ABSTRACT
It seems that within sociology, black men are habitually spoken of only in reference to their relationship with the criminal justice system. It is also unfortunate that a large percentage of black males have a police story or anecdote to share. However, one should not automatically assume that black men are more prone to criminality than other racial classifications; in fact, a strong argument can be made that black men are more criminalised than other racial groups in Britain. What are omitted from scholarly deliberation on race and crime, however, are the core factors that neutralise ‘good boys’ away from crime, and magnetise ‘bad boys’ towards it. Also absent is the awareness of the large number of black men who are subject to a criminal drift, for whom desistance is an eventual outcome – for various reasons, ranging from parenthood and religious instruction through to education and a quest for formal forms of respect. Respectability and propriety also play a crucial role in this debate in so much as West Indian cultural practices instilled values that prompted concepts of non-criminal participation within the lives of the post-Windrush generation, and insulated them from crime by a variety of significant factors associated with social bonds, such as regenerative shaming.
