Ethnicity, Crime and Justice

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  • Created by: Om4r
  • Created on: 11-06-19 08:51
What are the 2 major differences between ethnic groups in relation to crime?
Their prevalence within the criminal justice system and The risk of being a victim of crime
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Which 2 ethnic groups are the most over-represented in our criminal justice system?
Black People and Asians
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What % of the overall population do Black people account for compared to the prison population?
2.8% overall population - 11% of prison population
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What % of the overall population do Asians account for compared to the prison population?
4.7% overall population - 6% prison population
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Which group of people are under-represented in the criminal justice system?
White people
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How many times are white people likely to be stopped and searched compared to Black people?
White people 7x less likely
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How many times are white people likely to be arrested compared to black people?
3.5x less likely
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How many times are white people likely to be in prison compared to black people?
5x less likely
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What is the problem with these official statistics?
They give us number but not reasons
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What might sociologists use to try and understand the official statistics on ethnicity and crime?
Victim surveys
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What is a Victim survey?
Where people are asked what crimes they have been a victim of and can identify the ethnicity of the offender
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What do Victim surveys often reveal?
That crime is often Intra-ethnic
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What statistic supports the idea that crime is often Intra-specific?
British crime survey- 90% of crime where victim was white, one of the perpetrators was also white
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What are the Criticisms of Victim surveys?
Victims often over identify black people and it only covers personal crime which only accounts for 1/5 of all crimes
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What are Victim surveys criticised for excluding?
White collar crime
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What may sociologists use instead of Victim surveys?
Self-report studies
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What is a self-report study?
Where individuals anonymously disclose their own crimes
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What did Self-report studies find about ethnic rates of offending?
Black and White people have similar rates of offending around 43% and Asians had lower rates
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What stereotype do Self-report studies challenge?
The stereotype of black being more likely to offend than white people
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What stereotype do Self-report studies maintain?
The stereotype of law-abiding Asians
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What is the problem with Self report studies?
Some people over-represent and exaggerate their crimes and not everyone admits to crime so there are many people out there who haven't been recorded
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Why is it difficult to draw definitive conclusions on ethnicity and crime?
Due to the discrepancy between official statistics and self-report studies
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What has increased since the 1970s?
Oppressive Policing of ethnic minorities
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What do police require for a stop and search?
A reasonable suspicion
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Which groups are stopped more often?
Black people stopped more than white people
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What has increased since the Terrorism act in 2000?
The number of Asians stopped has increased
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Why might have stop and search rates on Ethnic minorities increased?
Due to Police racism
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What Major news outbreak supports the theory of Institutional Racism?
The Macpherson Report in 1999 after the death of Steven Lawrence
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What does the death of Steven Lawrence suggest?
That there's a Canteen culture of racist stereotyping within the Police
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What other reasons might there be a difference in offending?
Due to Demographics
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How may Demographics explain differences in stop and search patterns?
Young, unemployed, manual workers are more likely to be stopped regardless of ethnicity but these groups are more prevalent amongst ethnic minorities
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Which group of people are more likely to be prosecuted?
White people
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Why is the Crown prosecution service (CPS) more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities?
Because the evidence presented to CPS by police is often weaker and based on stereotyping of ethnic minorities as criminals
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What % of white defendants were convicted in 2006?
60%
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What % of Black defendants were convicted in 2006?
52%
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What % of Asian defendants were convicted in 2006?
44%
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What do the percentages of convictions suggest?
There's discrimination, Police and CPS may be bringing weaker or less serious cases against Ethnic minorities that are thrown out by the courts
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In 2006, how many Black, White and Asian offenders received custodial sentences?
68% Black, 55% White, 59% Asian
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What may these differences in Custodial Sentences be due to?
Differences in the Seriousness of the offences
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How likely is it for Black men to receive a custodial sentence on average 3 months longer than white men?
5% more likely
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How likely is it for Black people to be in prison compared to white people?
5x more likely for black people to be in prison compared to white people
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Why do all minority groups have a higher than average proportion of prisoners awaiting trial?
Because ethnic minorities are less likely to be granted bail while awaiting trial compared to white people
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Why do Left realists believe Black people have a higher crime rate?
Because of their level of relative deprivation, marginalisation , social exclusion and alienation
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What do left realists reject the effect of?
Police racism, it doesn't actually exist, higher crime rates due to what they are experiencing
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What do left-realists argue about racists and stop and search figures?
If the Police are racist, they wouldn't just stop in particular Black and Asian groups but all different ethnicity because racists aren't selectively racist
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What does the Left-realist argument about police racism lead them to believe?
There must be real differences between these groups and their levels of deprivation
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How is this left realist view criticised?
Rates of Asians may be lower due to police stereotypes not because they're less likely to offend e.g. Black people viewed as aggressive and Asians as passive
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What would Neo-Marxists argue about Crime Statistics?
They don't accurately reflect reality, but are a social construction that stereotypes ethnic minorities as inherently more criminal
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What does Gilroy believe about Black Criminality?
It's a myth, ethnic minority crime is a form of political resistance against the imperialism of the past and the racism of the present
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How is Gilroy's view criticised?
Crime is intra-ethnic so they're victimising their own people
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What do the Neo-Marxist's Stuart Hall et AL. believe about crime statistics?
They cause a moral panic over rising crime by ethnic minorities which serves to distract attention away from the crisis of capitalism
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How many racist incidents did the Police record v.s. the estimated number of racists incidents?
Recorded=54k, Estimated by the British crime survey=89k
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Which ethnic group is at a higher risk of being the victim of crime?
People from mixed backgrounds
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What ethnic group are less likely to be the victims of crime?
White people
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What % of Mixed Ethnicity people are at higher risk of being victims of crime compared to white people?
27.9% mixed, 15.7% white
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What may be another factor influencing the differences in Statistics of Victimisation?
Partly due to being young,male and unemployed. If an ethnic group has a higher proportion of these people then they are more likely to be a victim
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Why are Ethnic minorities in general more likely to be victims?
Because they are over policed and under protected
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What context from the mid 1970s might explain the differences in offending?
Increased conflict between police and African Caribbean community and higher arrests for street crime meant that 'Black Criminality' became increasingly seen as a problem
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What context from the 1990s might explain differences in offending for Asians?
They began to be seen as a problem and Media provoked concerns about the growth of Asian Gangs
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What events in 2001 might explain the differences in offending for Asians?
Widespread clashes between the police and Asian youths in towns in Northern England as well as 9/11 Islamic terrorist attack helped crystallise the Asian image especially Muslims as 'an enemy within' threatening public order and saftey
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Which 2 ethnic groups are the most over-represented in our criminal justice system?

Back

Black People and Asians

Card 3

Front

What % of the overall population do Black people account for compared to the prison population?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What % of the overall population do Asians account for compared to the prison population?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Which group of people are under-represented in the criminal justice system?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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