Preview

ethnic minority essay

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
369 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
ethnic minority essay
Discuss how far sociologists would agree that crime statistics exaggerate crime levels among particular ethnic groups…

Many sociologists would agree that crime statistics exaggerate crime levels among particular ethnic groups whilst others would suggest that ethnic minority groups do commit crime at higher levels.

There is growing evidence that crime statistics for ethnic minorities are not an accurate valid representation of crime in society. Statistics say that young, black people are eight times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. Statistics also tend to suggest that Afro-Caribbean males and Asian males are over-represented in the prison population. In Britain today there are 55 million people. Of these, 5 per cent are Afro-Caribbean and 2 per cent are Asian. This would mean that the prison population should be 5 per cent Afro-Caribbean and 2 per cent Asian, but it is not. The actual figures are 10 per cent Afro-Caribbean and 9 per cent Asian. Of the 2 million people arrested, 16 per cent are Afro-Caribbean and 7 per cent are Asian. At the end of June 2002, ethnic minority groups made up 22 per cent of the male prison population and 29 per cent of the female prison population.
There are various ways to explain these statistics amongst ethnic groups. The main one is that the police are more likely to arrest and charge ethnic groups, who therefore experience injustice. Others could be that the police are labelling certain groups, Institutional racism, the police are mis-handling enquiries because of their own views and beliefs, discrimination, Afro-Caribbeans and Asians are more likely to be working class and finally that the media are reinforcing views.

Despite this some sociologists would suggest that ethnic minority crime statistics are accurate and do give accurate crime levels. Some sociologists do believe that ethnic groups genuinely do commit more crime. Some explain this as Afro-Carribeans and Asians are mainly working class,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    I will explore and evaluate the explanations that sociologists offer for the ethnic differences in offending and victimisation…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some sociological theories of crime are based, in part, on official statistics provided by the police, the courts, and various government departments. Such statistics provide evidence of the extent of crime and information about the social characteristics of the criminal. A misrepresentation of this data, that crime is largely a working class phenomenon, may be due to the selective application of the law, according to W.J. Chambliss and M. Mankoff in "Whose Law" What Order?" (1976). There is increasing evidence to suggest that there is a systematic bias in favour of the ruling class. In general, if an individual has committed a criminal act, then the higher he or she is in the stratification system the less likely he is to be arrested, if arrested to be prosecuted, if prosecuted to be found guilty, and if found guilty to be imprisoned. If this is so, then the assumption that crime is largely a working class phenomenon may be incorrect - so is there really any relationship between social class and crime.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are three main sources of information about the crimes for sociologists – the official crime statistics, which are collected by the police and are presented as secondary data for sociologists; victim survey such as British Crime Survey, which is also collected by the police and sponsored by the government, and in order to collect primary data sociologists use self-report studies and its aim is to uncover the true amount of crime in the society.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hate Crimes in the U.S.

    • 1249 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For instance minorities who have received the most hate crimes in the United States is because of where they are from. Throughout the years minorities have been portrayed to be victims of hate crimes in the United States. Many of the hate crimes done in the United States were ‘’…racially motivated.’’(Ryan). Most of the minorities who have experienced hate crimes are because of the different ways they live from others. Many of the hate crimes that have been committed throughout the past years are to the people who are ‘’… living in households with an income of 24,999 dollars or less per year.’’(Yahoo news).Which then shortens it down to mainly the races known to be African Americans, Hispanics, Islamic and Muslim people. Many of the people who have these low incomes are due to the pay of many of their bosses to be racist towards their employers. As seen in the past and today people are often discriminated towards their workplace because of their color and often their differences in beliefs. Minorities who have worked often receive ‘’… racial harassment…’’ and have gradually increased from ‘’… 3075 in 1991 to 6000 in 2006.’’(Love)…

    • 1249 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another sample statistics can easily be manipulated to suit the facts that are trying to be portrayed by any particular interest. An example would be those who cite that Blacks commit more crimes than whites because of their disproportionate representation throughout the criminal justice system. This appears to be accurate and truthful on the surface, but when digging deeper, you will find that the reasons that Blacks and other minorities re overrepresented within the criminal justice system stems from the fact that they are arrested, sentenced, and incarcerated at far higher rates than Whites. Therefore, the statistics are invalid because the police officers target minorities more often for drug offenses, despite the fact that Whites use more drugs than minorities, and these minorities are also sentenced to prison more often than their white counterparts when arrested. Therefore, the statistics only reflect that minorities are treated unequally in the criminal justice system rather…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In item A “some sociologists link subcultural crime and deviance to the nature of capitalism” this shows that some sociologists believe that it doesn’t matter about what your norms and values are but depending on the amount of money that you have will determine you to turn to crime. In a stratified society they have goals which are linked with their position in the social system, each layer share different goals, but the system can only work if the majority of people can reach their goals, however, if they can’t then you can reach an anomie. This theory of that crime is committed due to your social class isn’t useful because it is more stereotypical to say that a lower on under class would commit the crimes rather than middle and upper class due to their subcultures norms and values being different but it isn’t to say that they won’t commit the…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    On the other hand, the usefulness of statistics and a question of their validity have been posed by sociologists that hold a interpretivist perspective. Due to the fact that crime statistics are described as ‘soft statistics’ because they are easily manipulated. The definition of ‘crime’ can change, such as not including ‘petty’ crimes. They have been criticised by Marxists (such as Karl Marx) and Feminists (Oakley) in the way that we don’t know what the statistics are actually measuring. Regardless of these factors, positivists such as Durkheim see statistics as an irreplaceable source of data because of the trends that can become apparent when you see statistics.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Every race has a part of the population that is incarcerated. There are 34 percent more blacks than whites in prison according to research from New Century Foundation. Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery (Schrantz). Have you ever wondered why blacks are more likely to commit a crime than any other race? Violent crime rates have more to do with poverty levels in a neighborhood than with the race of local residents, according to New Century Foundation. “Black families with children under 18 headed by a single mother have the highest rate of poverty at 46.5 %”( BlackDemographics.com). Poverty and crime go hand in hand. Our goal as a nation to decrease crime should be to decrease poverty. “When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife. Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Income Inequality, Race, and Place” does a study on if lower incomes create higher crime rates. The study proves that a person’s income can affect that individual willing to commit a crime. If you live in poverty you are most likely going to execute a murder or a robbery. Also, the study show that is you were a stable home owner the crime rates were not high. People who were not a homeowner and consistently moved are more likely to commit a crime in a neighborhood. There are more minority races living in poverty than the majority race. This article was conducted in 2007 using the census in 19 cities in 2000. The article helps me because the test was conducted in many cities. I do believe that more cities should be tested to receive more data.…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    What Makes a Criminal

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages

    some groups more prone to crime, or are they in situations more conducive to crime?…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It can be argued that official statistics are not useful due to the definitions being mixed up and not clear in two ways. The first one is that the definitions used by the collector of statistics may not be the same as those used by the sociologist. For example, the definition of terms such as ‘crime’ and ‘unemployment’ may mean one thing to the collector and something completely different to the sociologist using the data. This can make the official statistics not as useful as it affects validity as it can lead to inaccuracies in the data.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess explanations for apparent ethnic differences in involvement in crime (21 Marks)…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States has the largest documented incarceration rate in the world. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics at yearend 2012, approximately 6,937,600 offenders were under the supervision of adult correctional systems (2013). Of this number, more than 60% of the inmates in prison are minorities however; they make up only 37% of the United States population. Considering the trends in which minorities commit crimes, such broad statistics conceal that racial disparities pervade each stage of the U.S. judicial system, from arrest to trial and sentencing.…

    • 5238 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Criminal statistics are usually quoted as 'hard facts'; are often used to support the view that there is a rapidly increasing rate of serious crime in modern society. It is on the basis of these statistics that important decisions are made by governments in relation to their policies towards crime and its treatment. However the positivistic reliance on such statistics as the basis of their sociology has been brought into question by constructivist approaches - interpretive sociology and critical sociology both of which refuse to take the statistics at face value. The former raised questions about the scientific claims of positivism; demonstrated that the…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Assess the view that ethnic differences in crime are the result of the way in which the criminal justice system operates…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays