The government published the second annual report on progress made in taking forward the recommendations of a House of Commons report (published in 2007) into the over-representation of young black people in the criminal justice system.
Source: Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry: Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System – Second Annual Report, Ministry of Justice
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined the increase in the number of racially aggravated charges brought in courts in England and Wales since the implementation of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act.
Source: David Gadd, 'Aggravating racism and elusive motivation', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 49 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Nov
A new book examined key conceptual and operational issues surrounding hate crime. It considered whether hate crimes were motivated exclusively by hate; whether they were intended as 'message' crimes, designed to intimidate fellow members of the victim's minority group; and which types of people were responsible for committing hate crimes.
Source: Neil Chakraborti and Jon Garland, Hate Crime: Impact, causes and responses, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Summary | Leicester University press release
Date: 2009-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that police forces had made 'tremendous strides' in the service they provided to minority-ethnic communities, and in countering racism among their workforce, during the ten years since publication of the Macpherson report. But black people were still over-represented in the criminal justice system: in particular, they were disproportionately represented in stop-and-search statistics, and on the national DNA database.
Source: The Macpherson Report: Ten Years On, Eleventh Report (Session 2008-09), HC 427, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | ACPO press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
An article examined progress in the policing of hate crime. Some of the more problematic aspects of policing hate crime still presented major challenges, and it was difficult to say with certainty whether the strategic prioritization of hate crime had fundamentally transformed the quality of operational responses.
Source: Neil Chakraborti, 'A glass half full? Assessing progress in the policing of hate crime', Policing, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
An article examined the relationship between national legislation, prison service policy, and prison service practice in efforts to improve race relations in prisons.
Source: Jon Spencer, Ilona Haslewood-Pocsik and Emily Smith, '"Trying to get it right": what prison staff say about implementing race relations policy', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 9 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A literature review examined progress in meeting the recommendations of the Inquiry that followed the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Although there were some indications of change, most notably in the way in which the Crown Prosecution Service took seriously cases involving racist motivation, there were many ways in which the relationship between the police and black and minority-ethnic groups had not changed significantly from what it was 10 years previously.
Source: Nicola Rollock, The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 10 Years On: An analysis of the literature, Runnymede Trust (020 7377 9222)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
A committee of MSPs said that it supported proposals for strengthened legislation to protect victims of hate crime. The Bill concerned was subsequently approved in principle by the Scottish Parliament.
Source: Stage 1 Report on the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Bill, 6th Report 2009, SP Paper 225, Scottish Parliament Justice Committee, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283) | Scottish Parliament Official Report March 2009, columns 15871-15908, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Official Report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
The prisons inspectorate said that black and minority-ethnic women were 'forgotten minorities' within the prison system.
Source: Race Relations in Prisons: Responding to adult women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales (020 7035 2103)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
The government published the first annual report on hate crime, bringing together information on the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service in prosecuting racist and religious hate crime, transphobic and homophobic crime, disability incidents, and domestic violence.
Source: Hate Crime Report 2007-2008, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: Report | Pink News report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2009-Feb
A new book examined various dimensions of the impact of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence (in 1999) on policing policy and practice.
Source: Nathan Hall, John Grieve and Stephen Savage (eds.), Policing and the Legacy of Lawrence, Willan Publishing (01884 840337)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Feb
The equality and human rights watchdog said that the police service in England and Wales had made significant progress in dealing with race equality issues: but more needed to be done to tackle problems with stop-and-search, and information held on the DNA database, as well as to address the poor retention of new minority-ethnic officers. There was also evidence of a 'canteen culture' among some specialist units, which were still seen as a 'closed shop' to some minority-ethnic recruits.
Source: Jason Bennetto, Police and Racism: What has been achieved 10 years after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report?, Equality and Human Rights Commission (web publication only)
Links: Report | EHRC press release | ACPO press release | Police Federation press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Jan