Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Race. Ethnicity And Criminal Justice History
Race. Ethnicity And Criminal Justice HistoryUK has been a multi-culture country historically whereby tribe from various origins, nations, races, religions, beliefs, etc. migrated to UK in the last cardinal centuries. Largely, these migrants have been from Africa and Asia that have the social nonage communities within the UK. In the past 30 years, these heathenish minorities progressed very wholesome in the UK and have been the victims of plague and racial crimes. ninefold research has been conducted pertaining to the causes of hate and racial crime in the UK (Gabbidon. 2009). This paper is a presentation of relevant literature review on the field of honor matter.2.0 Migration, racial Disadvantage and Ethnic DiversityMigration of mountain to UK has been in progress for at least two centuries alone organised migration for living and vocation has been occurring in past 30 years. The culturalal groups prevalent in UK atomic look 18 erosive Caribbean, Black Afri quarter , Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and former(a)wise Asians and Blacks. Many of these groups have migrated to UK for education and employment and thereof their primary tar shorten has been to compass high quality professional education, get employed within UK or to open a business. Some of the deal have entered UK through human trafficking r a counseles and hence the crimes against them be much wider than the peerlesss against pagan minorities. The groups of Black Caribbean, Indians and Pakistanis argon written composinged to be well employed in the UK collect to their professional skills and good written and speak English language. Their employment rates have been ameliorate than other ethnic minorities and even better than the local cleans. (Gabbidon. 2009)McDonald (2009) argued that the ethnic minorities always remain within their groups with tangibly pellucid differences in lifestyles. They can be identified very easily due to skin colour and unlike pronun ciation of English and hence ar easily targeted by others that hate them. He argued that the racial and hate crimes atomic number 18 non always conducted by local whites but argon in addition conducted by one group of ethnic minorities against others. In fact whatsoever of the ethnic minorities have brought with them different flavours of crime to UK that has added to the already actual crimes of the UK. Migrants from whatsoever countries ( same(p) Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) have largely chosen to adopt the local way of thought and living and hence do non cause nuisance against others (except for issues like domestic violence that is prevalent even in their native Australian countries and has receive one of the major issues in UK). But many other ethnic groups prefer to retain their original lifestyles and possess radical thoughts that make them pervert against the whites and other ethnic groups in the UK. As pointed out by Chakraborti and salmagundi (20 09), a lot depends upon the raft under which the members of ethnic minorities migrated to the UK. While people from Asian countries migrated to the UK for higher pay packages (that is, to get lavisher as they were well finish in their respective countries as well) others whitethorn have migrated to the UK amidst extreme destitution or touch of slavery and deprivation in their native countries. The register of events associated with the minority people matters a lot in the way they get along in the UK. The sense of being deprived or betrayed invokes negative emotions of hate, jealousy, blemish and revenge that results in crime against other ethnic minorities in the UK and also the clashes between whites and blacks. This is one of the accepted causes of hate crime although the authors believe that this subject still pick ups enormous scholarly research to be open up further. In fact racist crimes ar classified as one of the categories of hate crimes disposed that raci sm can be one of the steadfast causal agencys leading to hatred but there argon many other factors as well. The racist crimes are conducted by the people due to their hate against people of other races influenced by emotions like deprival, betrayal, difference of class, prejudice, etc. (Healy. 2006)The substructure Office, UK has presented a wide definition of hate crime that includes wrong activities as a result of secernment against disability, religion, belief, race, sexual orientation or transgender. The dwelling house office especially mentions that hate crimes are more(prenominal)(prenominal) important and different than other types of crimes because the people are targeted based on identity and the discrimination thus practiced is serious infringement of human rights and social equality. Moreover, they commonwealth that hate crimes result in serious psychological disorder and dislocation and can be disastrous for the British society because whole communities can b ecome enemies just by criminal act against one individual. unsafe social disasters (like riots) can be the extreme outcomes if the hate crimes are not handled adequately and indiscriminately. (http//www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/hate-crime/)Gabbidon (2009) studied the pattern of punishments in the UK criminal justness formation to discover that certain types of crimes are associated with the ethnic minorities such that the probability of getting sentenced for the members of the minority group increases. For example, Blacks are more probable to get tutelar sentences for fraud, forgery and drug execrations and Asians are more probable to get protective sentences for robbery. Similarly whites are more probable to get custodial sentences for residential area crimes and Muslims are more probable to be targeted for terror crimes. These patterns suggest around kind of mindset established in the juridic corpse itself that is prepared to believe that a particul ar ethnic minority group whitethorn be associated with a particular crime. These concerns have been raised by the 2006-2007 cover up by the House of Commons, lieu Af second-rates Committee pertaining to overrepresentation of young blacks pertaining to crimes relate to drugs, firearms and mugging. The report especially states that Young Black people are disproportionately subject to socio-economic disadvantage and social exclusion even by the court and policing system. Quraishi (2005) pointed out that southwestern Asian Muslims are perceived to be more involved in offensive crimes although the British criminology badly lacks researches on South Asians especially the Muslims. In fact the knowledge about the ethnic vicissitude in the UK is still very less and hence criminal justice system do take into account perceptions rather than facts. Muslims are more likely to be frisked for arms and explosives and blacks are more likely to be frisked for drugs. One can define this as raci al disadvantage in the UK.3.0 Reasons for crime against ethnic minoritiesRutter and Tienda (2005) described social discrimination, deprival and poverty as two major reasons for crime against one group of ethnic minorities by some other. It is not a fact that all members of an ethnic minority are brusk or rich. The perceptions are driven by majority of the members of an ethnic minority group whether they are poor or deprived or not. For example, as described by these authors, Pakistani and Bangladeshis are also poverty infatuated but they do not perceive this as a reason for deviance against the ethnic minorities that are richer. This again goes back to the theory of the circumstances under which they migrated to the UK and the objectives that had in mind to achieve from the migration. Asians come to UK to become rich and hence their entire focus is on earning more and more money. Caribbean blacks may have migrated to the UK through more congenial channels and hence are well place d and growing in the UK. They possess excellent spoken and written English skills and hence enjoy better placements in the British society. African blacks have migrated to UK under varying circumstances whereby significant number of migrations can be traced back to slavery and deprivation in their native countries by the whites. thereof, the reasons for crime against ethnic minorities read to be viewed from historical be stipulation in the UK. They may be the traditional black-white clashes or else hatred and jealousy against Asians due to their comparatively better success. (Chakraborti and smorgasbord. 2009)There may be other recent reasons like the significant outsourcing of UK jobs to India but they have not save been proven academically at least from UK perspective (may be relevant in US however). The author has mentioned this point without an empirical support because this needs further investigation.4.0 Policing against hate and race driven crimesRice and White (2010) and the 2006-2007 report by the House of Commons, seat Affairs Committee pointed out that the policing system has been discriminate against the blacks in the UK. The black youths are doubted, arrested and imprisoned more frequently than Whites and Asians. The discrimination exists in the form of some kind of mindset against the blacks that may be the result of historical conflicts between whites and blacks in the African countries. Their reports suggested that blacks are often intercepted, ticketed and, in many cases, arrested just against doubts without substantial evidence. Further to this, Chakraborti and Garland (2009) stated that blacks do not get adequate law of nature force pledge and hence have been victims of violence amounting to serious injury or ending in the UK. The case of Stephen Lawrence (in 1993) and the Macphersons report has been especially analysed by these authors to describe how institutional racism has resulted in increase of racism crime in the UK. qu est figure presents the statistics of race crime in the UK from 1999-2000 to 2006-2007The statistics reveal a step-by-step increase in race crimes year subsequently year. These figures are notwithstanding the reported crimes because the British criminal offense Survey (BCS) reports reveal larger numbers racket (about 139000 in 2006) of racial crimes. The reports also reveal that ethnic minorities are at higher risk of racial crimes than the whites. The Macpherson report in 1999 opened a new dimension of institutional racism in the UK that confronted racial incline among the metropolitan police in London. The report recommended significant improvements in the policing and judicial system to ensure commitment towards a true and unbiased British society that needs to prove to the world that Britain is a true multi-racial democracy where everyone enjoys equal rights to live and survive. The report revealed that the police system itself is biased towards racism and the problem of ra cial hate in Britain today is much difficult rooted in institutions, organisations and, most worryingly, in children and adolescents that are less than 16 years of age. The report justified the compliant by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence that the metropolitan police was biased in the entire investigation process and all the suspects were acquitted. The rudimentary deviate that the police system needs to undergo is to visualise racism as a threat to modern British society and overlay the same as a social challenge that needs to be resolved as effectively as possible (OBrian. 2000). The 2009 report by House of Commons, Home Affairs Committee claims that significant improvement in policing against racist crimes is evident after the term institutional racism by Sir William Macpherson had shaken the police confederation out of their complacency. The report claims that cultural change is evident in the police departments in the way they interact with ethnic minorities. The concept of family liaison officers has also worked very well. In another report by superlative Prosecution Service (2006), they claimed to have handled the racist take away of Anthony Walker very professionally and proactively that resulted in prosecution of both the criminals obligated for the racist murder. However, as reiterated by the 2009 report by House of Commons, Home Affairs Committee, the black youth is still over-represented by the police given that they are six times more likely to be interrupt and searched. The report also reiterated that the misbehaviour with ethnic minorities under custody need to be controlled. Moreover, the role of family liaison officers need to be improved given that their responsibility is to ensure that the ethnic minority family of the victim is treated well by investigators and the updates regarding the investigations are periodically provided to the family members. The police needs to take an accountability of race equality and percolate the message to t he natives of their region by convey of appropriate communications media.5.0 Ethnicity and criminal justice systemThe modern criminal justice system makes every government official to be responsible towards ethnic minorities. As per the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, it is an unlawful offense for any government official to exhibit or practice racial discrimination while carrying out his/her duties. The act also requires that government departments need to publish their race equality schemes and justify how the schemes would be able to achieve promotion of race equality and good relationships with the various ethnic minority groups. In addition, the act also mandates close monitoring of the way the stave from ethnic minorities are treated in government organisations. The maximum impact on the public is carried out by the police and hence they are the ones that need to practice the mandates of the act most due diligently. The authorities in the police organisations have obvious ly not taken the Macpherson report positively and hence stop and search and custodial death cases have increase since the report has been published as claimed by Abbas (2004).The Macpherson reports institutional racism targets Crown Prosecution Services ( bicycle) as well and hence the latter has been more proactive in the way they deal with racial violence against ethnic minorities. The Anthony Walker case is an ideal example in which the CPS today approached police themselves and supported them to ensure faster investigations and faster prosecution of the criminate. In fact the CPS assigned the senior prosecutor and involved the community leaders of the ethnic minority group much ahead of the police contacting them (CPS. 2006). However, the core problem remains that the probability of members of ethnic minorities getting prosecuted by CPS is higher and hence the perceptions need to be changed considerably by the institution in the coming years. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 implies fair trial of all accused by the CPS irrespective of whether they are members of ethnic minorities or are whites. The change is already visible but there is a long way to go.The other acts that enforce hatred and racial discrimination as unlawful areRacial and ghostlike Hatred Act 2006Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 deterioration Discrimination 1995Criminal Justice Act 2003 S.145Football offenses act 1991 (amended)Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001(http//www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/hatecrime/hatecrime004.htm)6.0 ConclusionThe UK is a multi-racial democratic country where the social system has been formed by the combination of local British commonwealth and a number of ethnic minorities that migrated to the country. Maintaining communal harmony in the UK has been a major challenge in the past given that there are numerous reasons for hatred and prejudice emotions prevailing in the nation that are linked with historical events and facts. Th e British society comprises of Africans, Caribbean, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Chinese and other ethnic minority groups that have migrated to the UK under different circumstances and with different objectives. Hence there are crimes conducted by one ethnic group against another and also crimes conducted due to the historical hate clashes between whites and blacks. All organizations (including the constabulary departments) are made of human beings and hence racial emotions have been existing even in the government officials, police and judicial system. The event of racial killing of Stephen Lawrence triggered multiple changes in the UK racial system especially after publishing of the report by Sir William Macpherson and the definition of so called institutional racism. Sir William pointed out that racial feelings prevail even in the people serving Metropolitan Police Organisations and the Crown Prosecution Services. He recommended major changes in the way government official s treat ethnic minorities in the interest of long term survival of the British society. The report as opposed very potently but improvements over traditional complacent approach of police and CPS are evident as reported by House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee. The CPS also advocated their proactive approach in puzzle out the racial crime against Anthony Walker who was murdered by two white youths in a park. CPS promptly engaged with the police teams and ensured that the accused get the desired punishment that they deserve. These events are definitely improving sureness among the ethnic minorities but there is still a long way to go in the future.
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