Members of Ethnic Minorities Are No More Prone to Commit Criminal Acts Than Other Sections of the Population, but Are over Represented in Crime Statistics

Different ethnic groups have different representations according to crime statistics, only certain groups of ethnic minorities are over represented in statistics. Some ethnic minority groups such as Afro-Caribbean males appear proportionately higher in crime statistics whereas the Chinese in comparison are under represented. Afro-Caribbean males are the main ethnic minority group to be over represented in crime statistics. When looking at any official statistics we must remember that they may not be totally accurate. Crime statistics are based on reported and recorded crime. They are not necessarily a reflection of offending rates but can be seen just as much as a comment on the actions of the police. Therefore a social construction reflecting policing methods and other processes such as the judicial system. Yet if the crime statistics are correct and reflect the true nature of criminal acts we must ask ourselves why some ethnic minority groups do commit more crime?

The focus in crime statistics are towards those of African-Caribbean origin. In 2000 26 whites were arrested per 1000 of the population, with 113 per 1000 for “blacks” and 37 for Asian. After arrest, those of Afro-Caribbean backgrounds are slightly more likely to be held in custody and to be charged with more serious offences than whites. If found guilty of a crime, those of Afro-Caribbean origin are likely to receive a harsher sentence, 17% more likely to be imprisoned than whites. Sociologists are divided on whether these statistics mean that members of the ethnic minorities are discriminated against. If, as some sociologists argue, the actions of the police officers are partly motivated by racism, then the arrest rates reflect this, rather than offending rates by ethnic minorities. If some ethnic minorities higher arrest rate is evidence of police racism, there are a number of explanations. Reflection of society, this approach was adopted by Lord Scarman in his inquiry into the inner-city riots of 1981. According to Scarman, the police reflect wider society and therefore some racist recruits may join. The “Canteen culture” approach argues that police officers have developed distinctive working values as a result of their job. Police officers have to face enormous pressures in dealing with the public, working long hours, facing potential danger and social isolation. As a result they develop a culture in response that helps then to deal with the pressures and gives them a sense of identity. The “Core characteristics” of the culture according to Reiner include a thirst for action, cynicism, conservatism, suspicion, macho values and racism. Studies by Smith and Gray, Holdaway and Graef, all demonstrate racist views among the police who, for example, held stereotypical views on the criminality of Afro-Caribbean origin youths. It led them to stop and search these youths to a far greater extent than any other group. In fact, Afro-Caribbean people are six times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched by police than whites. After the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, the Macpherson Inquiry was set up to look at the circumstances of his death and the handling of the situation by the police. It concluded that the police were characterised by institutional racism. By this it was meant that the police have “Procedures, practices and a culture that tended to exclude or to disadvantage non-white people.” The key point about institutional racism is that it is not necessarily intentional on the part of any particular person in the organisation, but that the normal, day-to-day activities of the organisation are based upon racist ideas and practices.

We must also look at the possibility that the official criminal statistics do have some reality. Lea and Young, leading Left Realists, accept that there are racist practices by the police. However they argue that, despite this the statistics do bear out a higher crime rate for street robberies and associated personal crimes by youths of Afro-Caribbean origin. They suggest that British society is racist and young ethnic-minority males are economically and socially marginalised, having a lesser chance of success than the majority of the population. Running alongside this is their sense of relative deprivation. According to Lea and Young the result is the formation of subcultures, which can lead to higher levels of personal crime as a way of coping with marginalisation and relative