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

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Let’s get it rightyoung people on the streets in London are from minoritygroups.According to the British Crime Survey, in 1995 one-thirdof respondents had some form of police initiated contact –but this rose to 56% among young men and 44% of theunemployed. In the 16-25 age group, 47% of young whitemen and 53% of young African Caribbean men had beenstopped by the police in the previous year.The criminal justice system needs the faith andconfidence of these young people – to report crimes, toact as witnesses, to take part in community crimeprevention programmes, and to seek careers in theorganisations and professions concerned. A 1994 PolicyStudies Institute survey of 16- and 17-year olds in 34urban schools asked whether the young people thoughtjudges and courts gave fair and equal treatment toeveryone. Only one in 12 of the young black respondentsand only a quarter of the young white respondents saidyes. Over a third of the young black people (37%) saidthat ‘if I witness a crime I keep my mouth shut because Idon’t want to become involved’, compared to 19% ofyoung white people (‘Changing Lives 3’).It is not only young people who hold such attitudes. In1995 the black newspaper the ‘Weekly Journal’commissioned a survey of 1,870 black people over theage of 16 in different parts of the country. 78% of therespondents believed that the police would treat a caseinvolving a white victim more seriously than oneinvolving a black victim. 63% felt that relations betweenthe black community and the police had worsened overthe past 10 years; only 12% would consider joining thepolice; and 92% thought that the police treated blackpeople worse than they treated white people.In 1997, 18% of the 18,453 complaints made to the PoliceComplaints Authority were from racial minoritycomplainants.The criminal justice system does not work in isolationfrom the wider community. Employers, local authorities,educational institutions and training providers have aresponsibility to work with the police, courts, prison andprobation services to widen opportunity, prevent crimeand deal fairly with offenders from all communities. Thiswas recognised almost two decades ago by Lord Scarman,when he reported on the disturbances in Brixton and othercities in 1981:‘I identify the social problem as that of thedifficulties, social and economic, which beset theethnically diverse communities who live and workin our inner cities. These are difficulties for whichthe police bear no responsibility, save as citizenslike the rest of us. But, unless the police adjusttheir policies and operations so as to handle thesedifficulties with imagination as well as firmness,they will fail. And disorder will become a diseaseendemic in our society.’Similar links were made by Metropolitan PoliceCommissioner Paul Condon 15 years later. LaunchingOperation Eagle Eye – a strategy to tackle street robbery– he said that ‘very many of the perpetrators of muggingare very young people who have been excluded fromschool and/or are unemployed’.The wider context in which the criminal justice systemoperates has long been recognised. It seems to be muchharder to bridge the gap between local communities andtheir criminal justice systems – not only the police, butalso the CPS, the courts and the prison and probationservices. The new provisions in the Crime and DisorderAct 1998 for local authority and police partnerships indevising crime and disorder strategies will create astructure to tackle this. This opportunity to encouragemore consultation and communication must not be lost.Local communities would welcome more involvement.Even young people – often perceived as alienated anduninterested in local politics – would become involved ifgiven the chance. For example, in 1996 the BreakFreeProject in Tottenham held a conference for young blackmen which was attended by senior local police officers.Fifty-one participants completed questionnaires aboutprovision of local services – policing, education, housingand other local authority services. They were also askedwhether they would like more say in how these serviceswere provided. 40% of the under-16s said they would, asdid 68% of the 16-24 year olds. However none of theunder 16s and only 20% of the 16-24 year olds felt theywould be able to make their voices heard. New localpartnerships need to find innovative ways to tap thevoices of young people like this and ensure they areheard.It is not only young people who need to be heard. Womenare a minority in the criminal justice system – asoffenders and as professional staff. Their particularcircumstances are frequently overlooked as they have to6
RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER A DECADE OF PROGRESS?be accommodated in a system designed to cater for themajority of men. Women from racial minorities are evenmore a forgotten group.There is very little research on the impact of the criminaljustice system on black and Asian women, even though ithas been known for some time that even when womenfrom abroad are not included, black women are seriouslyover-represented in the prison population in proportion totheir numbers in the community. There has been littleexploration of underlying reasons for this and the extentto which a double discrimination may be in operation.It is not even easy to get at basic statistics because themajority of offenders are men. Most criminal statisticsrelate to them. When figures are broken down by race,they often ignore gender. What is happening to blackwomen as victims of crime, or as senior workers in therelevant organisations?The inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence was asignificant milestone. When a tabloid newspaper, the‘Daily Mail’, joined the campaign for an inquiry, itbrought the death of Stephen Lawrence – and the wholequestion of racist attacks – to a far wider audience thanever before. From an event seen as affecting only a smallproportion in the community – as other deaths had beenviewed – the Mail ensured every parent could relate to theagony of Mr and Mrs Lawrence.The power of the media has not always been used to suchgood effect in terms of race and criminal justice. From thedemonisation of Winston Silcott in 1985 – later foundinnocent of the murder at Broadwater Farm of PCBlakelock – by means of continued use of a frighteningphotograph, to the high profile given to the murder by agroup of Asian young men of a young white boy, RichardEveritt, to, very recently, an extremely sensationalisedtelevision programme about gang rapes carried out byblack boys – based on very scanty evidence – the mediahas tended to either trivialise crimes against minoritycommunities or sensationalise crimes committed by blackor Asian people.Human rightsThe incorporation of the European Convention on HumanRights into UK law is of crucial importance. The HumanRights Act 1998, which will come into force in the year2000, makes it unlawful for public authorities – includingcriminal justice agencies – to act in a way which isincompatible with a Convention right.Article 14 states:‘Prohibition of discrimination: the enjoyment ofthe rights and freedoms set forth in thisConvention shall be secured withoutdiscrimination on any ground such as sex, race,colour, language, religion, political or otheropinion, national or social origin, association witha national minority, property, birth or other status.’The Human Rights Act will shift the emphasis in the wayrace and criminal justice is approached. A new approachbased on rights – rights to freedom of movement, to fairtrial, to defence from racial attack and harassment, toprotection from the police and to safer communities forall – which can be enforced in the courts is likely todevelop as individuals test the application of the Act incourt.Instead of talking of the need to restore confidence incriminal justice and its fairness, a new approach may bethrough the courts, backed by heavy costs for criminaljustice agencies found to be at fault.This implies a more fundamental conceptual change. Todate, discussion of race and criminal justice is usuallypresented in terms of problems – problems caused by thenature of minority communities. Minority communitiespresent a ‘problem’ for the police as they require moresensitive policing, for example. Or, as CommissionerCondon noted, young black people are becoming involvedin crime because of the problems of unemployment andschool exclusions. Black communities face the ‘problem’of increased risk of being victims of crime as well asbeing victims of racial attacks. Black staff have additional‘problems’ in reaching senior positions in the criminaljustice professions.This thinking puts the responsibility for the problem ‘outthere’ in the communities concerned. It turns thosecommunities into passive victims. It does not examine thenature of the organisations concerned – their cultures,their working methods, their long-standing traditions – tosee whether they could be part of both the ‘problem’ andthe solution. This approach is at the root of the currentdebate – raised by the inquiry into the death of StephenLawrence – about institutional racism.7
Page 1 and 2: Let’sget itrightRace and Justice
Page 3 and 4: ContentsForeword page 21 A decade o
Page 5 and 6: RACE AND JUSTICE 2000trade unions,
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Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER2NACRO’s workon race andcr
Page 13 and 14: CHAPTER3Commitmentfrom the topOne o
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RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 9 AFTE
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CHAPTER10Summary ofaction pointsCRI
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RACE AND JUSTICE 2000CHAPTER 10 SUM
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BIBLIOGRAPHYBland et al (1999), ‘
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NACRO Race Issues Advisory Committe
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