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Crime and Ethnicity

In Britain today there are 55 million people, of this 2% are Afro Caribbean, and 2% are Asian.  This would mean that the prison population should be 2% Asian, and 2 % Afro Caribbean, but it is not, the actual figures are 10% Afro Caribbean, and 9% Asian.  Why is the prison population not a reflection of the ethnicity of Britain, is because of society or the police or if it is ethnic group.  To find out what is the cause, I will carry out research of my own and use previously obtained figures.  The difficulties that I will run into while carrying out my research is that figures that I collect may not all be up to date.  Other difficulties that I will run into are that people will not be answer truthfully as they do not want to be seen as the odd one out so they go along with the majority answers.  An other major problem that I will have is that the government figures that I have are also grouped in the following ways, Asian, White, Afro Caribbean, and Other.  This means that I will have to work using those categories to group people.

Secondary research

Home office figures

The Home Office figures show me that of the 55 million people in the country 2% are Asian, and 5% are Afro Caribbean.  Of the 2 million people arrested 16% are Afro Caribbean, and 7% are Asian.  Also the figures show me that more then half (58%) of all Afro Caribbean arrests come from the metropolitan police area.  A reason for this could be that when people emigrate from a foreign country they do not speak the language, or any qualifications.  When they arrive then normally settle around there own people near a port or river in the center, in this case London.  This creates an ethnic ghetto, which often has high crime, unemployment, and low educational qualifications.  As the white population has gone through this they are no longer in ethnic ghettos so they have lower unemployment, crime, and higher educational qualifications.  The people in the centre of the ethnic ghetto normally live in the worse housing, and areas.  This may drive them to crime.  The Home Office figures also show that of the 2 million people arrested, 7% are Afro Caribbean, but the prison population is 10%.  There is a much higher chance of an Afro Caribbean person being stopped and searched (five time higher) then a person from any other ethnic group.  This means that they are subjected to stereotypes of society (and the police are part of society), so as they are being stopped more then there is more chance of them being arrested.  This would mean that in police force they are not very well represented.  As every one will have the stereotype Afro Caribbean or Asians commit cirme all the time, the people in that ethnic group will do what they think is expected of them.  Also as they are already in high crime areas the young people will do what they see as the norm, which may be to commit crime.

Brent crime and disorder audit

In the audit of crime it shows that of all of the London boroughs, which has the highest crime rate per thousand people.  The six highest are:

Westminster

Camden

Southwark

Chelsea

Camden

Hackney

The six boroughs with lowest crime rate per thousand in London are:

Barnet

Havering

Bexley

Sutton

Richmond upon Thames

Bromley

The areas that have the highest crime rates per thousand people are predominately Asian and Afro Caribbean areas.  Also the crime hot spots for the whole of London, mark places where there are large numbers of people form different ethnic minorities.  The figures also show that there is very high crime among the poorest areas that have large numbers of people from different ethnic minorities.  Is it that ethnic minorities are driven to crime because of poverty.  As ethnic minorities settle in a country they like to settle in and around there own ethnic group.  This has a very big effect on the people in the area.  If there is already a high crime in that area, people will see that is the norm for that area, so to be allowed to belong to that area’s culture they will havee to do what people in that culture see as the norm, commit crime.

Sociology alive

In Britain the Afro Caribbean and Asian population do the largest percentage of manual work.  They are also more likely to suffer long-term unemployment.  It could be that when people from an ethnic minority are unemployed they may be have no choice but to turn to crime due to stereotypes.  This could be why there is such a high crime rate among ethnic minorities.  A factor that could account high crime rates in ethnic minorities is the lack of confidence in the police.  Afro Caribbean's and especially Asian's are prone to racially motivated attacks.  If the police are unable to do any thing, then they will normally take the law into there own hands.  This would cause them to most likely being arrested, thus raising the crime figures.  This then reinforces people stereotypes, which is also responsible for the high crime figures.  Stereotyping is one of the biggest reasons why there is such a disproportional number of Asian and Afro Caribbean's in prison.  This is because there are a very small number of Afro Caribbean and Asian police officers this means that, as the main part of the police force is White.  As they are white they will most likely have the stereotypes of the people in the local area.  The moral panics that the media creates may also responsible for the high crime figures between Afro Caribbean's and Asians.  The reason is that one ethnic group will be branded as bad, and then the police as a part of society will also brand ethnic groups.  This means that as the main part of police force is white, they will stop more Afro Caribbean's and Asians, and this will mean as they are being stopped more there is more chance that they will be arrested.  Also it is well known that ethnic minorities do the least well in the British education system.  This would means that they will have the least qualifications, and the least prospects for employment, because of this and stereotyping they will turn to crime.  Class also plays a major role in the crime figures as most criminals are working class.  Working class has a set of very distinctive beliefs, values, and norm, these are normally education is not important, being tough and strong, and that crime is accepted.  Also they do not mage to go through the socialization process as well as other classes.  The working classes normally have the least number of opportunities this means that if they are unable to find work they will turn to crime.  Class can be measured by occupation so this how I will find out about the peoples class.

The table above shows how I will group peoples class from the response to what type of job they are or their parents do.  If a person where to say that there parents are unskilled workers then I will group their response as working class.

Primary research

Questionnaire

Here is a sample questionnaire that I carried out, the questionnaire also has the results of the answer.  The results are shown by the response of people from each ethnic group.  The reason why there are only four groups of ethnicity is explained in the evaluation.

Key:  Afro Caribbean, White, Asian, Other

What ethnic group do you belong to?

Afro Caribbean            15%   

White                           30%

Asian                            50%

Other                           5%

Total=                          100%             

What ethnic group is the majority of your family? (More then ¾)

Afro Caribbean            70%                3%                  37%                4%

White                           4%                  85%                13%                10%

Asian                            10%                10%                35%                80%

Other                           16%                2%                  15%                6%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

Which best describes your family background?  (You do not have to answer)

Nuclear                        30%                40%                80%                92%   

Lone parent                  67%                25%                1%                  1%

Extended                      1%                  4%                  1%                  5%

Reconstituted                1%                  1%                  8%                  1%

Other                           1%                  30%                10%                1%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

Is at least one of you parent/carers in full time employment? (You do not have to answer)

Yes                              20%                69%                45%                28%

No                               80%                31%                55%                72%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

Have they ever being unemployed for longer then 2 months? (You do not have to answer)

Yes                              87%                14%                20%                60%

No                               13%                86%                80%                40%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

What are the educational qualifications of one of your parent/cares?

GCSE                          84%                3%                  10%                33%

A Level                        4%                  2%                  30%                2%

Degree                         6%                  80%                40%                25%

PHD                            1%                  5%                  19%                0%

Other                           5%                  10%                1%                  40%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

What is the ethnicity of the majority of your peers?

Afro Caribbean            30%                4%                  2%                  15%

White                           60%                1%                  88%                50%

Asian                            2%                  90%                6%                  30%

Other                           8%                  5%                  4%                  5%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

Have your peers ever committed a crime?

Yes                              90%                85%                69%                71%

No                               10%                15%                31%                29%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%             

Which ethnic group do you think commits the most crime in the UK?

Afro Caribbean            40%                60%                90%                88%

White                           10%                30%                4%                  2%

Asian                            28%                5%                  1%                  8%

Other                           22%                5%                  5%                  2%

Total=                          100%              100%              100%              100%

What best describes your parents or your job?

Professional                  20%                40%                30%                15%

Intermediate prof          30%                45%                60%                45%

Unskilled labourer         50%                5%                  10%                40%

Analysis

From my research it is clear that there are many factors that affect the crime figures for different ethnic groups.  The factors are:

Class

Education

Place

Family and peers

The secondary research has the national figures for crime, and then from this I did primary research that aimed to explain the secondary.

My primary research showed that most people have peers that commit crime.  The ethnic group that has the people with the peers that commit the most crime was Afro Caribbean 90%, and I also know that of the Afro Caribbean’s asked 60% of their peers are of the same ethnic group..  This by its self does not explain why there is such a high number of Afro Caribbean’s in prison.  I also found that 68% of Afro Caribbean’s that were asked live in single parent families.  This means that perhaps instead of getting there beliefs, values, and norms from home they get them from there peers who will be committing crime.  This maybe because your peers are a secondary method of socialisation, so if there are no parents to be the agents of primary socialisation the peers will take their place.  As the peers will be committing crime it would mean for them to fit into there culture they must commit crime, this may be one reason why 3% of the population of Britain is Afro Caribbean but 10% of the prison population Afro Caribbean.  An other very surprising figure was that of the people asked:

40% Afro Caribbean

60% White

90% Other

85% Asian

Said that they thought Afro Caribbean’s commit the most crime in England.  This is very surprising as the figures from the home office indicate that Whites commit the most crime in England.  As the police are a reflection of society they to will have this view of stereotype.  This will mean that they will stop more Afro Caribbean’s then whites.  Then as 90% of Afro Caribbean’s admitted committing a crime, and are five times more likely to be stopped by the police it means that there will be more Afro Caribbean arrests.  This may explain why the prison population dose not mirror the ethnicity England. 

The primary research shows that the ethnic group that has the lowest educational qualifications are Afro Caribbean’s.  Normally the people who commit crime have the lowest educational qualifications, as they are unable to find work so they turn to crime.  As the parents are role models if they have no educational qualifications it maybe likely there children will not have either.  This will cause alienation. 

A very surprising figure was the number of people who admitted that that parent/carers had committed a crime.  The highest number was from the white people asked 70% and the lowest was Afro Caribbean’s 33%.  The figure that I obtained is not very surprising as the original figures show that whites commit the most crime. This would then reinforce the idea that instead of Afro Caribbean’s getting there beliefs, values, and norms from their family they come from there peers, as of all the Afro Caribbean’s asked 85% are in lone parent families.

A pattern that emerged was that there was a link between who admitted committing a crime and their family background.  There may be two reasons for this the first may be that there is a link or that there is a flaw in my research as I only have 4 ethnic groups.

Class also turned out to be a under lying factor, this is because more then 50% of Afro Caribbean’s asked are working class.  This would mean that they have some of the lowest educational qualifications and prospects.  This would mean that they would turn to crime.  They may turn to crime, as they have no prospects of work.

A other factor was the place.  This is because the areas that are mainly populated by ethnic minorities have high crime rates.  This would mean that the younger generation would think that crime is the norm.

This shows that there may be a link between crimes and family, so if there is a single parent family their beliefs, values, and norms will come form there friends.

The primary compared to the secondary shows that it is not down to racism why there are such high crime figures among ethnic minorities.  The actual reasons are that the police are part of society and have the same beliefs as that society that Afro Caribbean and or Asian’s commit the most crime which is wrong as my figures would show that whites commit the most crime..  Also that as there is high unemployment, lowest educational qualifications, and one of the highest single parent families.  All of these factors contribute to the high crime figures.  The factors that I think contribute the most to the crime figures are high unemployment, low educational figures, and lone parent families.

Evaluation

Overall I think that there are some ways I which I could improve my work.  The questionnaire that I carried out should have targeted equal numbers form each ethnic group so that it would give me much clearer results.  As I was going to use my questionnaire results and compare it to the home office figures I was only able to have four ethnic groups white, Asian, Afro Caribbean, and other.  This is because the home office figures only work on these groups.  This then limited my work as I could only patterns in those ethnic groups.  If I had been able use a wider range of categories of ethnicity then my research may have been able to show more patterns.  The questionnaire thou I did think contained enough questions to collect the details required.  The home office figures that were used were from 1998/97 this means that I was working with old data that may of changed.  There were also figures that were from 1999 this mean that it was hard to compare the figures.  Also the responses to the questionnaire may not be reliable.  There are two reasons for this the first is that as I was there asking the question’s people may have changed there responses. 

Bibliography

Brent crime and disorder audit

Home office figures

Sociology alive

Questionnaire

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