Lecture 5- Race and Crime
Race Vs Ethnicity
Race is socially constructed based on a persons physical characteristics such as skin, hair,
eye colours is and used for administrative classification and historically has been used for
the basis for social inequalities.
Ethnicity refers to the way in which a person identifies themselves which is much to do with
nationality, culture, language and ancestry.
What is racism?
“Those ideologies and social processes which discriminate against others on the basis of
their putatively different racial membership.” (Solomos 1995:20)
Racism can come in the form of:
What people think (prejudice and stereotypes)
How people are treated (discrimination and exclusion)
The rise of racism in Britain
Immigration was very much promoted to people of the former British colonies in the 50s
and 60s following the war in an attempt to fill jobs as there was a low population at the
time- these people are now known as the Windrush generation.
Immigrants generally tended to settle in more densely populated urban areas where there
was a high volume of jobs for them to fill and shortly after coming began to be blamed for
crime rates rising. They were excluded from nice housing generally so resided in poorer
areas and levels of unemployment began to rise which caused a rise in crime in these areas
and a judgement that they were underachievers.
Enoch Powell, a Birmingham MP, in 1968 gave a speech which ultimately got him fired from
the shadow cabinet for promoting racism and anti-immigration. Despite him being fired, the
views continued to circulate and racism became a political party objective with the main
goal being to try and reduce or stop immigration.
Moral panic (Cohen 1972) surrounding a ‘mugging’ epidemic which led to labels and
negative stereotypes being formed of young black males.
Institutional racism
Stephen Lawrence murder 1993:
Murdered by five white men in a racially motivated attack whilst waiting for a bus
The Macpherson Report (1999) branded the London Met Police as ‘institutionally
racist’ and highlighted a number of failings in the case:
o Racists assumptions in Stephens role in his own death- he was black and must
have been somehow to blame for his death and the white people who killed
him wouldn’t have had racial motivations
o Didn’t believe his friend Dwayne Roberts witness account and put him under
surveillance
o Provided inadequate support to Stephens family
, o Put his family under surveillance
o Didn’t properly investigate the five white suspects
o Didn’t collect evidence properly, so lots of it was contaminated, so could not
be used causing there to be a very weak case against the five suspects
In 2005 the double jeopardy rule was repealed because of Stephen Lawrence’s case and in
2012, two of the five suspects were successfully prosecuted for the murder.
In 2012, Home Sectary, Theresa May commissioned another independent report
about the case surrounding the use of undercover policing and the surveillance of
Stephens family and friends and this led to the 2014 Ellison Report.
The Ellison Report stated that the police were still institutionally racist.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission was set up to challenge discrimination,
protect and promote human rights
Ethnicity and Disadvantage
Black and Minority Ethnic groups experience higher levels of socio-economic
disadvantage
Unemployment 2017 Pakistani/Bangladeshi (10%) BME (9%) (GOV.UK 2018)
Income: in 2017, median hourly rate for white male (£11.34) and
Pakistani/Bangladeshi males (£9.52) (GOV.UK 2018)
London’s ethnic minorities show to live in concentrations of poorer areas where
unemployment rates are high
Ethnicity and Offending
Different incarceration rates (1.3 per 1,000 for White British nations, 1.8 per 1,000
Asian, 6.8 per 1,000 Black) (McVie and Maguire 2017)
2016/17 Black people are over 7x times more likely to be stopped and searched than
white people (4 stops per 1,000 White, 29 stops per 1,000 Black) (Home Office 2018)
High Risk Factors:
Poorer area
Socio-economic factors
Experiencing exclusive
Labelling
Economic deprivation
The media are selective in which types of crime which they report which distorts
crime in certain areas and the people committing the crimes (race)
BME crime magnified by racism in the CJS
Low levels of BME worked in the CJS, not fully representative
Ethnicity and Victimisation
Victimisation higher for BME groups (Home Office 2018)
o Attributed to socio-economic factors and areas of residence
o Higher anxiety about crime amongst BME groups
Racially motivated offending
Race Vs Ethnicity
Race is socially constructed based on a persons physical characteristics such as skin, hair,
eye colours is and used for administrative classification and historically has been used for
the basis for social inequalities.
Ethnicity refers to the way in which a person identifies themselves which is much to do with
nationality, culture, language and ancestry.
What is racism?
“Those ideologies and social processes which discriminate against others on the basis of
their putatively different racial membership.” (Solomos 1995:20)
Racism can come in the form of:
What people think (prejudice and stereotypes)
How people are treated (discrimination and exclusion)
The rise of racism in Britain
Immigration was very much promoted to people of the former British colonies in the 50s
and 60s following the war in an attempt to fill jobs as there was a low population at the
time- these people are now known as the Windrush generation.
Immigrants generally tended to settle in more densely populated urban areas where there
was a high volume of jobs for them to fill and shortly after coming began to be blamed for
crime rates rising. They were excluded from nice housing generally so resided in poorer
areas and levels of unemployment began to rise which caused a rise in crime in these areas
and a judgement that they were underachievers.
Enoch Powell, a Birmingham MP, in 1968 gave a speech which ultimately got him fired from
the shadow cabinet for promoting racism and anti-immigration. Despite him being fired, the
views continued to circulate and racism became a political party objective with the main
goal being to try and reduce or stop immigration.
Moral panic (Cohen 1972) surrounding a ‘mugging’ epidemic which led to labels and
negative stereotypes being formed of young black males.
Institutional racism
Stephen Lawrence murder 1993:
Murdered by five white men in a racially motivated attack whilst waiting for a bus
The Macpherson Report (1999) branded the London Met Police as ‘institutionally
racist’ and highlighted a number of failings in the case:
o Racists assumptions in Stephens role in his own death- he was black and must
have been somehow to blame for his death and the white people who killed
him wouldn’t have had racial motivations
o Didn’t believe his friend Dwayne Roberts witness account and put him under
surveillance
o Provided inadequate support to Stephens family
, o Put his family under surveillance
o Didn’t properly investigate the five white suspects
o Didn’t collect evidence properly, so lots of it was contaminated, so could not
be used causing there to be a very weak case against the five suspects
In 2005 the double jeopardy rule was repealed because of Stephen Lawrence’s case and in
2012, two of the five suspects were successfully prosecuted for the murder.
In 2012, Home Sectary, Theresa May commissioned another independent report
about the case surrounding the use of undercover policing and the surveillance of
Stephens family and friends and this led to the 2014 Ellison Report.
The Ellison Report stated that the police were still institutionally racist.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission was set up to challenge discrimination,
protect and promote human rights
Ethnicity and Disadvantage
Black and Minority Ethnic groups experience higher levels of socio-economic
disadvantage
Unemployment 2017 Pakistani/Bangladeshi (10%) BME (9%) (GOV.UK 2018)
Income: in 2017, median hourly rate for white male (£11.34) and
Pakistani/Bangladeshi males (£9.52) (GOV.UK 2018)
London’s ethnic minorities show to live in concentrations of poorer areas where
unemployment rates are high
Ethnicity and Offending
Different incarceration rates (1.3 per 1,000 for White British nations, 1.8 per 1,000
Asian, 6.8 per 1,000 Black) (McVie and Maguire 2017)
2016/17 Black people are over 7x times more likely to be stopped and searched than
white people (4 stops per 1,000 White, 29 stops per 1,000 Black) (Home Office 2018)
High Risk Factors:
Poorer area
Socio-economic factors
Experiencing exclusive
Labelling
Economic deprivation
The media are selective in which types of crime which they report which distorts
crime in certain areas and the people committing the crimes (race)
BME crime magnified by racism in the CJS
Low levels of BME worked in the CJS, not fully representative
Ethnicity and Victimisation
Victimisation higher for BME groups (Home Office 2018)
o Attributed to socio-economic factors and areas of residence
o Higher anxiety about crime amongst BME groups
Racially motivated offending
