Why are young black boys involved in more crime than young white boys?

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Why are more young black boys involved in crime than young white boys?

Introduction

My coursework is based upon why more young black boys are involved in crime than young white boys? I will investigate the following questions: Is the media labeling boys from the black communities? How do different values affect young boy’s upbringings?  How influential is TV and computer games? How are young black boys discriminated in our society, schools and environment? I have chosen to research these areas because the publicity in the news recently of the 3 killings of young black boys within the south London area: James Smartt-Ford, 16 who was shot dead in Streatham ice-skating rink on 3rd February. Michael Dosunmu, 15 who was shot dead in his home, Peckham on 6th February 07 and Billy Cox, 15 who was also shot dead in his home, Clapham on 14th February 07 . It leaves you to wonder, why young black boys are tied up in more crime than young white boys. Referring to sociology alive, in the early 1980s there were many racial outbursts within the Metropolitan police force leading people to believe that stereotyping and discrimination is acceptable. This links to the years of slavery which may have been abolished but is surely not over. There is still racism in society which has been shown by many researchers, slavery may have caused this because people think that it is still okay to treat certain individuals as dirt, discriminating against hem because of their skin colour. A study in the early 1980s in the Metropolitan police force revealed that racist comments were widely used, similarly racist language is quiet commonly used over the personal radio. Afro-Caribbean people are about seven times more likely than white and Asian people to be in prison. There may be many reasons for this but I can identify two, Afro-Caribbean people are seen to commit a lot more crime, and some people believe that the criminal justice system is racist and works against the black communities. Black people are known not to do as well at school as white people and suffer higher rates of unemployment, as a result of discrimination. Crime is then a way of surviving difficult circumstances. Relationships between Afro-Caribbean people and the police have been a concern for many years. Police have patrolled areas such as Brixton in London, sometimes in very heavy handed ways. Young black boys are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, which is linked to the fact that there are very few black police officers. I believe that most young black boys feel victimized by the police force because they are much are vulnerable.

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Methodology

        To investigate if the media is labeling boys from the black communities, I have chosen to use the following research methods: newspaper articles, information from the internet, TV and radio. I will carry out a number of interviews and observations. These are appropriate methods for my investigation because I can look at the language used accuracy and how people act towards the media and its views. The short-comings of my chosen methods are that many newspaper articles can often be biased towards the given opinion, whereas using the internet is that you may not be able to ...

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