportionality ad discrimination)
DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS:
- most EM groups are overrepresented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped
- E.G young unemployed manual workers more likely to be stopped regardless of ethnicity but they are also groups who have a higher proportion of EMs so therefore minorities get stopped more
STATISTICS
- Black people overrepresented- they make up 3% of population, 13% of prison population
- Asian people overrepresented- they make up 6.9% of population but 8% of prison population
- VICTIM SURVEYS:
- e.g CSEW, ask individuals what crimes they have been victims of
- we gain info about ethnicity and offending as individuals are asked ethnicity of the perpetrator
- E.G in case of muggings, black people are overrepresented among those identified by victims as offenders
- also show that a great deal of crime is intra-ethnic within ethnic groups , not between
LIMITATIONS:
- Rely on victims memory of events (PHILIPS AND BOWLING say white victims may over identify black suspects even when they are not sure
- only cover personal crimes (1/5 of all crimes)
- exclude under 10s ( MEGs contain higher proportion of young people)
- exclude white collar and corporate crime
- SELF REPORT STUDIES
- ask individuals to disclossentheir ow dishonest and violent behaviour
- the findings of self report studies challenge the stereotype of black people as more likely than white people to offend
- SHARP AND BUDD note that the crime survey of 12 000 people found 40% of white and those of mixed ethnic origins said they had commited an offence, but only 28% back people and 21% asians
supports widely held view that asians are less likely to offend
- overall evidence on ethnicity and offending is inconsistent (official statistics and victims surveys point to higher offending rates by black people, whereas self report surveys suggest different
PROSECUTION AND TRIAL
- Crown prosecution service is the body responsible for deciding whether a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court
- the CPS must decide ehether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and whether prosecution is in the public interest
- Studies suggest the CPS is more likely not drop cases against MEGs
- BOWLING & PHILLIPS argue this may be because the evidence presented to the CPS by police is weaker and based on stereotyping MEGs as criminals
- When cases do go ahead members of MEGs are more likely to elect for trial before a jury in the crown court rather than in a magistrates court perhaps due to mistrust of magistrates fairness
- however crown courts can impose more severe sentences if convicted
ARRESTS AND CAUTIONS
- Figures for England and Wales show that in 2018/19 the arrest rate for black people was over 3 times the rate for white people
- Black and Asian arrestees were less likely than white arrestees to receive a caution
- one reason for this may be that members of MEGs new more likely to deny the offence and to exercise their right to legal advice (possibly out of mistrust for the police)
- However not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged instead
-
PRE-SENTENCE REPORTS
- One possible reason for harsher sentences is the pre-sentence reports(PSRs) written by probation officers
- A PSR is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding on the appropriate sentence to give
- However HUDSON AND BRAMHALL argue that PSPs allow for unwitting discrimination
- They found that reports on asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested they ere less remorseful than white offenders
- they place this bias in context of the 'demonising' of muslims in the wake of the events on 11 September 2001
PRISON
- In 2021 just over a 1/4 of the prison population were MEGs
- Black people were almost 4 times more likely to be in prison than white people
- Black and Asian offenders are more likely than white offenders to be serving longer sentences (of 4+ years)
- Within the prison population all minority groups have a higher average proportion of prisoners on remand(awaiting trial rather than serving sentence)
- This is because defendants from MEGs are less likely to be granted bail awaiting trial
POLICING
- PHILLIPS AND BOWLING note since 1970s there has been many allegations of oppressive policing of MEGs inducing:
- mass stop and search operations
- excessive surveillance
- armed raids
- police violence
- ineffective responses to racist violence