This in effect can cause an increase in deviant cultures such as Afro-Caribbean’s and gun culture. Through this gun culture youths try to achieve respect from others through the ‘glamour’ of selling drugs and owning a gun.
This paragraph ties in with the term ‘Deviancy Amplification’ which was generated by Leslie Wilkins a British sociologist, who showed that when bodies such as the force and the media try to combat deviance they can actually result in an increase in deviance. Leslie Wilkins created a phrase ‘when acts are defined as deviant, the deviants become stigmatised and cut off from mainstream society. They become aware that they are regarded as deviants, and, as a result of this awareness, they begin to develop their own subculture. This leads to more intense pressure on them, and further isolation, which confirms and strengthens them in their deviance’.
This concept was also used by Jack Young in 1971 in a study of drug use in North London, where he saw police actually amplifying deviance.
In conclusion, this theory can be summed up simply by saying that when a body increases a certain type of pressure the process of amplification, in response, is increased.
Left realist approaches, written by Lea and Young, have accepted the comment that racist methods are used by the police. In defence of the police, the statistics for ‘personal’ crimes reported by victims show that these are committed disproportionately by youths of an Afro-Caribbean descent. Their reason for this is, Lea and Young argue, that they feel they have less chances of success as Britain is a racist society.
Another group of sociologists see the higher arrest rates as definitive evidence of police racism. This is broken down into a few sub categories.
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Reflection of society approach – This theory was developed by Lord Scarman who stated that the police force reflects society and therefore some racist recruits may join the force. It has also been said that once the ‘bad apples’ have taken out the force will show no more racism.
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Canteen Culture – This argues that police officers undergo a lot of pressure within their job and so develop ‘core characteristics’ of the culture, Reiner stated that these include a thirst for action, cynicism, conservatism, suspicion, macho values, racism and isolation form the public.
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Institutional racism – As shown above in this document an inquiry was requested into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. This inquiry was called the Macpherson inquiry, it came to the decision that the police were institutionally racist, one way Sir William Macpherson defined was by saying that the police have ‘procedures, practices and a culture that tend to exclude or to disadvantage non-white people’.
The MacPherson report has found that a higher amount of Black and Asian people are being prosecuted on weaker evidence than white people, this was confirmed by Sylvia Denman, a black barrister. The report has also led to certain public bodies, such as the police force, admitting that there is institutionalised racism within.
A research conducted by Russell Bradley, ‘Public Expectations And Perceptions Of Policing’, indicates that young Asian and Afro-Caribbean males see the police has treating them differently based upon ‘outdated’ stereotypes. Bradley has also discovered that another perception that they have is of the unfair victimisation of younger Afro-Caribbean males. Bradley has found that, among young Pakistani males, the police lack cultural knowledge. Afro-Caribbean males also believe that the police lack street sense or are not ‘streetwise’ enough to relate to themselves.
Russell Bradley conducted his research through the use of interviews and, to a lesser extent, questionnaires.
I believe my research will comply along the same lines as Russell Bradley’s study but on a smaller scale.
From the document above, there is extensive evidence that the police approach ethnic minorities differently, whether this be seen as racist or not. The main aim of my project is discover if ethnic minorities see themselves as being treated different from their white counterparts, and to investigate ways in which they are being treated differently.
Methodology
Regarding my topic ‘Ethnic groups and their perception of police behaviour’ I will be using primary data to discover if the police behave differently towards ethnic minorities. My primary research will be drawn from questionnaires and I will also relate my findings to secondary data in the form of other researchers work and other previously published statistics to form the rest of the conclusion.
Before creating my questionnaire I will be using unstructured informal interviews to get a good idea on the variety and kind of questions needed, I will be using a number of pilot tests to decrease the chance of any errors or omissions that may have been created or gone unnoticed.
I will be using unstructured informal interviews with prospective subjects to construct the foundation of my questionnaire and the questions within it. I will gain help and evidence, from the interviews, in a qualitative appearance, but will try to also publish them in a quantative manner. I selected this sample randomly from students around my college campus, this was due to the diversity of class and religion available. I attempted to avoid bias on my behalf by talking as little as possible, so as to avoid giving any impressions or potential prejudices away. I will only require short and concise replies, anymore detail will result in magnified difficulty with regards to my project.
I cannot see any need for the use of participant observation, covert or overt, as I have no use for this method within my study. This method would be far too time consuming as well as being difficult to perform. There are also ethical issues involved which will have to be debated.
By using questionnaires I will be able to create a better picture, but, the only problem is that there is no proof that both the qualitative and quantative data will be valid. Before conducting my research I will be asking for the consent of people taking part in my research, people, will however, remain anonymous, this is partly to do with ethics on behalf of my chosen topic as well as practicality. I will also be using a pilot test for my methods to see if there are any errors.
I will be trying to avoid any bias from my behalf, I will try to do this by not adding any of my personal claims or views where they are not needed.
My research will be based around my city of residence, Southampton, I will be drawing respondents from areas stereotyped as both problem and non problematic. These areas will be a working class community and a middle class suburban community, by stratifying in this way my sample should be adequately varied while providing a contrasting but fair view. The sample of respondents may prove difficult in it self to complete as some areas of this city are heavily one ethnic group, as well as finding people who are willing to comply with research.
It will be difficult obtaining similar respondents who can be compared, age also being a factor.
By using questionnaires, however, people will remain anonymous which may lead to them giving accurate accounts and details. The data that I collect from these structured questionnaires will also be easier to collate, compare, and form a part conclusion from.
EVIDENCE
Through conducting my research using questionnaires I have been able to discover a number of explanations for my hypothesis.
My belief was that, in this particular city, I would find different treatment for ethnic minorities compared to their white counterparts.
In attempt to prove this idea correct I decided to distribute a questionnaire via a selective sample.
This sample included five (5) Afro-Caribbean’s, five (5) Asian and five (5) White males who were all aged between seventeen (17) and twenty six (26).
I will present a breakdown of each individual question before going in depth for ethnic grouping and possibly referring to individual cases.
Primarily I asked for the participant’s age, this was merely an introductory question whilst hopefully gaining some knowledge of their possible background and experiences.
I discovered that six (6) people were in the seventeen (17) to eighteen (18) category.
Eight (8) people were in the nineteen (19) to twenty (20) category.
Only one (1) person that completed the questionnaire was in the twenty-one+ (21) category.
The second question posed to participants regarded their ethnicity.
The question simply asked for a definition of their ethnicity.
Five (5) defined themselves as of Asian ethnicity. Another five (5) stated a White ethnicity, finally, another five (5) called themselves Afro-Caribbean.
I then asked for a response on the topic of religion and whether they believed in any particular religion.
Five (5) respondents followed the path of Islam. Two (2) participants regarded themselves as Hindu. Three (3) more believed in Christianity with One (1) additional person clarifying themselves as Catholic. The remaining four did not follow any religion; these can then be clarified as Atheist.
I then proceeded to ask which area of the city people lived in.
A varied response from everybody was received ranging from one side of the city to the other side. In order to combat this I then split the answers into sub divisions of distance from the city centre.
Four (4) people lived within One (1) to Five (5) miles of the city centre.
A further Two (2) people lived within Six (6) to Ten (10) miles.
Another group of Four (4) lived within Ten (10) to Fifteen (15) miles.
I found, through my responses, that only Two (2) people from my sample lived further than Fifteen (15) miles from the city centre.
I thought it would be of some use to ask on how regularly people socialised with friends.
This question was simply broken down into either a yes or no response from the participants.
All Fifteen (15) responded with the answer yes.
Leading on from the last question, I then asked which area of the city they go out in. The responses, by my own doing, were limited to Two (2) answers.
Seven (7) people said that they stayed in their surrounding area when out with friends.
A further Eight (8) said that they would leave their area of residence when with friends and be in another section of the city.
I also thought that it would be appropriate to ask, heavily relying upon all the respondent’s truth and sincerity, about their behaviour when they were out with friends.
Possible answers were broken down into Four (4) possible responses with One (1) as a method for an entirely open response for the participant.
Three (3) people, surprisingly, described themselves as rowdy when out with friends.
Two (2) people saw themselves as loud when with friends.
A large number, Eight (8), are restrained when out with friends.
The last Two (2) had unique responses to the rest; these were then classified under others.
The final Two (2) questions were the most important. I was heavily relying upon them to form an impression of my minute cross section sample and again answer whether certain ethnic groups were being, if at all, treated differently compared to other ethnic groups.
The first of these asked whether, when out with friends, the respondent has or had been stopped and questioned/talked to/by the police.
Nine (9) people said that they had been stopped by the police, either being questioned or talked to.
The remaining Six (6) have stated that they have never been stopped by the police when out with friends.
My final question asked, from those who had been stopped, how they felt the police had been towards, in regards to attitude, to them.
Respondents were given three possible options; these were; reasonable, unreasonable or other.
The option other was put in place for those who wanted to describe in detail their opinion.
Two (2) respondents believed that police behaviour with them was reasonable.
To counter this, however, Five (5) found police behaviour towards them highly unreasonable.
A further Two (2) placed their answers in the ‘other’ option.
The last Five (5) were not applicable.
My results will now be broken down into three sub-divisions, these are; Afro-Caribbean, Asian and White.
The Afro-Caribbean participants in my research are all between the ages of Seventeen (17) and Nineteen (19). This was a fairly small gap in age but I do not think that this will have affected my study.
Three (3) participants followed the Christian and Catholic faiths.
The remaining Two (2) are Islamic.
All Five (5) regularly socialised with friends and left, apart from One (1), the area they lived in and travelled to another area of the city.
Out of the Five (5) respondents, Four (4) of these stated, that when out with friends they found themselves restrained. Only One (1) said that there behaviour was loud.
I found that Three (3) out of the Five (5) participants had been stopped by police, and surprisingly, the One (1) person who said that they had a loud personality has not been stopped by the police.
One (1) of these Three (3) deemed that police behaviour towards them was reasonable, however, the other Two (2) felt that police behaviour was unreasonable.
Both of these people lived within a mile of the city centre and saw themselves as quiet individuals when with friends.
The Asian respondents taking part in the study ranged from Seventeen (17) to Nineteen (19). All Five (5) regularly found themselves socialising with friends, with Three (3) of the people socialising in another part of the city.
One (1) person found themselves restrained and has not been questioned by police. Two (2) more described their personalities as rowdy, both these people stated that they had been stopped a number of times by the police but only one felt that they had been treated unreasonably, and, with the admittance of a rowdy attitude maybe it is just that this should have resulted in them being stopped. One (1) person portrayed themselves as a restrained individual, but still being stopped and treated unreasonably.
Two (2) individuals have not been questioned by the police, with One (1) having a restrained personality and the other was a rowdy individual and has not been stopped by police.
The Five (5) White individuals who took part in my questionnaire were all aged between Seventeen (17) and Twenty-six (26). Four (4) out of the Five (5) considered themselves Atheists, only (1) believed in a faith.
Three (3) participants travelled to another part of the city when regularly socialising with friends, the remaining Two (2) stayed in their surrounding area. Three (3) of the Five (5) described their behaviour as restrained when out with friends. Two (2) agreed that police behaviour was reasonable with the Third (3) believing that their behaviour was unreasonable.
The final Two (2) individuals stated that they were restrained as well as stating that they had not been stopped by police.
Four (4) of the Afro-Caribbean individuals stated that they have been stopped and questioned by police, half of these individuals found their behaviour unreasonable. All Four (4) of these individuals also stated that their behaviour was and is of a restrained manner.
Comparing this to Three (3) White males whose behaviour reflects the Afro-Caribbean’s, none of the Three (3) have been stopped.
Only One (1) Asian matched this heading regarding his behaviour, but has never been stopped by police.
One (1) Afro-Caribbean male saw his behaviour, when out with friends, as loud, however he has not been stopped.
Two (2) White males see their behaviour as loud, both have been stopped by police when with friends.
Only One (1) Asian male fits the loud personality category, this particular respondent has been stopped.
No Afro-Caribbean’s described their behaviour as rowdy.
The same can be said again for White males.
Three Asian participants, however, have described their behaviour as rowdy. Two (2) of these have been stopped by the police.
With the Asian youth’s being stopped for rowdy behaviour a positive correlation is formed, Asian attitudes towards the police force in Southampton is that all Asian youths are stereotyped and branded instantly, while also lacking a clear understanding of culture, however, if young Asian males are acting in a ‘rowdy’ manner then surely for social and moral decisions, especially within today’s society, they should be stopped. If the Asian community were to realise how the younger generation were presenting themselves away from home it would possibly change their perception of police attitudes and the quality of their work.
Russell Bradley’s survey of ‘Public Expectations And Perceptions Of Policing’ can be linked to the afore mentioned charts. Bradley discovered that Pakistani and Afro-Caribbean males felt that they were being let down by the police force, they stated that this could be down to a lack of understanding between them. This claimed lack of understanding can be put with the fact that four of four Afro-Caribbean youths, with restrained behaviour, were stopped by police. Bradley’s research also discovered the Afro-Caribbean perception that they are victimized; the graph showing restrained behaviour provides evidence of this. This shows a direct correlation, on a smaller scale, and in turn this affect the Afro-Caribbean society’s perception of police attitudes towards them. I also believe that, however, the police are given no choice and are simply labelled by a general majority of the Afro-Caribbean society in Southampton.
Overall, I discovered that out of the Fifteen (15) who completed the questionnaire only Five (5) felt that they had been treated unreasonably.
These Five (5) consisted of Two (2) Afro-Caribbean’s, Two (2) Asian’s and One (1) White male. There is also evidence with some of these participants that them being questioned is warranted due to their attitude and general behaviour.
My results show that all ethnic groups are being treated differently at points, however, it is apparent from my research that when Afro-Caribbean’s are treated differently it happens on a larger scale, coinciding, again, with Russell Bradley’s study.
Phillips and Brown’s study among ten police stations across the UK showed Afro-Caribbean’s being more likely to be arrested, but not treated indifferently to others. This conflicts with my study and brings it into another area that could be dealt with in another research.
I do not think institutional racism can be claimed in this particular instance, at the moment anyhow, as my results do not fit any apparent definitions as well as all three ethnic groups being treated differently at some point.
I believe that with a greater sample of the three ethnic groups I would be able to match official statistics and statements of ‘institutional racism’. I, again, think that with a far larger sample the gap between the groups would hugely increase with Afro-Caribbean’s at the forefront.
However, with the results obtained through the sample that I did use, I do not think that it is fair to pass any judgement.
EVALUATION
My attempt to discover whether the police force treat ethnic minorities differently to other ethnic groups was not an entire success, I have concluded that, from my evidence, my results are not conclusive and substantive enough for me to draw a conclusion.
From the outset the topic of choice was always going to be a difficult one to fulfil. Once I had started I realised the genuine enormity of the subject as it actually extends into broader topics as well as starting new issues of contemplation.
A major flaw in my research was the size of the sample, the city that I live in has a population greater than 300,000 and I only had the time and resources available to approach fifteen people and ask them if they would participate in my research. Ideally I would like to have had a sample of around 450 people from three different ethnic groups. This would have been broken down into 150 for each ethnic group, social class (lower, middle and upper), among other factors, would have played an important role. The inclusion of social class would have also included, possibly, area of residence, wealth and even attitudes towards the police force itself, although in practice nearly impossible to implement.
Another flaw that I would try to address, if I had the opportunity to re perform the study, is that of the clarity of evidence present due to the use of one method. The use of interviews or even some substance of participant observation over a period of time via a triangulation method would serve to validate the data obtained more effectively. This would be done by conducting interviews every pre set period over a course of around five years then collecting and collating the evidence. Participant Observation would be more difficult to perform but would give a different perspective, it would eliminate any doubts of the truth being withheld, but, it would be impossible to be always around when the group being studied come into contact with the police.
It was hard to find, at times, people to participate even through questionnaires as well as being assured that they would remain anonymous, whether this is due to some reason connected to myself or another personal reason that they simply did not wish to participate in my research.
If the research was to be re-conducted and magnified on a much larger scale this problem, I feel, would also increase in turn.
Such problems lead to the validity, or sincerity, of the methods used in obtaining the qualitative data. In accordance to my study, I feel that the sincerity of those who have completed the questionnaires maybe scrutinized, even with just one person untruthfully filling out the questionnaire can completely throw the results, if this study was again to be magnified it would be relatively impossible to discover whether the respondents were lying on the questionnaire, even if the researcher was present it would still be near impossible to discover if the respondent was lying.
If I was to have used interviews over questionnaires, I may have obtained more detail that could have been better studied. However, as with other methods, it would have been impossible to tell if the respondent is lying to the interviewer. The question of racism and people and, possibly, their upbringing could be a question that may need to be answered first, through this a better cross section of society will be available to the researcher.
My evidence, however, did discover that Afro-Caribbean youths were the most likely, out of the three ethnic groups, most likely to be stopped.
Asian youths then followed but, in this instance, the reasons for them being stopped is highly debated as it may be seen as imperative that they actually be stopped in the first instance so as to stop them from, possibly committing a crime in the near future, assumption entirely based on my findings, but then again this may not happen.
White youths, for any reason, were the least stopped.
As said above I do not wish to substantiate and rush an uninformed decision, with a larger project I would be able to.
“Sociology for A-S” Moore, Aiken And Chapman
“Sociology for A2” Moore, Aiken And Chapman