But why? Crime is often associated with poverty, as this Home Office paper explores (along with other factors too):
Income and earningsI initially looked up the stats because I heard somebody say they thought that blacks were responsible for most of the robberies in London, and I wanted to test that (rather outrageous sounding) observation.
Britain’s BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] groups are twice as likely to be unemployed as White people[8]. But within this overall picture, large differences exist. Unemployment among the economically active is high for Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African groups, but low for Indian and Chinese people.
Reflecting employment patterns, the average household income in most BME groups is below that of White households. A quarter of the latter have incomes at or below the national average; by contrast, four-fifths of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households and about two-fifths of households from other BME groups have incomes at or below the national average.
Some BME groups, notably Black Caribbean, Black African and Bangladeshi groups, are concentrated in areas of deprivation, and tend to be trapped in these areas as a consequence of historical patterns of discrimination in housing, limited job opportunities and poor transport[9], [10]. However, there is also good evidence[11] that discrimination plays a direct role in limiting their economic opportunities.
I wouldn't have been surprised to find out there were differences in the types of crime committed by different ethnic groups. As this Home Office paper says:
The main differences between ethnic groups were in the offence groups, with a greater tendency for White people to be arrested for criminal damage and burglary, Black people for robbery and fraud and forgery, and Asian people for fraud and forgery. There were variations across forces in the proportions of individuals from different ethnic groups being arrested for specific types of offence.However, it appears that a disproportionately high number of blacks are arrested in total, across all areas of crime in the UK.
Below is the summary, and then detailed extracts of the statistics.
Summary
In England and Wales, black people make up:
- 2.2% of the population (3.6% if you include "Mixed Race")
- 8.8% of people arrested
- 7.8% of people arrested for 'violence against the person'
- 29.4% of people arrested for robbery (roughly = theft by force or intimidation)
In London, black people make up:
- 10.9% of Londoners (14.1% if you include "Mixed Race")
- 32.2% of people arrested
- 31.0% of people arrested for 'violence against the person'
- 57.8% of people arrested for robbery
The sources for these figures are below.
These statistics are supported by another Home Office paper Race and the Criminal Justice System: An overview to the complete statistics 2002-2003 (273KB PDF ), which contains this chart:
References
Population Ethnicity - England
These statistics are supported by another Home Office paper Race and the Criminal Justice System: An overview to the complete statistics 2002-2003 (273KB PDF ), which contains this chart:
References
Population Ethnicity - England
According to this BBC News article, the 2001 Census showed that in England and Wales has:
- White 91.3%
- South Asian 4.4%
- Black 2.2%
- Mixed Race 1.4%
- Chinese 0.4%
- Other 0.4%
According to wikipedia, the 2001 Census showed London's ethnic breakdown was:
- 71.2% White
- 12.2% South Asian
- 10.9% Black
- 3.2% Mixed
- 1.6% Other
- 1.1% Chinese
The detailed arrest statistics below are from the Home Office paper Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System - 2005 (668KB PDF).
Ethnic appearance of persons arrested in England & Wales in 2004/2005 (see Table 5.1 below):
- White 1,137,043 (84.3%)
- Black 118,734 (8.8%)
- Asian 65,979 (4.9%)
- Other 19,538 (1.4%)
- Unknown 8,133 (0.6%)
- Total 1,349,427 (100%)
- White 102,763 (54.7%)
- Black 60,518 (32.3%)
- Asian 17,524 (9.3%)
- Other 6,408 (3.4%)
- Unknown 595 (0.3%)
- Total 187,808 (100%)
