More sinned against than sinning? Perceptions about European migrants and crime
| Author | Kirsty Perry,Richard Mottershead,Iolo Madoc-Jones,Odette Parry,Emily Warren,Sally-Ann Baker,Karen D Roscoe |
| Published date | 01 July 2013 |
| Date | 01 July 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1748895812455529 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
13(3) 262 –278
© The Author(s) 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895812455529
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More sinned against than
sinning? Perceptions about
European migrants and crime
Sally-Ann Baker, Iolo Madoc-Jones, Odette Parry,
Emily Warren, Kirsty Perry, Karen D Roscoe
and Richard Mottershead
Glyndwr University, UK
Abstract
The article draws on perceptions of those working in professional capacities with European
migrants in one area of the UK, to explore understandings about the relationship between
European migrants and crime at the local level. The qualitative study informing the article
involved semi-structured interviews with representatives from the criminal justice system (CJS)
and community representatives. A key finding of the study was that both CJS and community
representative respondent accounts were largely congruent. European migrants were more
likely, in respondent accounts, to be victims, rather than perpetrators, of crime. Much of the
predominantly ‘low-level’ crime associated with European migrant offending was reported to
be largely a function of cultural difference and based on misunderstanding of UK law and CJS
processes. The article concludes with some implications for the enculturalization and education
of new migrants and the fostering of better understanding between European migrants and CJS
agents and processes.
Keywords
Crime, European migrants, qualitative, victimization
Introduction
Following European enlargement in 2004, citizens of eight European countries were
granted the right of free movement across Europe, and to the UK, to find work. This
Corresponding author:
Iolo Madoc-Jones, Principal Lecturer Criminal Justice, Glyndwr University, Plas Coch campus, Mold Road,
Wrexham, LL11 2AW, UK.
Email: jonesim@glyndwr.ac.uk
455529CRJ13310.1177/1748895812455529Criminology & Criminal JusticeBaker et al.
2012
Article
Baker et al. 263
article contributes to the debate on some implications of this enlargement by exploring
perceptions, of those working in professional capacities with European migrants in one
area of the UK, about the relationship between European migrants and crime.
Terminological sensitivities exist in the field of immigration and crime. For the purposes
of this article we use the terms migration and migrant, in preference to immigration and
immigrant, to avoid the pejorative nuances that have come to be associated with the latter
terms. Moreover, the term migrant will be used only in reference to those entering the
UK post-2004, and not in respect of previous diaspora.
According to Banks (2008) and Solivetti (2005), in almost all West European coun-
tries migration is popularly linked with a rise in crime. Bianchi et al. (2008) argue the
crime–migration nexus dominates the political debate in most migrant destination coun-
tries. In the UK this is also the case, despite the fact that the crime rate has been falling
for a number of years (McLaren and Johnson, 2007). Moreover, migrants tend to be
represented in the media less favourably than members of the white indigenous UK
population. An analysis of media representations of migrants indicated that they are fre-
quently portrayed as a threat (Rasinger, 2010). Crimes committed by new European
migrants to the UK are the subject of increased media speculation and commentary
(Mawby and Gisby, 2009). For example, the Daily Mail (Hickley, 2006) suggested
Eastern European migrants committed one-tenth of all crimes in the UK, while the
Telegraph (Harper and Leapman, 2007) suggested ‘foreigners’, and especially Polish
migrants, were responsible for almost a fifth of crime in London. In the same year Julie
Spence, Chief Constable for Cambridgeshire constabulary, made media headlines by
demanding more staff to deal with the rising crime rate occasioned by migrant workers
in the UK. In the latest phase of European Union enlargement, Bulgaria and Romania
were admitted to EU membership on 1 January 2007. According to Mawby and Gisby
(2009) a particular feature of the UK media coverage of this related to the crime wave
that was predicted to follow. Some researchers note how such reporting can have a strong
impact on public opinion (Wortley, 2009). Moreover, they argue that as a result, the
crime–migration nexus is now firmly established in the minds of a significant proportion
of the population of western nations (Simon and Sikich, 2007).
While some media reports claim to offer ‘the facts’ about crime and migration, it is
suggested that the impact of recent European migration on patterns of crime is under-
researched (Goodey, 2000). A search of contemporary UK literature appears to support
this claim. Where research exists, the focus has been more on the experiential rather than
the ‘effects’ of migration on crime (White, 2011). To some extent this is the case in the
UK because European migrant groups are not readily identifiable through current ethnic-
ity classification systems used by the CJS (criminal justice system) and tend to be clas-
sified as ‘any other white background’ (ONS, 2005). Indeed, due to the difficulties in
capturing data, at the current time, even the size and patterning of European migrant
populations may not be known in many areas of the UK (Baker, 2008).
It is known, however, that the pattern of European migration to the UK is changing
(Kelly, 2009). Current figures indicate that migration levels are balancing as more
Eastern Europeans are now leaving the UK to return home (Kelly, 2009). Be that as it
may, the crime–migrant nexus remains an issue of popular commentary because it
appears commonsensical to link migration with increased crime. Criminological theories
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