I have decided to base my topic upon police and stereo typing, and whether they treat ethnic minorities differently to white people.

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RATIONALE

I have decided to base my topic upon police and stereo typing, and whether they treat ethnic minorities differently to white people.

The police force’s relationship with ethnic minorities are said to be very shaky, and at times reach boiling point.

The metropolitan police force has had accusations of institutionalised racism, especially with cases such as Stephen Lawrence.

I, however, live in a southern city were such accusations are not as widespread, this could partly be due to rumours that the media covers them up.

My aim is to investigate whether specific groups of ethnic minorities feel as if they are being treated differently by the police than white people, and if so to what degree. I will be talking to 16 – 26 year olds as my target audience.

I intend to use questionnaires to conduct my research. I am hoping that patterns will emerge so that results can be compared and distinguished.

My goal will have been met once I have discovered if different ethnic groups perceive that the police treat them differently.

CONTEXT

There is a lot of work and evidence, both written and oral, linked to my topic of ethnic groups and their perception of police behaviour. For many critics this is linked to the concept of institutional racism. Carmichael and Hamilton in 1968 described institutional racism as covert, Robert Blauner agreed and saw it as dwelling in ‘the actual existence of domination and hierarchy’.

A definition of institutional racism can be drawn from the MacPherson report of 1999 which was investigating the murder of a black youth from south London called Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed by a gang of white youths. As well as investigating the murder itself, the Metropolitan police were also investigated for accusations of ‘Institutionalised Racism’ as they both lost evidence and failed in itself to prosecute any defendants despite the amount of good and reliable evidence. The MacPherson report defined institutional racism as ‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people’.    

David Mason, a British sociologist, broke the term institutional racism into a number of subdivisions, here are a few of these ;

  1. The Conspiracy Version. This happens when people situated at the higher end of the hierarchy in public bodies deliberately attempt to discriminate against racial groups. This is shown, for example, by the Scarman report regarding the Brixton riots of 1981.
  2. The Structural Marxist view. The main reasoning behind this view is that policies created by the executive, or the state, are the main reason for any discrimination suffered by racial groups whether there is premeditated intention or not. An example of this could be the state ‘encouraging’ the use of cheaper, often ethnic minority, labour when needed and then blame the same people for the problems of unemployment and housing.
  3. Unintended Consequences. This primarily argues that institutions in society can lead to racial disadvantage and inequality as a consequence of following policies that were not designed to be racist. An example of this is that of policing policies in Brixton London, where in an attempt to cut down on street crimes by stop and search methods led to a large amount of black males being discriminated against.

Phillips and Brown’s study, taking place in ten different police stations across Britain discovered that Afro-Carribean youths were more likely to be arrested than others, but found no supporting evidence that other ethnic minorities were treated differently to whites.

Marxist writers believe that the law and even the police itself are agents of the ruling class, this is a view I will discuss in my evaluation. Functionalists, however, believe that the criminal system is an agent of social control, functioning to help and benefit all and that without it society would collapse.

For Functionalists, high levels of Afro-Caribbean arrests could show that this group are more criminal than others.

Official statistics, in 2000, show that per 1000, 26 whites were arrested, with 113 per 1000 for Afro-Caribbean’s and 37 per 1000 were Asian. However, sociologists such as Mayhew, Aye Maung and Mirrlees-Black have argued that most crime is performed by young males from poorer backgrounds, and ethnic minorities are more likely to have worse housing and live on lower incomes, and so, these sociologists accept that although the police may be racist towards these groups, that the rates of arrest do reflect the actual pattern of crime.

Labelling theory, in this instance, could be applied to the police and investigate whether they automatically label ethnic groups and perceive and treat them differently. This theory can also be applied in another way, if Afro-Caribbean’s perceive themselves as being treated differently they may intentionally make the situation worse, see no hope for the future, and turn to a life of crime, making the stereotypes come true.  

Since the MacPherson report, top criminal prosecutors have come forward to describe society itself as institutionally racist. This links in to my project as ethnic minorities reading or hearing these words may be encouraged to believe that the police are definitely racist and treat them differently.

Another example is of Pc Christopher Eckersley who is at a stage of being dismissed from the police force for racially abusing an Asian. Situation’s like these will only anger ethnic minorities and make them see the police force as more and more racist which in turn may increase ‘deviance’ of ethnic minority communities.

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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 ...

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