User:Cruckert/Race and crime in the United Kingdom

Christopher Ruckert

Throughout history, individuals have interacted which each other in many ways.  Many times, it is in peaceful interactions which are the result of business or personal interactions.  Other interactions result in a crime being committed.  These crimes are mainly the result of personal issues arising between two individuals.  These individuals are known to each other and the crime is a result of there being a disagreement between them.  However, there are times when the two interacting individuals do not know each other. It becomes a chance meeting between the two where an interaction takes place.   Sometimes the driving force is related to differences in race between the two individuals.  The United Kingdom presents a challenge when determining the effect of race and crime in the United Kingdom.

Many facts must be expanded upon when determining the extent to which race plays a part in crime which is committed in the United Kingdom.  One such fact pertains to the role in which race is the motivating factor in the crime that has been committed.  Is the person who is committing the crime doing it because they are settling a personal matter between the two individuals or are they doing it because of something else. In the article Losing the Race, Thinking Psychosocially about Racially Motivated Crime, David Dadd and Bill Dixon look at the relationship between race and crime and how does a crime become racially motivated.  Various examples of crimes which have been committed are discussed in the article.  They take an emphasis into the actions of the individual who is committing the crime. They work to find reasons which explain why an individual would commit a crime in the first place.  After looking at various crimes throughout the United Kingdom, they found that it is difficult to know whether their findings concentrated in a local study can draw conclusions into a larger area or country.  One must also take into account the histories of the places which a crime is committed, and the background of the individuals involved to fully understand if race was a contributing factor in the crime which is committed.  Both of these contributing factors heavily determine why a crime was committed. These contributing factors help to determine if race was really a cause as to why a crime was committed.  In the United Kingdom the racial aspect of society has been blurred due to the close interactions of various races in society.

One of the issues observed when researching the relationship between race and crime in the United Kingdom, was the overrepresentation of individual races involved in crimes.  With the United Kingdom being a melting pot of society, many races are represented in its societal makeup.  However, distinct overrepresentations are shown in various reports of crime in the United Kingdom.  Anita Kalunta-Crumpton describes in The Importance of Qualitative Research in Understanding the Disproportionate Black Presence in Crime Figures in the United Kingdom how blacks are overrepresented throughout various instances of crime in the United Kingdom.  Additionally, she is able to show how the overrepresentation of blacks in crime figures had started to occur shortly after the 2^nd World War. This increase was the result of an increase in immigration into to the United Kingdom.  Blacks were starting to immigrate into the United Kingdom at an increasing rate.  They were starting to interact with the established sections of society and as a result issues were starting to occur more frequently.  As a result of the overrepresentation, studies were conducted which would investigate and try to explain why the documented increases in black represented crimes were occurring as opposed to other racial minorities. In addition to the criminal aspect which Anita discusses, she also worked to describe how blacks have been disappointedly affected by other aspects of the law.  One issue discussed involved the program called stop and search. During this program, blacks were shown to have been targeted by the police more than any other race in the United Kingdom.  Within the year ending in March 2021. The Metropolitan Police made 77% of all of their searches involving black people.  The first chart below shows the racial makeup of individuals being arrested. The second chart below shows the difference in racial makeup of those individuals who had the program Stop and Search conducted on them.  These charts show how certain races and being overrepresented in the United Kingdom.

One aspect which was researched in relationship to race and crime in the United Kingdom was the effects of probation and their effectiveness on various racial identities.  Originally it was thought that all individuals who had been convicted of a crime, would respond to the same probation programs the same way as other individuals. However, what the researchers found was that outcomes were determined by an individual’s needs.  In the article Race and Probation, Sam Lewis, Peter Raynor, David Smith, and Ali Wardak utilize a study which was conducted to find the effects of probation on various ethnicities showed how many factors go into determining how individuals’ races respond differently to each probation program.  The study was conducted using multiple racial groups.  The research group also used various control groups which equally represented all individual racial groups in the study. Originally, the study had been conducted to identify a particular set of “criminogenic needs”.  After identifying the needs of all individuals, it was believed the group would be able to identify a certain program that would meet their needs.  However, the authors of the study were able to determine that many factors go into the determination of someone being able to benefit from probation.  Probation programs need to adjust to different cultural needs of society for them to be effective to a wide range of individuals. Without adjustments to probation programs which are offered to criminals, many criminals face the prospect of being repeat offenders and continue to cycle in and out of jail.

Another aspect which must by observed when looking at the effects of race and crime in the United Kingdom is the relationship between the immigration policy and political discourse.  In the United Kingdom there are areas of society that have been established for a very long time.  Individuals have built these barriers to ensure their areas of society are not affected by outside sources.  The sources of these barriers include a particular immigration policy, foreign criminality discourses, and the actions of the media toward immigrants.  These sources have been used to define, refine, and inform control of immigrants.  However, immigration attempts to breakdown these barriers and their intended effects.  The authors of Immigration Policy and the Role of Political Discourses in the Relationship Between Foreign Nationals and Crime in England and Wales took an in depth look at the connection made between foreign nationals and the different non-immigration criminal offenses they are sometimes accused of.  The authors attempt to make these connections by using tracking methods to show the historical role of immigration policy and the political debates which accompany them. With this information the authors were able to fully understand the background into these issues which usually revolve around political discourses and immigration policy changes.  The review discusses how economic and social restrictions play a role in the reducing the activities of foreign nationals. Additionally, the article looks at how public sentiment and the media’s coverage effect foreign nationals.  It further shows how the relationship between foreign nationals and crimes has been construed.   The information has been used to show favoritism towards those of the established citizens in society.  Additionally, the connection of foreign nationals in relation to crimes in the United Kingdom have been used to control immigration and policies and stop politicians from being blamed for policies not working to control crime.

When observing the relationship between race and crime in the United Kingdom, one must be able to compare the United Kingdom to other communities. This comparison will help to show how differences in policies effects the overall impacts of how various policies which have been put in place.  The article Three Strikes and You’re Out: Exploring Symbol and Substance in American and British Crime Control Politics discusses various policies communities and governments have put in place to discourage or prevent individuals from committing a crime and the effects these programs had on the specific communities.  These policies include the Zero Tolerance campaigns, youth curfews, the war on drugs, increased use of incarceration and the privatization of the criminal justice systems.  The article focuses on the United States and United Kingdom.  It discusses and compares the two countries experiences when each enacted a zero-tolerance policy towards criminal activates and the has been on these communities.  Initially, this form of criminal punishment was introduced in the United States in the late 1980s.  The United Kingdom introduced their program in the 1990s.  These programs were intended to punish those who were repeat offenders by sentencing repeat criminals to a mandatory time in jail.  The result of the legislation differed between the two countries.  The main difference was the difference in how many individuals were sentenced under the three strikes laws.  In the United Kingdom, no one was sentenced using the law, while use in the United States varied greatly.  While Colorado used the law on four individuals, California used the law on 42,322 individuals.

For individuals who are accused of committing a crime, their race is an indication of how they will be treated in jail.  As authors Trevor Jones and Time Newburn describe in their article Race, Crime, and Injustice? Strip Search and the Treatment of Suspects in Custody in the British Journal of Criminology, various races incur various types of treatment.  The severity of treatment is determined by their race.  In order to show this representation Jones and Newburn use data from a single police station to observe how a considerable amount of distrust and tension has built up over time between the public and minorities of the United Kingdom. Over time, this sentiment developed into where it currently is. The research found during the time period of May 1999 – September 2000, different amounts in frequency in which strip searches were conducted varied according to someone’s ethnic background.  The data which had been compiled by the authors showed how the frequency of strip searches increased for Arrestees of African-Caribbean origin than any other group.  This included when looking at other factors which included age, sex, and offence which had been committed. The severity differed depended on the race of the individual but was always the same for each individual race.

The relationship between the trends of crimes in the UK and the form of policing

SAMPLE 4 STUDENT

The relationship between trends of crime in the UK and forms of policing has been a topic of academic and sociological research. This research has shown that crime trends vary upon the form of policing used in different eras and regions.

The Police Foundation

The Police Foundation is an organization that serves to benefit the public by providing greater understanding, examining both the public and police, and creating resources of knowledge to increase the effectiveness of policing in the UK as well as protection for its citizens. The Police Foundation is affiliated with neither the public nor the police. This group has been at the center of this research, as well as working with other academics, to understand this relationship and how we can improving policing practices and standards.

Existing Policing Methods

Before establishing effective methods, researchers looked at policing practices that existed to analyze what was not working. Research has shown that general policing tactics as well as intense, highly visible policing is not always the most effective. A lack of sensitivity as well as a lack of hearing community concerns can be extremely damaging for the communities’ trust in police. Focusing resources on communities that have higher levels of crime can be highly effective in reducing crime rates. Socioeconomic status should be taken into consideration as a way of becoming more sensitive to the needs of the community. Problem-oriented policing allows for a more productive way of handling the source of the crime issue rather than individual incidences.

Public Desire for Reform

A need for research on police reform arose from the rise in high profile deaths at the hands of police officers, and the desire to understand what the role of the police is in relation to social conflict. These calls come from society, government, and the police, suggesting that there is an urgency and need to review policing as a 21st century concept and only then to determine how best to deliver policing. Research of this kind, reviewing the needs of society in policing has not been done since the 19th century. This research currently is theoretical. They have shown what has not worked while making assertions as to why.

Policing Hate Crimes

Hate crimes are hard to quantify through crime statistics and police records. They rely heavily on victims coming forward to the police and reporting incidents. The definition of a hate crime is any incident that is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be racist, homophobic, transphobic, or due to a person’s religion, belief, gender identity or disability. A determining factor on whether an incident is a hate incident is the perception of the victim. The offender’s reasoning for committing the incident is not taken into consideration. In 2001, a qualitative analysis of racial and homophobic incident reports was conducted. The analysis showed that homophobia and racism are likely to be experienced in people’s everyday lives and the crimes committed against them are not likely to be about their sexual orientation or race in the eyes of offender.

Jewish Hate Crimes

In the early 2000s, crimes committed against Jewish people were increasing in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has consistently been years behind the United States in collecting this data. Even when the United Kingdom’s government started to record such events, the accuracy was flawed and under-documented because antisemitic hate crimes were recorded under the same umbrella as all other hate crimes. The Community Security Trust (CST) assembled several incident reports from 1984 to 2004. The information shows an upswing of antisemitic crimes with the maximum number of instances occurring in 2004. One of the many problems with these statistics is the accuracy. Due to multitudes of people not sharing the true nature of their incidents, the precision of the data collected cannot be completely factual. Other countries have attempted to create ways for citizens to anonymously describe themselves and what happened to them. This is not a practice used by the United Kingdom. Another problem that Britain has in reporting their anti- Jewish crimes is the inconsistency in data collecting between different police forces throughout the nation. Some forces don’t report data because they don’t have many Jewish citizens. Others say that they can’t divide up crimes in a manner that allows specific figures such as religion. Jews are considered a race rather than a religious group under British law. This causes a miscommunication when reporting hate incidents on Jewish people. This under reporting and documentation has led to under policed crimes.

Proposed Methods of Policing

Organizations such as The Police Foundation have focused on the need for collaboration between police and the public in creating structures of law enforcement. Through this collaborative research the SARA method was created. This process is defined as scanning, analysis, response and assessment. This method allowed for greater connection between the police and the policed that increased officer effectiveness.

Improvements in the methodology of policing suggest considering factors such as socioeconomic status and crime levels of the areas being policed.

Large public response to deaths of citizens at the hands of police has sparked further research around police reform. Police reform has traditionally followed an action-reaction model. This model is successful for short term change but has not been a productive method to bring forth long term structural change. Research suggests long term change is dependent on separating the needs of the structure of the police, as the needs of the two differ. These two terms can show great variation in both connotation and denotation when looking across different cultural, social, and geographical groups. Today in postmodern societies police have authority given to them based upon the political systems they function under. In proto societies this authority may be based in theology. Policing must be viewed both from the legal and social frames from which they exist and operate. It relies upon an agreement between those policing and being policed to have set rules or policies upheld. By this very definition policing is a form of power or authority. From here the differentiation is made between concept and function. There often arises a disconnect between the needs of citizens and the needs of their governing bodies. Many forms of reform have failed due to understanding these definitions and concepts. Meaningful change must look at the holistic structure and function of policing, as well as its position in specific social contexts.

Power and the British Monarchy

SAMPLE 2 STUDENT

The British Monarchy has held power since the sixteen hundreds. Over time the power held by the British Monarchy has lessened compared to the beginning. In research there is evident to the powers held over time by the monarchy as well as the role and place in society.

Inner workings of the Monarchy

The monarchy itself is seen at an elite level in Great Britain. In some cases the monarchy is refereed to as "the Firm" meaning that it is like a corporation. Looking at the perception of the firm they have used private corporations to manage different affairs within the empire. Member of the firm must be member of the royal family so they are able to keep to the creation of the idea of the family firm. The monarchy functions like a corporations in order to stay within the inter-workings of the world market. A key factor to this is remembering that the British Monarchy does not hold political power to keep them involved with the world the way a government would.

Another inner most factor of the monarchy is the personnels that work for the Royal family; this includes staff working within the royal palaces or households, ministers, and civil servants. The monarchy is able to employ over 1,200 staffers to make sure the British Monarchy is functioning at all times. Staffers within the monarchy also experience disparities and inequalities. According to a study the Royal Household pays their female staffers 12.39% less than their male counterparts. This also includes a racial disparity where only about five percent of employees have an ethnic minority background.

Role of the Monarchy

The role of the Monarchy has changed over time dude to deceased in power and control. NO longer holding compete control over the countries that are considered to be apart of the common wealth. The current monarchy hold no real political power rather they act as a head of state. This role includes appointing the prime minister as well as other minsters and also controls parliament.

Parliament consist of the House of Commons and House of Lords (not including the Monarchy). This has existed since the early tenth century and was created to help King Henry the III rule. Parliament also was created to have strong ties to the Catholic Church allowing the Pope to have power.

Power over Media

The British Monarchy has held a certain power over the media sine the 1900s. With the use of media the Monarchy had been able to use it to their advantage and make their image and perception more likable to the people of Britain. The media allows for this royal family and idea of a monarchy to still exist by keeping the crown relevant and in the public eye. The media has been used to show the monarchy conducting selfless acts around the country and touring to see their people.

The first type of media used to highlight the royal family was the cinema where there was the showings of Jubilees, funereal, and coronations; with the first account being Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee. These accounts gave the public a look into the lives of the people living in the royal family.

The news media covered the royal family's events from weddings to touring the country. Including when the Prince of Wales when he conducted his Empire Tour visiting the West Indies, the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand; at the end of the tour the footage was turned into a documentary for the whole world to see. With traveling there was some criticism when the King and Queen left England to go tour South Africa when they were facing a very harsh winter.

Criticism

In history there were the Whigs who were against the British Monarchy having too much power especially over taxes as well as the influence of Catholicism and the correlation between the two. The Victorian Whig- Liberal whose goal was to decrease the power that the crown held to focus on political and moral values.

Theres also criticism referring to the immense wealth the British Monarchy still has. The monarchy receives funds from the government and also receives no taxation. These taxations including some such as inheranuence tax and income tax. Recording to reports in 2018 the monarchy received 45.7 million in euros from the British Government. The royal family has also been ridiculed by the English public due to the amount of spending conduced. There has also been evidence of the monarchy consoling funds and ways used to prevent the loss of revenue. Including trying to use tax exemptions or regulations put in place specifically to help people living in Great Britain in lower income areas to help financially. Including the disparities within the staff woking for the monarchy who experience disproportionate wages.

The History of Race and Crime in the UK

SAMPLE 8 STUDENT

The history of race and crime in the UK is long and complex, yet it has always been closely intertwined. This research has shown that this history goes as far back as the mid-1700s.

The Vagrancy Act (1824)

The Vagrancy Act of 1824 was an acted passed in the UK that makes it illegal for anyone to be homeless or to beg. The Vagrancy Act put into law what was already practiced by the police since, at least, the 1750s: pre-emptive policing. In his article, Paul Lawrence argues that pre-emptive policing is not a new phenomena and has been practiced in the UK for centuries. The Vagrancy Act unfairly targets marginalized individuals, such as the homeless. The law is still in effect today.

Crime throughout the 20th Century

Crime throughout the 20th century is just as complicated. The trends in crime have changed over the last century. In the first decade and a half of the 20th century, there weren't any unexpected rises or falls in the crime rate. Although, the amount of thefts increased, crime wouldn't rise significantly until the second half of the 20th century.

References

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Olechnowicz, A., & Richards, J. (2007). The Monarchy and Film 1900-2006. In The monarchy and the British nation, 1780 to the present. essay, Cambridge University Press.

Panton, J. (2011). Historical dictionary of the British monarchy. Scarecrow Press.

Ucl. (2022, September 26). The British monarchy: Faqs. The Constitution Unit. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research-areas/monarchy-church-and-state/british-monarchy-faqs

Ucl. “Parliament.” The Constitution Unit, 5 Oct. 2021, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/parliament.

Ucl. (2022, April 20). What is the role of the monarchy? The Constitution Unit. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/explainers/what-role-monarchy

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   “Losing the Race; Thinking Psychosocially about Racially Motivated Crime”, David Dadd and Bill Dixon, Explorations in Psycho-social Studies Series. London: Routledge. 2011. eBook., Database: eBook Academic Collection pg. 1-10

·        “The Importance of Qualitative Research in Understanding the Disproportionate Black Presence in Crime Figures in the United Kingdom”, Anita Kalunta-Crumpton, African Journal of Criminology & Justice Studies; Fall 2006, Vol. 2 Issue 2, pg. 5-20

·        “Police Powers and Procedures: England and Wales, Year Ending 31 March 2021

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·        “Immigration Policy and the Role of Political Discourses in the Relationship Between Foreign Nationals and Crime in England and Wales”, Al-Faris, Khamael Hasan Naji, January 2016

·        “Three Strikes and Your Out: Exploring Symbol and Substance in American and British Crime Control Politics”, Trever Jones, Tim Newburn, the British Journal of Criminology. 46(5): 781-802

·        “Race, Crime, and Injustice? Strip Search and the Treatment of Suspects in Custody”, The British Journal of Criminology. 44(5): 677-694

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