Let's get it right: race and justice 2000 - Nacro

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Let’s get it rightmonitoring.In 1997/98 the Witness Service helped 111,209 courtusers: 91% were white, 2% were black, 5% were Asianand 2% were from other ethnic groups.Victim Support groups do not see all those who receiveinformation face-to-face and, therefore, monitoring ismore difficult. As most referrals come from the police,it would be helpful for Victim Support if the policeextended ethnic monitoring to include all victims ofcrime.Victim Support also has a consumer satisfaction surveyfor local services, which includes a question on theethnic origin of the respondent so that any differencescan be easily identified.In February 1998, Victim Support opened the VictimSupportline. For the first time this provided onenumber,national access to Victim Support services. AllVictim Support services are confidential. An additionalpurpose of the Supportline was to encourage those whomay not have reported a crime to the police to seekhelp. Some callers only want to receive immediate helpand advice. Others want access to local help and,through Victim Supportline, referrals can be made tolocal groups, the witness service or to other agencies.Some callers may want to use the line as a means ofdiscussing their feelings about reporting a crime.In all aspects of its services, Victim Support iscontinuing to develop and monitor its response to racistincidents and crimes. A service review is a major partof its strategic plan for 1999-2002. In February 1999the Home Secretary announced that Victim Support hasbeen asked to extend its services into magistrates’courts. As in Crown Courts, the service will beavailable to prosecution and defence witnesses as wellas to victims and others affected by the case.In response to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report,the Government announced an increase in funding toVictim Support, so that its current £12.7m grant willrise by 2001 to £19m. It is also to review the Victim’sCharter, which includes 27 standards of service forcriminal justice agencies, to take account of newlegislation and decisions taken as a result of theInquiry.ACTION POINTS Implementing the recommendations of theStephen Lawrence Inquiry Report must be apriority for all agencies. Crime and Disorder Act: local crime auditsand police and local authority crimeprevention partnerships must tackle allcrimes against minority communities,developing action plans to tackle them inclose consultation with local people. The MPS model of lay involvement viaadvisory panels should be adopted by allpolice forces. The ACOP/MPS action guide to race and hatecrime should be supported by training anddisseminated to all police forces. Priority must be given to work with localcommunities to encourage more reporting ofracially motivated crimes. This might bedone through local authorities, communitypolice consultative groups, race equalitycouncils and other community-basedorganisations. Victim Support groups shouldassist the police with this work. The policeshould hold special open consultationmeetings to hear at first hand communityperceptions of the problem and ideas forsolutions. Probation services should ensure theyprovide programmes for work with raciallymotivated offenders, drawing on ‘FromMurmur to Murder’ (see chapter 7). Victim Support should ensure thatcommittees, staff and volunteers arerepresentative of the communities theyserve. Victim Support should monitor its responsesto racially motivated crime.54
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER9After thewatershed:2000 andbeyond‘I want this report to serve as awatershed in our attitudes to racism.I want it to act as a catalyst topermanent and irrevocable change,not just across our public services,but across the whole of our society.This report does not place aresponsibility on someone else. Itplaces a responsibility on each one ofus.’Home Secretary, 24 February 1999What are the key issues to take criminal justice into thenew millennium? This chapter looks at the most importantthemes for the coming years, while chapter 10summarises the key action points from earlier chapters.The Stephen Lawrence InquiryReportAs the media spotlight moves away from the StephenLawrence Inquiry Report, what is its long-term relevancefor race and criminal justice? Will it really be ‘awatershed’ as the Home Secretary claimed whenpresenting the report to Parliament on 24 February? Orwill it suffer a similar fate to the Scarman Report, thewatershed of its own time? Scarman was expected tosolve problems of police and community relations whichwere – sadly – all too apparent to the Lawrence Inquiryteam 18 years later.Within a month of the Inquiry Report, on 23 March theHome Secretary published the Government’s Action Plan,with detailed proposals on each of the 70recommendations in the Inquiry Report – most of whichwere accepted by the Government. A steering group witha wide membership has been set up to help enact it, andon which NACRO is represented.There has been a rapid and promising start to the processof change. Can it be sustained? Can it be sustained as abacklash develops in the media and more widely; or in theface of diminishing public interest, institutional inertiaand the traditional working practices of criminal justiceorganisations? ‘This is how we always do it’ is a powerfulobstacle to the type of change that is now required,particularly in conservative organisations deeply rooted intradition and precedent.‘… we would all be deluding ourselves if we believethat the issues thrown up by this inquiry reflect onlyon the police. Indeed the implications of this reportgo much, much wider and the very process of theinquiry has opened all our eyes to what it is like tobe black or Asian in Britain today.’Home Secretary, 24 February 1999ResponsibilityAlthough many recommendations in the Inquiry Reportare aimed primarily at police services, there is a collective55
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