Summary
Summary Theories on crime and ethnicty
- Institution
- AQA
Are crime statistics accurate and reliable? Does ethnicity influence an individual's likelihood of committing a crime?
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Labelling, stereotypes and racism in the CJSLabelling theorists and Marxists argue that the statistics suggesting black and Asian people
are more likely to be offenders than white people are misleading
Maybe the result of selective law enforcement and racism
From this point of view, the link between crime and ethnic minorities is socially constructed
fabrication- a product of racial prejudice and discrimination against black people and Asians
by the police and the criminal justice agencies.
Philips and Bowling suggest evidence of racial discrimination is shown in 2 ways :
1. indirect racial discrimination
-mistrust of the police- minority ethnic groups less likely to cooperate with the police
and less likely to admit offences during an interview before trial. Refusing to admit
means they are ineligible for caution or reduced sentence
-social position- minority ethnic groups are more likely than white offenders to display
the social characteristics which make a remand in custody bc they may be more
likely to abscond.
2. Direct racial discrimination
Stop and search-black and Asian fit place stereotype and maybe targetted for
heavier policing. Many stop and searches are based on unjustified
assumptions and racial stereotypes rather than reasonable suspicion
This contribution to the unfair criminalisation of ethnic minorities
Institutional racism - highlighting by the death of Stephen Lawrence resulting
in the MacPherson report
Arrest, charging court proceedings- police appeal to arrest and charge without sufficient
evidence. CPS more likely to drop a case against EM bc they don’t have enough evidence,
therefore, can’t prosecute
Discrimination in sentencing- Black and Asian offender given a prison sentence
(longer)
Overrepresentation in prison- disproportionate rates of imprisonment for people from
EM
Phillips & Bowling cite evidence showing that on prison EM prisoners face a more
brutal regime eg abuse, violence and intimidation
Neo-Marxist explanations of ethnic differences in crime
This is evidence by:
Gilroy - the myth of black criminality
Stuart Hall - policing the crisis
Black crime is a form of political action representing a culture of resistance to inequality and
oppressors in the form of police racism. They denied there was greater criminality among
balck people. This was a myth created by negative stereotypes and the media
Social racism
The 1960s- social reaction to immigration
Enoch Powell-rivers of blood
National front-exclusion and repatriation of all coloured immigrants; clampdown on black
crime
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