Researchers examined the experience of magistrates from ethnic minority backgrounds. There had been 'genuine, beneficial change' in the experience of black and Asian magistrates: but they continued to be under-represented on some benches, and they tended not to progress at a rate equivalent to that of their white colleagues.
Source: Julie Vennard, Gwynn Davis, John Baldwin and Julia Pearce, Ethnic Minority Magistrates' Experience of the Role and of the Court Environment, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2004-Dec
The report was published of an independent inquiry into professional standards and employment matters in the Metropolitan Police Service. It criticized the Service for discriminating against ethnic minority officers.
Source: The Case for Change: People in the Metropolitan Police Service ('Morris Inquiry report'), Metropolitan Police Authority (020 7202 0202)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Home Office press release | IPCC press release | APA press release | ACPO press release | Police Fed press release (pdf) | PCS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Dec
An article argued that approaches to racist offending had given excessive weight to individual motives and intentions, whereas much offending behaviour was grounded in wider cultural and social contexts.
Source: Larry Ray and David Smith, 'Racist offending, policing and community conflict', Sociology, Volume 38 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Oct
A report said that most of those convicted under anti-terrorist laws since 2001 were non-Muslim, despite the fact most of those arrested were Muslim. It examined all arrests made since September 11 2001 for which data was available.
Source: Arrests under Anti-terrorist Legislation since 11 September 2001, Institute of Race Relations (020 7837 0041)
Links: Report (pdf) | IRR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
A report summarized what was known about the experience of, and attitudes towards, crime and justice in England and Wales on the part of black and minority ethnic groups. It aimed to shed light on the issues of why the experiences of different ethnic groups varied, and whether this might be due to discrimination.
Source: Ian Hearnden and Mike Hough, Race and the Criminal Justice System: An overview to the complete statistics 2002 2003, Criminal Justice System Race Unit/Home Office (0207 273 4097)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Sep
A paper presented the interim findings of a project aimed at developing a strategic framework for the prevention of racist violence.
Source: Sarah Isal, Preventing Racist Violence: Interim findings, Runnymede Trust (020 7377 9222)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Sep
A series of reports showed that individuals from black and ethnic minority communities continued to be stopped and searched more regularly than white people, were under-represented in the police service, and were more likely to be victims of crime. Muslim leaders said institutionalised racism in the police force appeared to be turning into 'institutionalised Islamophobia'.
Source: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System - 2003, Home Office (020 7273 2084) | Ian Hearnden and Mike Hough, Race and the Criminal Justice System: An overview to the complete statistics 2002 2003, Criminal Justice System Race Unit/Home Office (020 7273 4097) | Heather Salisbury and Anna Upson, Ethnicity, Victimisation and Worry about Crime: Findings from the 2001/02 and 2002/03 British Crime Surveys, Research Findings 237, Home Office | Stop and Search Action Team: Strategy 2004/05, Home Office | Stop and Search Action Team: Interim guidance, Home Office | The Views of the Public on the Phased Implementation of Recording Police Stops, Development and Practice Report 22, Home Office | An Evaluation of the Phased Implementation of the Recording of Police Stops in Response to Recommendation 61 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Development and Practice Report 23, Home Office | Press release 2 July 2004, Muslim Council of Britain (020 8432 0585)
Links: Statistics 2003 report (pdf) | CJS overview report (pdf) | Findings 237 (pdf) | SSAT strategy (pdf) | SSAT guidance (pdf) | DP Report 22 (pdf) | DP Report 23 (pdf) | Home Office press release | MCB press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on its proposals to legislate against hate crime. It accepted the committee's recommendation to include provisions to protect people with disabilities.
Source: 'Hate Crime': The Draft Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 - Government response, Fifth Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 954, House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Jul
A report said that black and minority ethnic youngsters were over-represented in the youth justice system. There was evidence of discriminatory treatment at various stages in the criminal justice process.
Source: Martina Feilzer and Roger Hood, Differences or Discrimination?, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (020 7271 3033)
Links: Summary (pdf) | YJB press release | Children Now report
Date: 2004-Jul
Draft legislation was published aimed at tackling 'hate crime' in Northern Ireland. There would be a statutory requirement for judges to treat racial and religious aggravation, and hatred of sexual orientation or disability, as an aggravating factor when sentencing.
Source: Draft Criminal Justice (No.2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004, Northern Ireland Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft order | Explanatory note | NIO press release
Date: 2004-Jun
A report by the Commission for Racial Equality said that 14 police forces had race equality plans which were so poor they broke equality laws.
Source: Formal Investigation of the Police Service In England and Wales: Interim report, Commission for Racial Equality (020 7939 0000)
Links: Report (pdf) | CRE press release (1) | CRE press release (2) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jun
An inspectorate report said that the Crown Prosecution Service had made real progress in the previous two years in its handling of cases arising from racist incidents. But in fifth of cases, charges still failed to reflect the racist element of the crime.
Source: A Follow Up Review of CPS Casework with a Minority Ethnic Dimension, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (020 7210 1197)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | CPSI press release (pdf) | CPS press release
Date: 2004-May
A report reviewed the scale and nature of racist harassment and violence in Northern Ireland, as evidenced by an analysis of all the racist incidents recorded by the police between 1996 and 2001.
Source: Neil Jarman and Rachel Monaghan, Racist Harassment in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: Report (pdf) | NIE press release
Date: 2004-Apr
The number of racist incidents resulting in official prosecutions increased by 12.5 per cent, from 3,728 to 4,192, in 2002-03.
Source: Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report 2002-2003, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: Report (pdf) | CPS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A report highlighted the need for better information sharing across the criminal justice system to help tackle racial discrimination. It was 'almost impossible' to track the way black and minority ethnic defendants were treated at various stages of the criminal justice process, because of problems in the way information was stored and shared by criminal justice agencies.
Source: May El Komy and Neena Samota, Barriers to Equality: Challenges in tracking black and minority ethnic people through the criminal justice system, National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (020 7582 6500)
Links: NACRO press release
Date: 2004-Apr
A review by the Police Complaints Authority of the use of stop-and-search powers by the police found that in only 7 of 89 cases included did the Authority's investigation result in even partial substantiation of the complaint.
Source: Siobhan Havis and David Best, Stop and Search Complaints (2000-2001), Police Complaints Authority (020 7273 6450)
Links: Report (Word file) | Summary (Word file) | ACPO press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A report presented the findings of a survey commissioned to help inform the development of probation work with black and Asian offenders. It was found that black, Asian and mixed-heritage offenders showed less evidence of crime-prone attitudes and beliefs, and lower levels of self-reported problems than comparison groups of white offenders. In addition, only a third of offenders wanted to be supervised by someone from the same ethnic group. There was also very limited support from those attending programmes for groups containing only members from minority ethnic groups.
Source: Adam Calverley et al., Black and Asian Offenders on Probation, Research Study 277, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Study (pdf)
Date: 2004-Mar
The head of the Commission for Racial Equality said that anti-discrimination laws should be suspended to enable police forces in racially diverse areas to fast-track black and ethnic minority recruits at the expense of white candidates.
Source: The Guardian, 17 March 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
A study found that 52 per cent of the minority ethnic prisoners surveyed (123 out of 237) believed they had experienced some form of racial discrimination in prison within the previous six months.
Source: Kimmett Edgar and Carol Martin, Perceptions of Race and Conflict: Perspectives of minority ethnic prisoners and of prison officers, Online Report 11/04, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report (pdf) | Nacro press release
Date: 2004-Feb
A study of 6,208 parole applications made between April 1999 and March 2000 examined whether ethnicity, rather than the characteristics associated with release, determined decisions on the applications. (Previous research had shown that prisoners of South Asian and Chinese/other ethnicity were more likely to be granted parole than black or white prisoners.) It was concluded that ethnicity did not appear to be a factor in decision making.
Source: Uma Moorthy, Kath Cahalin and Philip Howard, Ethnicity and Parole, Research Findings 222, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Findings (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
A study found that it was possible to improve race relations in prisons significantly, and that the scale of those improvements could be measured over time.
Source: Tom Ellis, Catherine Tedstone and Diane Curry, Improving Race Relations in Prisons: What works?, Online Report 12/04, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
The probation service inspectorate said it had found 'encouraging evidence of strong and positive leadership to promote race equality and wider diversity' within the service: but also a continuing sense of disadvantage experienced by some minority ethnic members of staff. The probation service said it was pleased that the inspectorate recognised the 'significant progress' made since publication of the original report in June 2000, which had raised serious concerns about disparities in standards.
Source: Towards Race Equality: Follow-up inspection report, HM Inspectorate of Probation (020 7035 2200) | Press release 27 January 2004, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report (pdf) | Home Office press release | 2000 report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jan