Criminal justice system biased against BAME offenders – new report
2 min read
Urgent reforms are needed to prevent young offenders from ethnic minority backgrounds becoming "the next generation" of adult criminals, a new report has warned.
The review, led by Labour MP David Lammy at the request of the Prime Minister, criticises the criminal justice system over racial prejudice faced by BAME offenders.
The Tottenham MP said: “My conclusion is that BAME individuals still face bias, including overt discrimination, in parts of the justice system…
"It is only through delivering fairness, rebuilding trust, and sharing responsibility that we will build the equal and just society so often spoken about."
The research lays bare some concerning trends, finding that the proportion of BAME young offenders rose from 25% to 41% between 2006 and 2016.
It also notes that the rate of black defendants pleading not guilty in Crown Courts in England and Wales between 2006 and 2014 was 41%, compared with 31% for white defendants
The report makes 35 recommendations, including deferring prosecutions for some young BAME offenders.
David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "Everybody should have full trust in our criminal justice system and the Lammy Review is a major contribution to understanding the challenges we face to achieve this.
"The Government must respond to the review urgently and put in place a comprehensive race strategy with stretching targets to reduce the race inequality that is so apparent in our society."
The Government has said it will "look carefully" at the recommendations.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
