4.3.4
Ethnicity & Crime
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Explaining the Differences in Ethnicity and Crime
There are some ethnic groups who are over-represented in prisons which supports the argument that there is a link between ethnicity and crime. Reasons for this include:

Official statistics
- Official statistics:
- Statistics can be inaccurate because of the dark figure of crime where crimes can be under reported or under recorded depending on their nature.

Institutional racism
- Institutional racism:
- This refers to racial discrimination within institutions that is considered normal behaviour.
- An example of institutional racism:
- Sir William McPherson's report, ‘The Macpherson report’ into the police investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
- In this report, he showed that police often label people of minority ethnic backgrounds.

Police stereotyping
- Police stereotyping:
- There are racial stereotypes perpetuated within the police force and by the media might promote these stereotypes and be biased against people of specific ethnic backgrounds.
- Police might be labelling black and Asian people as criminals more.
- This is evident by the disproportionate amount of stop and searches taking place against black people.

Media stereotyping
- Media stereotyping:
- The media can focus on specific people or groups and make them look like a threat to society.
- This obviously deteriorates the relationship between police and members of those ethnic groups and as a result might lead to criminal activity.
1The Sociological Approach
1.1Introduction to Sociology
1.2Sociological Approaches
1.3The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate
2Families
2.1Functions of Families
2.2Family Forms
2.3Conjugal Role Relationships
2.4Changing Relationships Within Families
2.5Criticisms of Families
3Education
3.1Roles & Functions of Education
3.2Processes Within Schools
4Crime & Deviance
4.1The Social Construction of Crime
4.2Social Control
4.3Criminal & Deviant Behaviour
5Social Stratification
5.1Social Stratification
5.2Poverty as a Social Issue
6Sociological Research Methods
6.1Research Methods
6.1.1Research Design6.1.2The Scientific Method6.1.3Other Considerations6.1.4Primary Sources6.1.5Secondary Sources6.1.6Surveys6.1.7Sampling6.1.8Questionnaires6.1.9Interviews6.1.10Observation6.1.11Statistics6.1.12Case Studies6.1.13Longitudinal Studies6.1.14Ethnography6.1.15Experiments6.1.16Small Scale Research6.1.17End of Topic Test - Research Methods
Jump to other topics
1The Sociological Approach
1.1Introduction to Sociology
1.2Sociological Approaches
1.3The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate
2Families
2.1Functions of Families
2.2Family Forms
2.3Conjugal Role Relationships
2.4Changing Relationships Within Families
2.5Criticisms of Families
3Education
3.1Roles & Functions of Education
3.2Processes Within Schools
4Crime & Deviance
4.1The Social Construction of Crime
4.2Social Control
4.3Criminal & Deviant Behaviour
5Social Stratification
5.1Social Stratification
5.2Poverty as a Social Issue
6Sociological Research Methods
6.1Research Methods
6.1.1Research Design6.1.2The Scientific Method6.1.3Other Considerations6.1.4Primary Sources6.1.5Secondary Sources6.1.6Surveys6.1.7Sampling6.1.8Questionnaires6.1.9Interviews6.1.10Observation6.1.11Statistics6.1.12Case Studies6.1.13Longitudinal Studies6.1.14Ethnography6.1.15Experiments6.1.16Small Scale Research6.1.17End of Topic Test - Research Methods
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