Ethnicity & Crime

Large scale migrations from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent began in the 1950's. 

Until 1970's - general agreement that the minority ethnic communities had lower rates of offending than the white population. 

Mid-1970's - increased conflict between the police and the Afro-Caribbean community and higher arrests for street crime means black criminality increasingly seen as a problem. 

Official statistics on the CJS process show differences between ethnic groups 

Victim Survery - Shows a lot of crimes are intra-ethnic. They identify patterns in offending. It relies on the victims memory and exludes white collar crime. 

Self-report studies - Challenge the stereotypes of Blacks being more likely to offend. They are less likely to tell the truth and put their ethnicity due to being identified. 

Institutional Racism is racism imbedded in an institution, such as the CJS that operates in a racist way. 

Official statistics DO represent real differences in rates of offending

Media increases awareness of materialistic goals that many minority groups are unable to reach, especially young black males. High theft rates of ulitatian crimes for coping with relative deprivation

Lea & Young: Police do act in racist ways that can result in unjustified criminalisation of minority groups. However, they don't believe discriminatory policing can fully explain the differences in offending. 90% crimes reported by the public to the police. 

:( - It is due to dangerous stereotypes of Blacks. Asians didn't have high offence rates until 9/11 when they were first labelled as dangerous rather than passive. 

The differences in statistics don't reflect reality. They are an outcome of social construction that stereotypes ethnic minorities as inherently more criminal than the majority of the population. 

Gilroy - Black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of Afro-Caribbeans' and Asians. Minority crime is seen as a form of political resistance and has its roots in earlier struggles of British Imperialism. taught them how to resist oppression to defend themselves. W/c crime is a political act of resistance to capitalism. 

:( - Lea & Young = First generation immigrants 1950/60's - law-abiding, unlikley that they passed down a tradition of anti-colonial struggle to their children.

:( - Asian crime rates are similar to or lower than Whites.  If Gilroy were right, then the police are only racist towards Blacks, not Asians, which seems unlikely. 

Hall - 1970's Moral panic over black mugging, served interest of capitalism. It came ot symbolise disintegration of social order. Presenting Black youths as a threat to society, it served to divide w/c on racial grounds and weaken the opposition to capitalism, winning popular consent of Authoritarian rules used to suppress opposition.

Blacks 10x more likely to be stopped and searched than Whites due to stereotypes. Asians are 2x more likely. 

Mixed ethnic groups are at higher risk of becoming a victim. 

Terrorism act 2000 - Police can stop and search anyone or vehicle without reasonable suspicion. - Asians demonised = ethnic minorities feel accussed or attached. 

Neo-marxists would say that official statistics are socially constructed due to stereotypes. 

CSEW 2015 - Arrest rates for Blacks 3x more than Whites. 

Black and Asian defendants are more likely to be found not guilty - discrimination (weak cases).

Bowling & Phillips: Oppressive policing of ethnic minorites due to stereotypes.

Sharp and Budd: Some groups are at greater risk of getting caught committing a crime. Blacks are more likely to commit crimes such as robbery where their victims can easily identify them. School exclusions or association with known criminals makes them more visible/ targeted by police. 

Hood and Fitzgerald: Crime rates highest in poor places where deprived young people come into contact with more affluent groups. Both whites and Blacks. Ethnicity is not a cause. Blacks are more likely to live in poor areas due to racial discrimination, in housing and job markets.