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Race, Crime and Policing: Empirical, Theoretical and Methodological Issues

NCJ Number
114831
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1988) Pages: 521-539
Author(s)
T Jefferson
Date Published
1988
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study summarizes the available empirical evidence on the interaction of race, crime, and policing in the United Kingdom, compares contrasting theoretical interpretations of the data, develops methodological implications for adequate research strategies in this area, and offers a theoretical case study of contemporary police-black relations in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
The review of available empirical evidence on the subject examines the literature on relevant attitudes and behavior. A summary of studies of police attitudes and black (i.e., Afro-Caribbean and Asian) attitudes is followed by an outline of research on the police treatment of black suspects and black victims. Issues in the interpretation of the data are whether race rather than other factors such as age, class, and demeanor is the central determinant of police behavior and whether different police treatment of blacks is necessarily discriminatory treatment. The discussion of methodological implications focuses on three core methodological approaches to police-minority studies: representative sampling, the conventional case study, and historical documentation. This article concludes with a historically based account of contemporary police-black relations, based on a critical reading of all the literature reviewed. This constitutes the rudiments of a 'theoretical case study.' 68 references.

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