Phillips & Bowling on ethnicity, policing, and crime
Phillips & Bowling show that ethnicity and crime are interconnected through policing: minority ethnic groups are over-policed, leading to higher arrest rates that appear to show higher criminality.
Real World
In London, Black people are stopped and searched at seven times the rate of white people according to Home Office data — Phillips & Bowling argue this over-policing inflates Black crime statistics rather than reflecting actual offending rates.
Exam Focus
Distinguish between 'higher arrest rates' and 'higher offending rates' — conflating the two is a common exam error that costs evaluation marks.
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