NCJ Number
148054
Date Published
1994
Length
50 pages
Annotation
Findings from the 1988 and 1992 iterations of the British Crime Survey (BCS) focusing on the criminal victimization of ethnic minorities showed that Afro-Caribbeans and Asians were more vulnerable to many types of criminal victimization than whites.
Abstract
Asians were particularly at risk of vandalism, robbery, and theft from the person. Neither Afro-Caribbeans nor Asians experienced any disproportionately higher increase in risk of criminal victimization between 1987 and 1991 than whites. Afro- Caribbeans appeared to be more at risk of domestic assault than whites and Asians. Home-based criminal incidents were also more common for Afro-Caribbeans and Asians than for whites. The 1988 BCS indicated levels of verbal abuse by the public against workers were similar for all three ethnic groups. When ethnic minority workers were verbally abused, however, about half the incidents involved racial insults. Asians were more likely than Afro-Caribbeans to say incidents of criminal victimization were racially motivated. The BCS documented nearly 17 million incidents of criminal victimization and threats in England and Wales in 1991, of which 730,000 or 4.4 percent were against Asians and Afro-Caribbeans. Only a small proportion of BCS respondents thought racial attacks represented a problem in their areas. Men were most often held responsible for racial violence, and persons between 16 and 25 years of age were implicated in about 40 percent of incidents against Afro-Caribbeans. Most racially motivated violence and threats were committed by strangers. About 6 of 10 incidents involved Afro-Caribbeans, while closer to 7 of 10 incidents involved Asians. Although police figures suggested a large increase in the number of racially motivated incidents, this increase may have reflected a greater propensity on the part of the police to record incidents as racially motivated. Appendixes contain supplementary tables and a typology of violence. 15 references and 17 tables