Ethnicity and Criminalisation
- Created by: chocolateflavouredmilk
- Created on: 02-03-20 09:13
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- Ethnicity and Criminalisation
- Black people and to a lesser extent Asians, are over-representative in the system
- White people are under-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system
- Victim Surveys
- We can gain information about ethnicity and offending from such surveys when they ask victims to identify the ethnicity of the person who committed the crime against them
- Victim surveys also show that a great deal of crime is intra-ethnic - it takes place within ethnic groups.
- Self-Report Studies
- Graham and Bowling found that blacks and whites had similar rates of offending, while Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis had much lower rates.
- The findings of self-report studies challenge the stereotype of black people s being more likely than whites to offend.
- Policing
- Phillips and Bowling note that since the 1970s there have been many allegations of oppressive policing of minority ethnic communities.
- Stop and Search
- Members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police.
- Compared wit white people, black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched and Asian people over twice as likely.
- Under the Terrorism Act 2000, police can stop and search persons or vehicles whether or not they have reasonable.
- Explaining Stop and Search Patterns
- There are three possible reasons for the disproportionate use of stop and search against members of minority ethnic groups
- Police Racism: Phillip and Bowling argue that many officers hold negative stereotypes bout ethnic minorities.
- Ethnic Differences in Offending: stops and searches reflect ethnic differences in levels of offending.
- Low discretion stops, police acts on relevant information about a specific offence.
- High discretion stops, police act without specific intelligence, these stops are normally based on streotypes.
- Demographic Factors: ethnic minorities are over-represented in the population group of people being stopped and searched, such as the young, the unemployed, manual workers and urban dwellers.
- There are three possible reasons for the disproportionate use of stop and search against members of minority ethnic groups
- Arrests and Caution
- This may be because members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to deny the offence and to exercise their right to legal advice
- The arrest rate in 2014/15 for blacks was three times the rate for whites.
- However, not admitting to the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged instead.
- Prosecution and Trial
- The CPS decides whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and whether prosecution is in the public interest.
- CPS is more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities.
- Bowling and Phillips argue this may be because the evidence presented by the police is often based on stereotyping.
- Members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to elect for trial before a jury in the Crown Court, rater than a magistrates court, perhaps due to mistrust f magistrates impartiality.
- Convictions and Sentencing
- Black and Asian defendants re less likely to be found guilty which suggests discrimination.
- Black offenders have imprisonment rates three percentage points higher, and Asian offenders five points higher than white offenders.
- Pre-Sentence Reports
- Hudson and Branwell argue that PSRs allow for unwitting discrimination.
- They found that reports on Asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested that they were less remorseful than white offenders.
- Prison
- in 2014, just over a quarter of the prison population were minority ethnic groups.
- Blacks were four times more likely to be in prison than whites, and black and Asians are more likely than whites to be serving longer sentences.
- All minority groups have a higher than average proportion of prisoners awaiting trial, this is because ethnic minorities are less likely to be granted bail while awaiting trial.l
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