In Teaching Race and Anti-racism in Contemporary America. 35-41. Petersilia, J. (1985). Racial disparities in the criminal justice system: A summary, Crime& Delinquency, 31 (1), 15-34.
The main concept behind these explications is that different races are faced with their own unique types of strains. These types of strains are economic, family related, educational, communal, and discriminatory. All of these strains have some level of interconnectivity with one another that can lead to people committing criminal acts. The reading mainly focuses on the African American and White racial groups. Even though all of these strains have an influence on the racial differences in crime, I believe that the community contributes a lot to these differences.
Assess Sociological Explanations for Gender Differences in Crime and Deviance Official crime statistics show that men much more likely to commit crimes than women and there is also a difference in the types of crimes each gender is more likely to commit – women committing shoplifting and men committing more violent crimes. There have been numerous different explanations for gender differences in crime including the chivalry thesis, sex role theory, control theory, and the liberation thesis. However, the official crime statistics are largely questioned by sociologists because it has been argued that they only show the criminal justice system’s view that men are more likely to commit the crimes and therefore they look more for male criminals rather than female ones. The chivalry thesis argue that these official statistics are unrepresentative due to the fact that most of the criminal justice agents – such as police officers, judges or magistrates – are men and they are more likely to treat women in a chivalrous way and therefore be more likely to convict men than women. The main idea of the chivalry thesis is this prospect that men are socialised to act in a way more chivalrous – or gentlemanly – toward women so they end up convicting men more than women.
To what extent is it true to say that high levels of criminality amongst ethnic minorities are a real visible phenomenon? Official statistics on the criminal justice process show some striking differences between ethnic groups. For example, black people are more likely to be imprisoned than other groups. Is this because some ethnic groups are more likely to offend in the first place, or is it because the criminal justice system is racist and discriminates against ethnic minorities. According to official statistics, there are some significant ethnic differences in the likelihood of being involved in the criminal justice system.
The term ‘racial profiling’ is a new term commonly associated with the old practice of discrimination and owes its existence to prejudice that has existed in this country since slavery (Racial, 2006). Nearly 32 million people have reportedly been victims of racial profiling (Amnesty, 2006). Victims of racial profiling include: African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Iranian Americans, Native Americans, and American
Stuart Hall argued in his writing of ‘Policing the Crisis (1978) where he dealt with the stereotypical image of a black youth that was presented by the media with their uneven amount of attention which they paid to certain varieties of crime. The media however tend to radicalise, dramatic and decontextualised crime, such as presenting the riots in the 1980’s as tremendously ‘black riots’ (Campbell, 1993; Gilroy, 1987), not to reject the major involvement of young blacks being the offenders of certain crimes, and not labelling the criminalisation (Keith 1993). Such as the vast array of evidence that the victims of crime are committed by black offenders which are usually living in the same area (Burney, 1990). This should not be seen as ‘black on black crime’ as the media mostly describes it to be but should be seen as neighbour on neighbour, youth on youth and poor on poor. Youth crime is normally seen as something they usually will get bored of and grow out of where they normally stop as they grow up and eventually starts to build a family of their own and settling down.
The most important difference between the two drugs is crack permits the user to a quick and very extreme high, while the powder cocaine allows the user to a slower and a weaker high. So why is there a huge difference in the penalty and sentencing policy associated with the possession of these two drugs? The reason why there is a difference in the consequence associated with the two drugs is because crack is more highly addictive and dangerous than powder cocaine. Since crack is more addictive and relatively less expensive compared to powder cocaine, a conviction of 5 grams of crack with the intention to distribute is penalized with a five years sentence. In contrast, a conviction for a five year sentence for powder cocaine with the intention to distribute is for 500 grams.
Whites with a criminal record are more than 3 times more likely to get a call back than blacks with a criminal record. This study shows that black men without a criminal record are less likely to be called back for a job interview than white men with a criminal record, as released by The Mark of A Criminal Record, American journal of
The Arian Brotherhood believes whites should be above all of races and or ethnicities. The Arian Brotherhood is still posing threats against other various races and is a great example of racial discrimination still existing in America Today. Another form of discrimination provided by the Caucasian race is racial profiling, racial profiling is a term used to describe when police or other various law enforcement officials single out a person or group of people as “potential suspects” based on their race or ethnicity. Racial profiling continues to be a prevalent form of discrimination in the United States today. Said by Aclu, “Since September 11, 2001, new forms of racial profiling have affected a growing number of people of color in the U.S., including members of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities.” For example, if an African American man standing on a corner waiting for a bus he is more likely stopped and questioned why he is standing there and where he is going.
There are many different types of social inequality. In order for something to be considered inequitable, there must be differences in benefits based on some perceived different. Inequality may be based on gender, cultural practices, or race. Some sociologists believe that social inequality leads to crime. Let us explore the various types of social inequality and see what crime, if any, it might lead to.