Assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences to crime

Assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences both in offending and in victimisation

Intro:
I will explore and evaluate the explanations that sociologists offer for the ethnic differences in offending and victimisation
Define key words (crime, official stats, ethnicity)

· What are you going to be exploring, re –write aim?

· What theories will you need to do this?

· Who supports the statement? And why? E.g.

· Who critiques the statement? And why? E.g.

· Conclusion – what have you found?
PARA 1- 1st sociological explanation of ethnic differences in offending and victimisation
Some sociologists use official statistics to explain ethnic differences in both offending and victimisation.
LEFT REALISM- LEA AND YOUNG
Ethnic differences in this statistics reflect real differences in the levels if offending by different ethnic groups.
Left realists see crime as the product of relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation.
Higher levels of utilitarian crime is due to relative deprivation of material goods that cannot be gained by legitimate means.
LEA and YOUNG conclude that the stats represent real differences in levels of offending between ethnic groups and that these are caused by real differences in levels of relative deprivation and marginalisation.
CRITICISM:
They can be criticised on their view of the roles of police racism. Arrest rates for Asians can be lower than for blacks but not because they are less likely to offend byt because police stereotype the two groups differently seeing blacks as more dangerous and Asians as passive- due to 9/11 some can argue that Asians are dangerous.

P2: NEO MARXISM EXPLANAITION:

PAUL GILROY& STUART HALL ET AL-
GILROY:
Ethnic minority crime can be seen as a form of political resistance against a racist society.