The document discusses 3 types of criminal statistics that provide information on ethnicity and crime: 1) Official crime statistics which may be unreliable as only 10% of crimes are discovered by police with 90% reported by the public. 2) Victim surveys which reveal the majority of crime is intra-ethnic (within ethnic groups) but may be unrepresentative by excluding under 16s and business/white collar crimes. 3) Self-report studies which found similar rates of offending across ethnicities but have limitations such as potential lying and not covering more serious crimes. The conclusion is that evidence on crime and ethnicity is inconsistent.

1. CRIME AND ETHNICITY
3 types of criminal statistics
1 OFFICIAL crime STATISTICS
Interpretivists have highlighted the socially constructed nature of these statistics – they depend very much on the
accumulation of a series of human decisions and circumstances: e.g. police only discover 10% of known crime
themselves – 90% is reported to them by the public.
Write down 3 reasons why we might doubt the validity of official crime statistics which seem to suggest that Black
people commit more crime
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2
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2 VICTIM SURVEYS
These surveys aims to record crimes that have not been recorded by the police, by asking people which crimes they
have been a victim of (usually during the past 12 months). The most famous Victim Survey is The British Crime
Survey (BCS) which was initiated by Left Realists in 1982 and has become a very important source of information
about levels of crime and public attitudes to crime and other Home Office issues. The results play an important role
in informing Home Office policy.
What do VICTIM SURVEYS reveal about ethnicity and crime?
a) Significant over-representation of black people as ‘muggers’ (street thefts from individuals)
b) Vast majority of crime is INTRA-ETHNIC i.e. within rather than between ethnic groups: black on black....
EVALUATION:
i) Rely heavily on memory. Bowling & Phillips (2002) argue that white victims often say offenders are black even
when they are not sure.
ii) Only cover personal crimes – only 1/5 of all crimes. Muggings comprise 1.7% of recorded crimes.
iii)Exclude under 16s: minority ethnic groups contain a higher proportion of young people.
iv) Exclude business crimes by and against organisations so they tell us nothing about white collar/corporate crimes.
CONCLUSION: Victim Surveys can only tell us about the ethnicity of a small proportion of offenders so may be
unrepresentative of offenders in general.
3 SELF-REPORT STUDIES
Ask individuals to disclose their own dishonest and violent behaviour
What do SELF-REPORT STUDIES reveal about ethnicity and crime?
a) Graham & Bowling (1995): Rates of offending: Blacks 43%, Whites 44%, Indians 30%, Bangladeshis 13%.
b) Sharp & Budd (2005): Use of Class A drugs (heroin, cocaine...): Whites 6%, Blacks 2%, Asians 1%
EVALUATION:
i) Respondents may lie (either to hide their offences or to big themselves up).
ii) Hindelang et al (1981) found that black males with criminal records were less likely to admit offences
iii) Do not ask about more serious offences (like murder) , crimes for which there is higher rate of black offending.
iv) Generally filled in by young people (over 16) so are not representative of the whole population.
CONCLUSION: Findings of self-report studies challenge the stereotype of inherent black criminality, though they
uphold the stereotype of Asian conformity. Major limitations though.
OVERALL CONCLUSION: EVIDENCE ON CRIME AND ETHNICTY IS INCONISTENT!
CRIME
NOTICED/WITNESSED
CRIME REPORTED CRIME RECORDED