1. Ethnicity and Crime

2. Learning Objectives
• To understand the reasons for the
difference in offending and ethnicity.
• Know the patterns of ethnicity and
criminalisation as shown by different
sources of data
• Understand the relationship between
ethnicity and the CJS
• Be able to evaluate explanations of the
relationship between offending and
ethnicity

3. Starter – look
at the image
opposite, what
appears to be
going on?

4. The facts
• 91% of people in the UK are white
• 9% are non-white
• 5% Asian
• 2% Afro- Caribbean
• 2% mixed and other

5. Official Statistics:
Ethnicity & Crime
• Of the 80,000 men in prison approximately
74% are white, 15% Afro-Caribbean, 7%
Asian, 3% mixed and 1% Chinese.
• Of the 7,000 women in prison 70% are
white, 21% Afro-Caribbean, 5% mixed, 2%
Asian and 2% Chinese and other.
• The situation in the USA is very similar –
Black Americans make up 13% of the total
population and 50% of the prison population.
• They are over represented in the system

6. In 2008, the Ministry of Justice
reported that, compared to white people:
• Afro Caribbean's were: more likely to be arrested for
robbery; three times more likely to be cautioned by the
police; three and a half times more likely to be arrested; if
arrested, more likely to be charged and face court
proceedings than to receive a caution; more likely, if found
guilty, to receive a custodial (prison) sentence; five times
more likely to be in prison.
• Asians were: twice as likely to be stopped and searched
(mainly for drugs); more likely to be charged and face
court proceedings than to receive a caution; more likely to
receive a custodial sentence if found guilty; more likely to
be arrested for fraud and forgery.

7. • However statistics do not tell us whether
members of one group are more likely than
members of another to commit an offence in
the first place- they just tell us about
involvement with the CJS
• Differences in stop and search or arrest
rates may simply be due to policing strategies
or discrimination by officers, while
differences in rates of imprisonment may be a
result of courts handing down harsher
sentences to minorities

8. Sources of Statistics
• Apart from Official stats from the CJS we
can gather information from victim surveys
and self report studies.
• What are they and what are some of the
issues involved in their use?
Page 111 and 112

9. Ethnicity, Racism and CJS
• There are ethnic differences at each
stage of the criminal justice process. How
far are they the result of racism within
the CJS?
• There are stages an individual goes
through possibly ending in a custodial
sentence
• Policing, Stop & Search, Arrests and
Cautions, Prosecution & Trial and
Sentencing & Prison

10. 1. Policing
• Many allegations of oppressive policing from
minority ethnic communities are made e.g.
mass stop & search operations, excess
surveillance, armed raids, deaths in custody
2. Arrests and cautions
• Arrest rate for blacks 3.6 x the rate for
whites. Once arrested less likely to receive a
caution, perhaps due to a mistrust of police
and not admitting to the offence. Not admitting an
offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are
more likely to be charged

11. 3. Prosecution & conviction
• Crown prosecution Service more likely to drop
cases against ethnic minorities. May be
because evidence presented by police is often
weaker and based on stereotyping of ethnic
minorities as criminals. Black and Asian
defendants are less likely to be found guilty.
What statistics to support this and Why? Page 113
4. Sentencing and Prison
• Custodial sentences more likely to be given to
black offenders. Blacks and Asians over-
represented in prisons and more likely to be
given longer sentences.

12. 5. Stop and search (Black people 7x more likely to be stopped, Asians
3x- under Terrorism Act 2000)
• Only a small proportion result in arrests
• Increased number is perhaps due to:
1. Police Racism- Institutional racism within police force
(The Macpherson report, 1999-Stephen Lawrence case). Phillips &
Bowling (2007)- many officers hols –ve stereotypes
about ethnic minorities as criminals, leading to
deliberate targeting for stop & search.
2. Demographic Factors- Ethnic Minorities over
represented in population groups most likely to be
stopped e.g. young, unemployed and urban dwellers
3. Ethnic Differences in offending- Patterns may
reflect possibility that some ethnic groups are more
likely to offend

13. Waddington (2004)
• Published in the British Journal of Criminology argues
that the police do stop a proportionately higher
number of blacks compared to whites.
• However, he argues that there are more ethnic
minority youths out at night in inner cities and that
the police simply target those in high risk areas. If
the areas is disproportionately represented by young
black males they are more likely to be stopped and
searched – because of where they are rather than
their ethnicity
What is the difference between Low and
High Discretion Stops?

14. Task
Below is a case study related to institutional racism amongst the
police force.
In April 1993, a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, was stabbed to
death at a bus stop in London by a gang of white youths who were
heard using racist language. Despite there being many witnesses,
some of the persistence of his parents, who refused to give up, the
case became a national scandal, especially when the identities of the
killers became known and they could not be punished. The eventual
inquiry found the police had mishandled the case and described the
Metropolitan Police as institutionally racist. It recommended urgent
measures to increase the number of police from minorities and to
improve awareness of race issues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqjABmoDGq8&feature=fvw
Now, write a definition of what is mean by the term institutional
racism.

15. • Institutional racism describes any kind
of system of inequality based on race.
It can occur in institutions such as
public government bodies, private
business corporations (such as media
outlets), and universities (public and
private).

16. Stephen Lawrence, Rodney King, Mark
Duggan

17. Task
According to official crime statistics, the typical criminal is a
young, black, working class male. So why is it black?
As a class brainstorm possible sociological explanations for why
Black people are more likely to be involved in crime. Some
sociologists believe it is not primarily the fault of the Black
culture, but how society may affect it. For example police labelling
and stereotyping has been investigated and shown some interesting
results. The documentary below highlights this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_GWy82olhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEFitWmzlTk&feature=related

18. Explaining Ethnic
Differences

19. Left Realism
• Lea and Young (1993) argue that official
statistics are generally accurate, and young
black men really are committing more
offences than other groups.
• First criminologists to acknowledge that black
people were not simply victims of a racist
police force and CJS but are actually more
likely to be involved with street crime than
whites.

21. • LR’s argue that racism has led to the marginalisation
and economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who face
higher levels of unemployment, poverty and poor
housing.
• The media’s emphasis on consumerism promotes a
sense of relative deprivation by setting materialistic
goals that many members of minority groups are
unable to reach by legitimate means
• One response is the formation of delinquent
subcultures, esp by young unemployed black males.
Producing higher levels of utilitarian crime e.g. Theft
and robbery. Because these groups are marginalised
and have no organisations to represent their
interests, their frustration can lead to non utilitarian
crime e.g. violence and rioting

22. • Lea and Young recognise that racist policing
often leads to the unjustified criminalisation
of some members of minority groups.
• However even if police do act in racist ways,
Lea & Young argue that this is unlikely to
account for the ethnic differences in the
statistics (90% of crimes known to police reported by
members of public)
• Similarly police racism cannot explain the
much higher conviction rates of blacks than
of Asians, they would have to be selectively
racist against blacks not Asians to cause
these differences

23. • Lea and Young conclude that the statistics
represent real differences in levels of
offending between ethnic groups
• These are caused by differences in levels of
relative deprivation and marginalisation
Lea and Young are criticised for their views on the
role of police racism e.g. Arrest rates for Asians
may be lower than for blacks not because they are
likely to offend but because police stereotype the 2
groups differently seeing blacks as dangerous and
Asians as passive.
These stereotypes may have changed since 9/11,
Asians now seen as dangerous- explaining rising
criminalisation rates for this group

24. • Summarise the LR view of ethnic
differences in crime rates (25-50
words)

25. Other reasons for higher rates of
street crime amongst blacks

26. Neo-Marxism: Black crime as a
construct
• Gilroy (1982) and Hall et al (1979)
reject the view that the statistics
reflect reality
• They are the outcome of a social
construction process that stereotypes
minorities as more criminal than the
majority population

27. Gilroy: The myth of black
criminality
• Gilroy argues that the idea of black
criminality is a myth created by racist
stereotypes of African Caribbeans and
Asians
• In reality these groups are no more
criminal than any other group
• But as CJS acts on these racist
stereotypes, minorities are criminalised
and therefore appear in greater numbers
in the official crime statistics

28. • Ethnic minority crime is a form of political resistance
against a racist society, this resistance has it roots in
earlier struggles against British imperialism (holds
similar view to critical criminology- argues WC crime is a political act of
resistance to capitalism)
• Most blacks and Asians in the UK originated in former
British colonies, where their anti-colonial struggles
taught them how to resist oppression e.g. through
riots and demonstrations
• When they found themselves facing racism in Britain,
they adopted the same forms of struggle to defend
themselves, but their political struggle was
criminalised by the British state

29. AO2
• Lea & Young criticise Gilroy
1. First generation immigrants were law
abiding; its unlikely they passed on a
tradition of anti-colonial struggle
2.Most crime is intra-ethnic (criminals & victims
have same ethnicity) therefore not a struggle
against racism
3.Gilroy romanticises street crime as
revolutionary

30. Hall et al: policing the crisis
• Neo-Marxist perspective
• Hall et al argue that the 1970’s saw a moral panic
over black ‘muggers’ that served the interests of
capitalism in dealing with a crisis
• Ruling class are normally able to rule society
through consent but in times of crisis this becomes
difficult.
• In early 1970’s British capitalism faced a crisis:
high inflation, unemployment and strikes. At such
times when opposition to Capitalism begins to grow,
the ruling class may tend to use force to maintain
control. Use f force needs to be seen as legitimate
or it may provoke more widespread resistance

31. • 1970’s saw a media driven moral panic about the
supposed growth of a ‘new’ crime- mugging-
apparently committed by black youths. In
reality there was no evidence of a significant
increase in this crime at the time. Mugging
became associated with black youth
• The emergence of the moral panic about
mugging as a ‘black’ crime at the same time as
the crisis of capitalism was no coincidence. The
myth of the young black mugger served as a
scapegoat to distract attention from the true
cause of society's problems e.g. Unemployment

32. • By presenting black youth as a threat to the
fabric of society, the moral panic served to
divide the WC on racial grounds and weaken
opposition to capitalism, as well as winning
popular consent for more authoritarian forms
of rule that could be used to suppress
opposition.
• However Hall et al do not argue that black
crime was only a product of media labelling.
The crisis of capitalism was increasingly
marginalising black youth through
unemployment, and this drove some into petty
crime to survive.

33. AO2
• Hall et al are inconsistent; they claim
that black street crime was not rising,
but also that it was rising because of
unemployment
• They don’t show how the crisis led to a
moral panic, or that the public were
actually blaming crime on blacks

34. Ethnicity and Victimisation
• Information comes from victim surveys (BCS) and
police recorded statistics which cover racist
incidents and racially or religiously aggravated
offences
• Police recorded 61,000 racists incidents (06/07)
while the BCS reports 184,000 many go
unreported.
• People from mixed ethnic backgrounds were more
likely to be victims of crimes (36%), compared to
blacks (27%), Asians (25%) and White (24%)

35. • Summarise the Neo-Marxist view of
ethnic differences in crime rates (25-
50 words)

36. Exam Question Activity
• You have a series of cards with studies, concepts etc
on relating to ethnicity and crime debate.
• Students work in groups and need large surface area
to lay all cards out. Give them a focus such as an
essay style question on ethnicity and crime statistics
or explanations for crime rates etc.
• They should place related cards close together. When
happy with the order they are in. Glue to large sugar
paper. In one coloured pen..add any relevant bullet
points. In a different coloured pen they can add
evaluation points where relevant. They should also
add linking arrows between various cards (write
nature of link along arrow).

37. Exam Questions for Activity
• ‘Poverty is the major cause of ethnic
minority crime.’ Discuss. (21 marks)
• Assess the usefulness of conflict
theories for an understanding of the
relationship of ethnic-minority youth to
crime’ (21 marks)
• Assess the view that ethnic differences
in crime rates can best be explained by
racism in the CJS (21 marks)

38. H/W
• Complete your own content analysis of representation of crime
in the fictional media. This is a using secondary source (the
media) and is qualitative.
• Decide what you want to measure – e.g. the media’s
representation of the police in fictional crime.
• Select a representative sample of media – e.g. episodes of Silent
Witness, Wire in the Blood, CSI etc
• Decide which categories you are going to use – e.g. the police as
corrupt, bitter, avenging victims, working class, alcoholic, getting
their man etc…
• Study the stories you have selected and place the characters in
them into categories you have decided on. This is called coding.
• Quantify how the character/s you are looking at are
characterised in the stories simply by counting up the number of
each category.

39. Key facts Ethnicity and the 1. Policing
Official statistics say black criminal justice system Many allegations of
people are: oppressive policing
 7 times more likely to be from minority ethnic
2.Stop and search communities are made.
stopped and searched.
Lots of stop an search is
 3 ½ times more likely to
perhaps due to racism
be arrested. 3. Arrests and
and the targeting of
cautions
 5 times more likely to be ethnic minorities.
in prison than their white More likely to be
counterparts. arrested and cautioned
Ethnicity and perhaps due to a
 Victim studies say black mistrust of police and
crime
people are more likely to not admitting to the
be identified as offence.
offenders & most crime 4. Prosecution &
is intra –ethnic meaning conviction
it takes place among 5. Sentencing and Prison
rather than between Crown prosecution
Service more likely to Custodial sentences more
ethnic groups. likely to be given to black
drop cases against ethnic
 Self-report studies minorities. Black and offenders. Blacks and
conclude that black Asian defendants are less Asians over-represented
people have similar rates likely to be found guilty. in prisons and more likely
of offending to whites if to be given longer
not lower. sentences.

40. Explaining differences in
offending Neo-Marxist - Paul Gilroy
Neo-Marxist - Stuart
Black people commit more Hall et al (Policing the
Left realism crime because they resent crisis)
Ethnic minorities commit more the cultural experience of
crime because racism in wider colonialism i.e. being taken Combines Marxism and
has caused them to be over and having black slaves Labelling theory.
marginalised, coupled with sent to Britain to work. This
economic exclusion such as experience causes Economic conditions in
high unemployment and poor resentment in young black the 1990’s were bad,
housing. Left realists don’t males which makes them government look for a
believe that racism in the commit crime. scapegoat.
police can account for higher
crime because black people Young black muggers
Ethnicity and are labelled and a moral
have a higher offending rate
than Asians. crime panic is created about
Stephen Lawrence their behaviour in the
Victimisation media.
The death of Stephen
Lawrence in 1993 by a white Police recorded 61,000 Young black males
gang caused outcry as police racists incidents while the
commit no more crime
botched the investigation. BCS reports 184,000 many
than any other group
The inquiry called the go unreported. People from
but labelling and the
mixed ethnic backgrounds
Macpherson report declared economy makes it seem
institutional racism in the were more likely to be
like they do.
police. victims of crimes.