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.