100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Previously searched by you
Previously searched by you
logo
Summary AQA A-level Sociology Student Guide 3: Crime and deviance with theory and methods, ISBN: 9781510472440 Crime and Deviance £7.49
Add to cart
Quickly navigate to
Preview
  2.  
  3. AQA
  4.  
  5. A Level Sociology
  6.  
  7. Crime and Deviance

Summary

Summary AQA A-level Sociology Student Guide 3: Crime and deviance with theory and methods, ISBN: 9781510472440 Crime and Deviance
 0 purchase
  • Institution
  • AQA

Detailed textbook notes for Ethnicity, Crime and Justice for AQA ALevel Sociology, crime and deviance Detailed but concise and tailored to exam prep and questions

Preview 2 out of 5  pages

Document information

  • No
  • Ethnicity, crime and justice
  • June 30, 2021
  • 5
  • 2019/2020
  • Summary

Subjects

Connected book

book image

Book Title:

Author(s):

  • Edition:
  • ISBN:
  • Edition:

More summaries for

All for this textbook (9)

Written for

All documents for this subject (9)

Seller

avatar-seller
jessicarushton

Content preview

Topic 6 – Ethnicity, Crime and Justice:
Ethnicity and Criminalisation:
 According to official stats, black people are over-represented in the system
 They make up 3% of the population but 13.1% of the prison population
 Asians make up 6% of the population but 7.7% of the prison population
 In contrast, white people are under-represented at all stage of the criminal justice
system
 The ministry of Justice notes that black people are 7x more likely to be stopped and
searched, 3 ½x to be arrested and 5x to be in prison
Alternative Sources of Statistics:
Victim Surveys:
 The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) asks individuals to say what
crimes they have been victims of – can gain information about ethnicity and
offending from this
 They also show that a great deal of crime is intra-ethnic – takes place within rather
than between ethnic groups
 But victim surveys have several limitations;
 Rely on victim’s memories of events, only cover personal crimes (which are only
about 1/5 of all crimes), exclude crimes by and against organisations, so tell us
nothing about white collar crime
Self-Report Studies:
 Ask individuals to disclose their own dishonest and violent behaviour, Graham and
Bowling found that blacks (43%) and whites (44%) had very similar rates of
offending, while other ethnic minorities had much lower rates
 The findings of self-report studies challenge the stereotype of black people as being
more likely than whites to offend, but do support the view that Asians are less likely
to offend
 Overall, the evidence on ethnicity and offending is inconsistent – while official stats
and victim reports argue blacks are more likely to commit crime, this generally isn’t
shown by self-report studies

Ethnicity, Racism and the Criminal Justice System:
Stop and Search:
 Members of minority ethnic groups are more likely to be stopped and searched by
the police – police use this power if they have ‘reasonable suspicion’ of wrongdoing
 Under the Terrorism Act 2000, police can stop and search persons or vehicles
whether or not they have ‘reasonable suspicion’ – Asians are more likely to stopped
under this
 Philips and Bowling argue that members of minority ethnic groups are more likely
to think they are ‘over-policed and under-protected’ and to have little faith in the
police
Explaining Stop and Search Patterns:
 3 possible reasons for disproportionate use of stop and search against members of
minority ethnic groups

, o Police Racism; the MacPherson report, that investigated the murder of
Stephen Lawrence, argued that institutional racism was to blame, as well as
racism in individual officers
o Ethnic Differences in Offending; the disproportionality simply mirrors ethnic
differences in levels of offending but should distinguish between low
discretion and high discretion stops
 Low discretion – police acting on a specific offence; e.g. a victim’s
description of the offender
 High discretion – police acting without specific intelligence; this is
when police stereotypes are more likely
o Demographic Factors; ethnic minorities are over-represented in population
groups most likely to be stopped – the young, unemployed, manual workers
and urban dwellers
Prosecution and Trial:
 The Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for deciding whether a case should be
prosecuted in court – have to decide whether there is a realistic prospect of
conviction and if prosecution is in public interest
 Studies suggest that the CPS is more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities –
because the evidence presented to them is often weaker and based on stereotypes
 For cases that do go to trial, minority ethnic groups are more likely to elect for a trial
before a jury in Crown Court rather than a magistrates court, perhaps because of a
mistrust in the magistrate
Prison:
 In 2014, blacks were 4x more likely to be in prison than whites and black and Asians
offenders were more likely to be serving longer sentences (4 years+)
 In the whole prison population, all minority groups have a higher than average
population of prisoners on remand, because they are less likely to be granted bail
while awaiting trial
 Similar in other countries - in the US, 2 in 5 prisoners held in local jails are black,
while 1 in 5 is Hispanic




Explaining the Differences in Offending:
 Large-scale migration from the Caribbean and India started in the 1950s and until
the 1970s, there was general consensus that ethnic minorities had a lower offence
rate than the white population
 In the 1970s, conflict between the police and African-Caribbean’s, and high street
crime rates, meant that ‘black criminality’ started to be seen as a problem
 In the 1990s, the Asian population also began to be seen as a problem – the events of
9/11 led to widespread clashes between the police and Asian youth and helped to
crystallise the idea that Asians were an ‘enemy’
 2 main explanations for the differences
o Left realist; the stats represent real differences in rates of offending

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller jessicarushton. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for £7.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

64419 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 15 years now

Start selling
£7.49
  • (0)
Add to cart
Added