Racially Motivated Offending Research Papers

The prevalence of youth racially motivated offending: What do we really know?

2024, Probation Journal

This article reports on research conducted for the Youth Justice Board (YJB) which sought to establish the prevalence of racially motivated offending (RMO) amongst young people and the level of provision for such offenders. The paper... more

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Racially motivated offending and targeted interventions

by Kris Christmann

2024

for a specific licence to be granted. www.yjb.gov.uk Undertaking this study required the cooperation of large numbers of people across the youth justice system. Firstly, a number of individuals at the Youth Justice Board for England and... more

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Black and Asian offenders on probation: Home Office research study 277

by Adam Calverley

2023, PsycEXTRA Dataset

The Research, Development and Statistics Directorate RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Off i c e 's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and... more

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Black and Asian Offenders on Probation

by Adam Calverley

2023

The Research, Development and Statistics Directorate RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Off i c e 's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and... more

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Young people and the secure estate: needs and interventions

by Tiggey May

2023

for their invaluable support and help throughout the project. This study was only possible with the help and commitment of a considerable number of people. To preserve the anonymity of the secure estate establishments, we have not thanked... more

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The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Policing

by Barry Loveday

2023, The Police Journal

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‘Race’, crime and justice in the North East region

by Maggie O'Neill

2023

The report of an inquiry, chaired by Lord Scarman, into racialised disturbances in Brixton in 1981.

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Race, ethnicity, young people and offending: the elephant in the room

by Cath Larkins

2023, Social Identities

Can we start to say Race again when discussing youth and justice? This demand emerges from the findings of the participatory action research reported in this article. Fifty young people, in custody or in contact with youth offending teams... more

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Using Standardised Assessment Tools: Asset in Scotland

by Bill Whyte

2023

Table 19: Perception of self and others Table 20: Association of ‘perception of self and others' with risk of re-offending: ratings

Table 17: Emotional and mental health issues Emotion and mental health issues impacting on the young person were recorded more frequently for the Scottish sample than the YJB sample.

Table 8: Association of ‘family and personal relationships' with risk of re-offending: ratings 5 YJB percentages estimated as they are presented in the form of a bar chart, but not as raw scores, in the YJB report

ee Tee While similar proportions of Scottish cases (16%) and YJB cases (18%) had been accommodated by voluntary agreement with parents, a much higher proportion of Scottish | The same was also true for Scottish cases admitted to LA accommodation (25% against 11% of YJB cases), being placed on the child protection register (25% against 10%) and where there was children services involvement with siblings (59% against 22%).

Table 13: Association of ‘lifestyle' with risk of re-offending: ratings Substance Use

Table 7: Negative relationships with family and significant others

Table 6: Association of ‘living arrangements' with risk of re-offending: ratings 4-YIB percentages estimated as they are presented in the form of a bar chart, but not as raw scores, in the YJB report

Table 23: Attitudes to offending The mean rating for the association of ‘attitudes to offending’ with the risk of re-offending was marginally higher for the Scottish sample (1.84) than for the YJB sample (1.40).

Table 24: Association of ‘attitudes to offending' with risk of re-offending: ratings

\ppendix I: Information recorded on dynamic/scoring factors: percentage of sections completed, by vilot area

Table 2: Information on offending behaviour Also in the ‘Offending Behaviour' section of the Scottish Asset form, ‘offence summaries' (i.e. reasons for the offending behaviour) were recorded in 87 cases. The most common of these was peer pressure (15%), followed by the influence of alcohol/drugs (14%). Boredom (10%), provocation/self-defence (10%), ‘spur of the moment’ (9%), needed/wanted goods or money (8%) and ‘lost temper' (8%) were also cited as reasons for the offending behaviour.

Table 1: Disposals/Outcomes received Information on offending behaviour obtained from the young person is included in the Scottish Asset, but is also absent from the YJB report. The information recorded in Table 2 has been summarised from an open text box in the ‘Offending Behaviour' section in accordance with the guidance for content of this text box provided in the Asset form. Various types of disposal/outcome that the young person may have received are recorded on the Scottish Asset but there is no comparable information noted in the YJB report. Also, in the original version of Asset used in Scotland, the English terms of ‘Final Warning’, ‘Reparation Order', ‘Attendance Order' and ‘Action Plan Order' were preserved, but as of September 2008 have been removed and replaced with terms more appropriate to the Scottish system. As such, information from this section is limited.

Table 16: Association of ‘substance use' with risk of re-offending: ratings

Table 18: Association of ‘emotional and mental health' with risk of re-offending: ratings Perception of self and others

Table 9: Source of education The high proportion of missing data in categories related to permanent and fixed-term exclusions in the Scottish sample make reporting and comparing the data unhelpful. It can be said, however, that the proportion of the Scottish sample excluded at the time the Asset form was completed (16%) is comparable to that recorded for the YJB sample (15%).

Table 33 adapted In addition to the very instructive data, both for practitioners and managers, emerging from the use of standardised assessment, very striking gaps in information or evidence to support judgments are apparent. Some of these may reflect a lack of rigour in completing forms and the need for administrative oversight to pick up obvious omissions such as the notably high proportion of dates of birth missing from the data. Others may reflect a lack of research focused inquiry. For example the Scottish data has much less information on reasons for offences or information on victimisation, and limited evidence documented to justify the judgements of recorded positives in the lives of young people. The issue of victims is crucial in understanding criminality and in exploring the possibilities of reparative or restorative responses. There is relatively limited Scottish information on permanent or fixed term school exclusions; the care history section was not completed in 38% of the Scottish Asset forms, and the criminal history section was not completed in 34% of the forms. The ‘indicators of vulnerability’ section was completed in 315 (66%) of the Scottish Asset forms, compared to 93% of the YJB forms.

Table 36: Mean Asset rating by pilot area Staff completing the Asset forms

Table 26: Association of ‘motivation to change' with risk of re-offending: ratings Total ratings for Asset were available in 100% of Scottish cases compared to 84% of YJB cases, with Scottish cases scoring higher on average.

Table 32: Asset score by number of sections with evidence recorded

Table 28b: Positive factors - Personal circumstances

Table 37: Asset raters and dates of completion, by pilot area

Table 34: Number of Asset forms submitted by each pilot area, plus area descriptor

6 ‘Statutory education’ section not scored individually in the Scottish ASSET therefore only 12 sections in Table Table 33: Individual section scores, by section Asset Form Sections: Pilot Areas

Table 35: Static factors: Percentage of sections completed Overall, Area 2 appears to have been least likely to complete these sections of the Asset form related to static risk factors, although Area 4 shows a particularly low proportion (11%) of the section on care history being completed. The low Area 2 figures will obviously have an impact on overall percentages; for example, if the Area 2 figures are removed from the calculation on information sources completed, the overall proportion of forms with this section completed rises to 70%.

Table 28a: Positive factors - Social and family circumstances

Table 31: Asset scoring sections As can be seen, in around one-third of all cases (27% to 38%) sections had not been completed. Markings related to the likelihood of further offending should be recorded in each case, ranging from ‘Not associated at all' to ‘Very strongly associated'. For the purposes of this paper the category of ‘no association with offending' was examined to assess what proportion of cases where this option was selected were recorded as evidenced to this effect. As can be seen, the proportion of cases that were evidenced ranged from 77% (Fami to im y and Personal Relationships) to only 7% (Thinking and Behaviour). On the surface this would seem ply that decisions are being made without the evidence to support them. Alternatively, as the proportion of evidenced cases rises as the likelihood of an association with offending rises, it may be the case that evidence is considered more important the greater the negative finding.

Table 11: Association of ‘neighbourhood’ with risk of re-offending: ratings Lifestyle

6 7% of sections had no evidence provided 4 13% of sections had no evidence provided 495% of sections had no evidence provided ¢ 27% of sections had no evidence provided Table 38: Individual Asset raters (who completed 10 or more forms)

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Keeping young people engaged: improving education, training and employment opportunities for serious and persistent young offenders

by colin roberts

2023

Cooper, Karen and Sutherland, Alex and Roberts, Colin, Great Britain. Youth Justice Board, corp creator. (2007) Keeping young people engaged: improving education, training and employment opportunities for serious and persistent young... more

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Black and Asian offenders on probation: Home Office research study 277

by soheila sadeghi

2023, PsycEXTRA Dataset

The Research, Development and Statistics Directorate RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Off i c e 's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and... more

The index offence varied according to ethnicity. Black interviewees were more likely to have been convicted of criminal damage than Asian or mixed heritage interviewees. Asia1 interviewees were more likely to have been convicted of sexual offences, fraud, forgery anc deception, drug offences and motoring offences, than their black and mixed heritage counterparts. Mixed heritage respondents were more likely to have been convicted o violence against the person, burglary, robbery and theft and handling, than the black anc Asian people in the sample (see Table Al, Appendix). Of all men starting probation order in 2001, theft and handling (25%), violence against the person (10%) and burglary (6% represented the largest specific offence groups’ (Home Office, 2002c: Table 3.4). been convicted of criminal damage than Asian or mixed heritage interviewees. Asian

Of those respondents who answered the relevant question (99.6%), most (66%) reportec aaving educational or vocational qualifications, whilst 37 per cent said that they had nc jualifications. Very few had higher educational qualifications, however, such as degrees (3 % »f the whole sample), higher vocational qualifications such as HND or NVQ 4 or 5 (4%), o: urther educational qualifications such as A levels or their equivalent (6%). As illustrated i able 5.3 below, only 36 per cent of the whole sample said they had any GCSEs atall. Table 5.3 below, only 36 per cent of the whole sample said they had any GCSEs atall.

3.4: | Number and percentage of interviewees at different stages of a non- programme order less than half of the respondents (44%) said that this was their first experience of probation supervision. Of those who had had previous experience (56%), 45 per cent reported having done community service, 45 per cent had received a probation order, 31 per cent had been given a supervision order, and 30 per cent had had a detention and training order, youth offender licence, or a borstal or youth custody licence.

able 2.1 in Chapter 2 lists the probation areas involved in the study, and whether th ave a high, medium or low proportion of inhabitants from minority ethnic groups. Tak .2, below, shows the ethnicity of the interviewees. Highty-nine per cent of interviewe vere or had been on a probation (or community rehabilitation) order (n = 430). T emaining respondents discussed the probation supervision and in some cases attendan ta probation programme that they had experienced as part of another order (n = 5: uch as a community punishment and rehabilitation order (CPRO). Almost half of t nterviewees (49%) were or had been on a probation (or community rehabilitation) ord hat included an additional requirement to attend a probation-led programme. T emainder were or had been on an ‘ordinary’ probation order with no such stipulatio ables 3.3 and 3.4 show the breakdown of interviewees by type and stage of order’: Tables 3.3 and 3.4 show the breakdown of interviewees by type and stage of order" 11. Interviewees who were on a CPRO, and the small number on other orders, were allocated to the ‘ordinary order group or the ‘programme order’ group depending on whether they had experience of attending a probationled programme.

For purposes of analysis, the sample was weighted (by area and ethnicity) to reflect, as far as possible, the actual distribution of minority ethnic probationers reported in the Probation Statistics for England and Wales 2001 (Home Office 2002b). This corrects any biases resulting from the differential sampling of high, medium and low density areas, and ensures that responses are as representative as possible of minority ethnic people on Probation or Community Rehabilitation Orders at the time of the study. All findings are therefore reported in terms of the weighted sample except where they are specifically stated to be unweighted. Each respondent was assigned a weighting factor which was the product, to two decimal places, of the weighting by area and the weighting by ethnicity. The factors are shown in Able 2.2. For purposes of analysis, the sample was weighted (by area and ethnicity) to reflect, as far Overall, 241 interviews were conducted with subjects who defined themselves as black (compared with a target figure of 300) and 172 with subjects who defined themselves as Asian (compared with a target figure of 200) — making a total of 413. The remaining 70 interviewees defined themselves in ways not envisaged in the original scheme, as of mixed heritage (57 cases) and in some other way (13 cases). High density areas were over- sampled in comparison with the target figure, and medium and low density areas were under-sampled. As a final comparison with the sample originally envisaged, 237 interviewees were or had been on orders entailing participation in a programme, when the target figure had been 200. This discrepancy reflects the fact that a growing proportion of offenders under probation supervision are required to attend a programme. Since the data that produced the original sampling scheme are known to be defective, there is no reason to regard these divergences from the sample originally envisaged as having introduced a damaging element of unrepresentativeness.

It is immediately clear that the survey sample shows lower scores than the white comparison group on all scales, apart from Asian offenders on the V scale. Within the survey sample there are also a number of differences between ethnic groups: black offenders were slightly but not significantly higher than the sample as a whole on all scales except the P scale;

ble 5.4: School experiences and ethnicity (N=468) There are also marked differences within these ethnic categories (n=469). Black African respondents were significantly55 more likely to give positive accounts of school than all other ethnic groups. While a majority of black African offenders described their feelings about school as generally positive (66%), only a quarter of black Caribbean (27%) and black Other (24%) offenders and a third of mixed heritage (31%) offenders did likewise. Black African offenders were also less likely than black Caribbean offenders to report that they truanted or were suspended. They were also significantly more favourable in their responses to their teachers: two-thirds gave positive accounts of their teachers compared to one-third of black Caribbean responses. Finally, black Africans were less likely to report experiencing racism at school from either the teachers or the pupils (12%) than the black Caribbean (19%), Pakistani (14%), Bangladeshi (33%), Indian (23%) and mixed heritage (24%) interviewees. Figures for comparison from other studies are 41 per cent of probationers with no qualifications (Mair and May, 1997) and 80 percent who left school with no qualifications, based on probation officer assessments, in Stewart and Stewart (1993). The initially high proportion of the sample (63%) who reported that they had educational qualifications tends to disguise the number who left school without qualifications, as many qualifications were gained outside school, in job centre training schemes or in prison (see Table 5.3). One of the main reasons why many respondents did not have higher qualifications appeared to be related to their experiences of school in Britain. As Table 5.4 shows, many respondents had unsatisfactory experiences of school, and this was particularly true of black and mixed heritage probationers. This is not surprising, as research shows that black children in particular tend to be negatively labelled by teachers, as unlikely to do well academically and as likely to behave badly (see Gillborm and Mirza, 2000).

CRIME-PICS II problems in weighted sample and comparison group

The proportion/ number of offenders in different age groups convicted of different offence-types (weighted) The proportion/ number of offenders from different ethnic groups convicted of different offence-types (weighted) (N=483)

Problems in CRIME-PICS II self-report schedule which respondents said had contributed to their getting into trouble (weighted)

Responses” to ‘What makes a good supervisor of a black or Asian person?’ (weighted) 63 All responses mentioned by five or more respondents are included.

.6: In your experience with the criminal justice system, have you been treated fairly by ... ? Historically, the police have been at the centre of the debates on racial discrimination within the criminal justice system. Allegations of police stereotyping, targeting and unfair treatment of black and Asian young people have been made in several studies on policing (Cashmore and Mclaughlin, 1991; Reiner, 1993; Pearson etal., 1989; Holdaway, 1983, 1996). Ithas been argued that the police represent to young minority ethnic people in inner city areas the symbol of a predominantly white society, and their authority is often not seen as legitimate (Hall et al., 1978; Iea and Young, 1993). As indicated in Chapter 1, studies of the courts and the Probation Service have also shown disparity in sentencing and professional practice offenders report various kinds of unfair treatment within the criminal justice system.

Four per cent of respondents said they had no fixed abode — what is conventionally regarded as homeless. This probably conceals the actual extent of those facing the problem of insecure accommodation, however. Thirteen per cent of responses were coded under the other’ category, which typically included staying in Approved Premises (probation hostels) yr other transitional arrangements such as staying on a friend’s or relative’s floor. W hilst not all respondents were unhappy with such arrangements, many were, or had experienced similar problems in the past. Moreover a long period of time spent in such a vulnerable 2nvironment, and within the company of other offenders, could be a factor in their »ffending. The following response illustrates this point well:

Ethnic composition of the (unweighted and weighted) sample ‘thnicity was classified under four general headings: black, Asian, mixed heritage, and other The terms ‘black and ‘Asian’ were used in accordance with the 1991 Census of Populatior ‘odes where black is defined as African, Caribbean, and black other, and Asian is defined a: Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Asian O ther. In addition, a number of interviewees defined hemselves as of mixed heritage or mixed race, and it appeared useful to count these as ar .dditional category. Interviewees described as being mixed heritage tended to have one white yarent and one minority ethnic parent’’. Table 3.1 shows the ethnic breakdown of the sample:

you do geta job its nearly always a shit job that doesn’t pay well or is boring.

The length of orders given to probationers in 2001, and to the interviewees Here, as in many of the tables, N is less than 483 as not all interviewees answered or were able to answer the question.) Survey respondents had been given longer sentences than the probation population as a whole, with just 52 per cent receiving orders of 12 months or less, compared with 66 per cent of the general probation population. The average length of sentence was longer for survey respondents than amongst probationers generally, and a oreakdown of the average length of order by ethnicity showed that the difference was even more marked for some minority ethnic groups. "* (Here, as in many of the tables, N is less than 483 as not all interviewees answered or were

All but one of the interviewees described their employment status. Table 5.1, below, shows that 66 per cent of respondents were unemployed. Just 17 per cent were in full time employment As Table 5.2 shows, 69 per cent of those who answered the relevant question (99% of the sample) said that state benefits were their main source of income, 23 per cent said that their own wages were their main source of income, and four per cent claimed to a

The ages of men starting a probation order in 2001, and of the interviewees Patterns of offending tend to differ according to age (see Mair and May, 1997: Table 3.14), and the survey respondents proved to be no exception. Interviewees aged from 18 and 20 were more likely to have been convicted of robbery, burglary, criminal damage and/ or motoring offences than those in other age groups. Respondents aged from 21 and 29 were more likely to have been convicted of theft and handling, fraud, forgery and deception and/ or drug offences than their older and younger counterparts. Interviewees aged 30 and over were more likely to have been convicted of violent and/ or sexua! offences than younger respondents (see Table A2, Appendix 2).

.s the table makes clear, the impact of the problems discussed above and in Appendix 1 yas greater in medium and low density areas than in high density areas, with the exceptio1 f the West Midlands, where workload pressures on probation staff had led to a policy o 1inimal contact with certain categories of offender. This may suggest that probation area: rith a high density of black and Asian offenders on probation and community rehabilitatio1 rders have been generally more successful in developing practice that allows for constructive upervision and a better sense of offenders’ current status. I should be noted, however, tha ven low density areas can contain small localities of high density, and itis important that the eeds and interests of minority ethnic offenders in these localities should not be overlooked.

Table 3.9 compares the survey sample with the other studies identified above. Scaled scores are used here as some studies only provided these. Differences are in the expected directions: the Think First and Probation Centre groups score higher than the survey sample, and the community punishment group scores lower, reflecting the known tendency for people on community punishment orders to have fewer problems than those on probation/ community rehabilitation orders (Raynor, 1998). are used here as some studies only provided these. Differences are in the expected of mixed heritage). Asian offenders were significantly lower on G, A and E but higher on V; and offenders of mixed heritage were significantly high on G and A but low on V. All group scores, even those which were high for the sample, were lower than for the white group. A full breakdown of the problem scores is given in Table A.3 in Appendix 2: the only problem areas in which the survey subjects reported greater difficulties than the white comparison sample were relationships, housing (particularly among black offenders), health (particularly among Asian offenders) and not feeling good about oneself (particularly among offenders of mixed heritage). among Asian offenders) and not feeling good about oneself (particularly among offenders

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Young people and the secure estate: needs and interventions

by Tiggey May

2023

for their invaluable support and help throughout the project. This study was only possible with the help and commitment of a considerable number of people. To preserve the anonymity of the secure estate establishments, we have not thanked... more

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Challenging and changing racist attitudes and behaviour in young people

by iolo madoc-jones

2022, Probation Journal

Challenging and changing racist attitudes and behaviour in young people has long been a concern in education and youth and community work. More recently, with the introduction of racially aggravated crimes, similar concerns have been... more

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YOT Talk: The Impact of Communication in Youth Justice Interviews: Practitioner Report

by Professor Stephen Case

2022

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Toolkit for Police Officers: Council of Europe standards on racially motivated crimes and non-discrimination. First Edition

by Dezideriu Gergely

2022, Toolkit for Police Officers: Council of Europe standards on racially motivated crimes and non-discrimination

The report focuses on Council of Europe standards on racially motivated crimes and non-discrimination of Roma and Travellers. Relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights is also included, with the aim of supporting police... more

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The role of Emotional Intelligence in the criminal activity of young people involved with the Leeds Youth Offending Service

by Kathy Hampson

2022

The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and... more