This document discusses different explanations for differences in crime rates between ethnic groups: Left realism argues that crime statistics reflect real differences in offending rates, while neo-Marxism sees them as a social construct resulting from racist labeling and discrimination. Gilroy argues that ethnic minority crime stems from resistance against a racist society, while others like Lea and Young attribute it to marginalization and economic exclusion leading to utilitarian crime. There are criticisms of both views, with left realists like Lea and Young arguing that Gilroy romanticizes street crime, and neo-Marxists like Hall being criticized for not providing clear evidence linking capitalist crisis to public fears about crime. The document examines these competing perspectives on the relationship between ethnicity

1. Official stats show differences between ethnic
groups – 2 main explanations:
Left realism: stats represent real
differences in rates of offending
Neo-Marxism: stats are a social
construct resulting from racist labelling
+ discrimination
Gilroy: the myth of black criminality
Ethnic minority crime as form of political
resistance against racist society
Originated in former British colonies, under
oppression + rebelled through riots +
demonstrations so adopt same behaviour
here
Ethnic diff. in stats reflects real diff. in
levels of offending
Racism led to marginalisation +
economic exclusion
Media emphasis on consumerism
highlights rel. deprivation
Acknowledge that police often
react in racist ways resulting in
unjustified criminalisation of some
ethnic minorities
Cannot explain diff. between
minorities in terms of police
racism i.e. why blacks
considerably higher rate of crime
than Asians
Leads to utilitarian crime as a means of
coping
Left Realism: Lea + Young
Criticisms:
Explaining the
differences in offending
Arrests rates lower for Asians than
blacks due to diff. stereotypes of races
i.e. Asians as passive
However... view may have changed
since 9/11
Lea + Young criticise Gilroy...
1st generation immigrants in 50s + 60s very
law abiding, so unlikely they passed down
anti-colonial struggle to kids
Most crime intra-ethnic so can’t be anticolonial – Gilroy romanticises street crime as
revolutionary when it’s not
Asian crime rates lower or similar to whites,
meaning police officers are only racist
towards blacks which seems highly unlikely
Hall et al: policing the crisis
Neo-Marxism: Gilroy + Hall
Criticisms of Hall:
Downes + Rock: inconsistent in claiming
that black street crime was rising
Don’t show how capitalist crisis led to
panic, or evidence that public were worried
about ‘black crime’
Left-Realists: inner-city resident’s panic
about mugging isn’t panicky but realistic
Ruling class usually able to control subordinate
classes through consent, though in times of crisis
this is difficult
1970s – high inflation, rising unemployment, media
driven moral panic about supposed growth of new
crime of ‘mugging’
Myth of ‘black’ muggers used as scapegoat to
distract people from the true cause of problem;
government
Crisis of capitalism was marginalising young blacks,
driving them into a lifestyle of hustling + petty
crime, making public panic true