Claims-Making and the Prosecution of Black Defendants in Drug Trafficking Trials: the Influence of Deprivation
| Author | Anita Kalunta-Crumpton |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/135822919800300103 |
International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 1998, Vol
. 3, pp
. 29-49
1358-2291/98 $10
© 1998 A B Academic Publishers
. Printed in Great Britain
CLAIMS-MAKING AND THE PROSECUTION OF BLACK
DEFENDANTS IN DRUG TRAFFICKING TRIALS
: THE
INFLUENCE OF DEPRIVATION
ANITA KALUNTA-CRUMPTON*
ABSTRACT
The relationship between the prosecution and black' people has nowhere received
a specific or full notice as far as analysis is concerned
. On the basis of detailed
observations of drug trafficking trials at a London Crown Court, this paper reveals
the prosecution of cases concerning black defendants
. In doing so, it demonstrates
how drug trafficking cases were socially constructed through the process of
claims-
making,
a rhetorical activity that entails the use of language to present and fathom
claims effectively in order to persuade
. The prosecution described the defendants
alleged involvement in drug trafficking as a profit making venture and within the
process of claims-making constructed a relationship between drug trafficking and
socio-economic deprivation
. Subtly, racial imageries of crime and deprivation
appeared to be represented in the prosecution discourse as evidence of drug traf-
ficking
. It is concluded that the defendants faced a higher likelihood of being offi-
cially classed as drug traffickers
.
For decades, images of race and crime have remained important
themes in official and popular discourse (see, for example, John
1981
; Solomos 1988, 1993
; Gilroy 1987
; Hiro 1992)
. Areas of post
war (1945) black localities have been classified as crime ridden with
black people believed to be disproportionately involved in criminal
activities
. This notion is widely supported by referring to the eco-
nomic, social and physical degeneration, characteristics of inner city
areas where most black people reside
. In the early 1970s when mug-
ging became socially constructed and popularised by the police,
court, politicians and the mass media as a `black crime', inner cities
were classed as the principal centres of mugging (see Hall et al
.
1978
; Cashmore and McLaughlin 1991
; Solomos 1993)
. The associ-
ation between race and mugging was visualised as a direct effect of
socio-economic problems peculiar to deprived inner cities-in the
form of unemployment, substandard housing, educational under-
achievement, broken families, poverty and so forth
. During the
1980s, the major public disorders in inner city localities in parts of
* Lecturer in Criminal Justice and Social Policy, University of Plymouth
.
30
England received media coverage and publicised political debates that
focused attention on issues of race and black youth unemployment as
the root cause of the unrest (see, for example, Benyon and Solomos
1987) . Lord Scarman's highly publicised report on the 1981 Brixton
riot noted that black people suffer an adverse and complex form of
deprivation not experienced by other racial groups, and argued that
their circumstances force them into a life of crime
.
Academic studies have acknowledged a direct relationship
between `black criminality' and deprivation
. Pitts (1986) notes that
young black people who live in the most crowded homes, whose par-
ents have the lowest income, who go to under-resourced schools and
have the poorest educational and employment opportunities, are
engaged in crimes of poverty (p
. 143)
.
In analysing the representation of black people in crime statistics,
Stevens and Willis (1979) relate black disproportionate presence in
the arrest rate to differential rates in Griming attributed to socio-
economic deprivation suffered by black people
. Lea and Young's
(1984) evidence point in a similar direction, associating black over-
presentation in the crime statistics to higher offending behaviour gen-
erated by deprivation (also see Refiner 1985)
. There are theoretical
justifications for taking this line of argument which principally stem
from criminological and sociological theories that have argued that
crime lend itself most commonly to poor life conditions and social
problems in lower class areas (see, for example, Cloward and Ohlin
1961
; Cohen 1955
; Merton 1957
; Downes and Rock 1988)
. On com-
paring socio-economic factors such as employment, housing and edu-
cation, studies and official statistics have revealed that black people
are more marginalised than other racial groups (see, for example,
Brown 1984
; Penal Affairs Consortium 1996
; Rankin 1991
; Brooks
1987)
. In studies of black people and criminal justice, the socio-
economic factor has formed a notable subject
. It is argued that socio-
economic variables such as unemployment and homelessness critic-
ally influence criminal justice decisions about black people (see Box
and Hale 1986
; Carlen 1988
; Chigwada 1989
; Pitts 1986
; Jefferson
1988, 1991)
.
The issue of drugs, especially, drug dealing has been incorpor-
ated into the analyses of black people, crime and deprivation
. For
many years, the concerns about drug trafficking have been a subject
of great debate
. The media have given it prime exposure, proclaiming
to the public its dangerous existence with the accompanying image of
the deadly and greedy drug trafficker who sells drugs to users for
profit
: he is perceived as `bad' and 'evil'
. The implementation of
harsh punitive measures for a drug trafficking offence-up to a max-
imum of life imprisonment (Home Office 1985) and the expenditure
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