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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Let’s get it rightCHAPTER1A decade ofprogress?‘Fairness and justice are inseparableand a major task for the criminaljustice system is to ensure full equalityof treatment for all.’Rt Hon Lord Justice RoseChairCriminal Justice Consultative CouncilThirteen years ago, NACRO’s Race Issues AdvisoryCommittee published its first report. The committee hadbeen established in 1983. Its remit was not only toidentify but also to eliminate racial discrimination in thecriminal justice system. An ambitious objective indeed.The 1986 report, ‘Black People in the Criminal JusticeSystem’, concluded:‘Discrimination in the criminal justice system isparticularly disastrous since the system is one ofthe bedrocks on which our society is based. Itmust be seen to be fair to all sections of thecommunity in the way it works, and unless this isthe case, it will not have the confidence of thewhole population.‘Young people, particularly young black people,become cynical about and alienated from thesystem that is supposed to protect them as equallyas it protects other members of society. Theirrespect for the law disappears, and the temptationto disregard the law increases.’Much has been achieved since then. Subsequent reports in1989, 1992 and 1993 recorded the progress made by thedifferent organisations and professional bodies whichmake up our complex criminal justice system. Theycovered implementation of race equality policies in termsof recruitment, promotion and fair employment practices;the quality of services provided to the public; and equaltreatment training.By now, it is fairly standard to have a written raceequality policy in place. Many organisations include astatement to the effect that they are an equal opportunitiesemployer in their recruitment literature. Many providesome form of equal opportunities training to their staff.But all these efforts are still having limited effect atground level.When he spoke at a NACRO conference in Leeds in1995, the former Lord Chief Justice, the late Lord Taylorof Gosforth, said:‘Race issues go to the heart of our system ofjustice, which demand that all are treated as equalsbefore the law. This is recognised not only in thestandard embodiment of justice as a figureblindfolded, but also in the terms of the judicialoath.4
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 1 A DECADE OF PROGRESS?‘It is therefore a matter of the gravest concern ifmembers of the ethnic minorities feel they arediscriminated against by the criminal justicesystem; more so if their fears were to be borne outin reality.’The black community is far from the point of havingconfidence in the fairness of the justice system. There isthe perceived unfairness in the treatment of young blackmen on the street – disproportionately represented amongthose stopped and searched by the police; criticisms of theway the system deals with black victims of crime; and itis still hard for black people to make successful careers inthe criminal justice agencies – especially at senior levels.According to a 1997 report from Helsinki Human RightsWatch, the United Kingdom has one of the highest levelsof recorded racial attacks in the whole of Europe. But aslong as 40 years ago, when sentencing nine young menconvicted for assaulting black people in Notting Hill,Lord Justice Salmon said:‘You are a minute and insignificant section of thepopulation who have brought shame on the districtin which you live and have filled the whole nationwith horror, indignation and disgust. Everyoneirrespective of the colour of their skin is entitledto walk through our streets with their heads erectand free from fear. This is a right which thesecourts will unfailingly uphold.’In June 1997, 19% of the prison population came fromminority groups – up 2% on the previous year – comparedto 5.8% of the general population. Little has changed heresince 1986 when 16% of men and 22% of women inprison were from minority groups. Home Office figurespublished in 1998 showed that black people were, onaverage, five times more likely to be stopped andsearched by the police than white people.There are still no black chief constables or chief probationofficers. There is one minority prison governing governor,only five minority Crown Court judges out of 561, noblack justices’ chief executives. There are seriousconcerns about black deaths in police custody - of the 260deaths in police custody between 1990 and 1996, whereethnicity was recorded, 7% were black detainees, 3%were Asian and 3% were of another ethnic origin. Themost recent figures show that eight (12%) of the 69people who died in police custody between April 1997and March 1998 were black (three deaths), Asian (fourdeaths) or from another minority ethnic group (one death).In 1996 and 1997, 15 people from minority groups died inprison.There has been a series of deaths among those seekingasylum in the UK. In 1987, Ahmed Katangole died inPentonville prison; in 1989 Siholyig ven and in 1991Kumpua Nsimba both died in Harmondsworth detentioncentre. In 1991, Omasse Lumumba died in Pentonvillewhile being restrained by officers in a strip cell.Two years later Joy Gardner died while being restrainedby police and immigration officers who were trying todeport her. These high profile cases further damage theperception of justice. More recently, the Immigration andAsylum Bill, currently in Parliament, and the ceaselessmedia references to ‘bogus asylum seekers’ send a generalmessage that ‘outsiders’ are not wanted.Britain is a modern European state with a rich and diversepopulation. Half of the minority population was born inthis country and three-quarters are British nationals. Outof Britain’s 56 million population, just one million peopleare black, 1,700,000 are Asian and another 500,000 comefrom other racial minority communities. Despite thesesmall numbers and the length of time that minoritycommunities have been settled here, a European Unionpoll to mark the end of the 1997 European Year AgainstRacism found that 8% of Britons classed themselves asvery racist and a further 24% as quite racist. The surveyinvolved 16,000 people in the 15 member states in 1997.In June 1997, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)reported that almost one child in Britain in every 10 isblack or Asian.What is the future for those children? In 1994, the DfEEreported that African Caribbean boys, who accounted for2% of the school population, accounted for 8% of thoseexcluded from school. Despite this, 51% of AfricanCaribbeans stay on in full-time education after 16, as do67% of Asian young people, compared to only 35% ofwhite youngsters.For those who leave full-time education, prospects arebleak. The 1994 Labour Force Survey reported that 51%of young black men aged between 16 and 24 wereunemployed compared to 18% of young white men. InLondon that year, 62% - six out of every 10 – youngblack men were out of work. And according to thehousing charity Centrepoint, about half of the homeless5
Page 1 and 2: Let’sget itrightRace and Justice
Page 3 and 4: ContentsForeword page 21 A decade o
Page 5: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000trade unions,
Page 9 and 10: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER A DECA
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER2NACRO’s workon race andcr
Page 13 and 14: CHAPTER3Commitmentfrom the topOne o
Page 15 and 16: CHAPTER4Research andethnicmonitorin
Page 17 and 18: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 4 RESE
Page 23 and 24: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 5 EMPL
Page 31 and 32: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 6 SUSP
Page 43 and 44: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 7 AFTE
Page 49 and 50: CHAPTER8Victimsof crimeAt the end o
Page 51 and 52: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 8 VICT
Page 57 and 58:
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER9After
Page 59 and 60:
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 9 AFTE
Page 61 and 62:
CHAPTER10Summary ofaction pointsCRI
Page 63 and 64:
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 10 SUM
Page 65 and 66:
BIBLIOGRAPHYBland et al (1999), ‘
Page 67 and 68:
NACRO Race Issues Advisory Committe
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?