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New report on race and criminal justice
18 January 2012
A renewed focus on tackling ethnic minority poverty and inequality is needed to reduce racial disproportionalities in the criminal justice system, a new report by Runnymede has argued.
Following the Stephen Lawrence verdict, and the recent discovery that black people are now 30 times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people, our new report Criminal Justice v Racial Justice argues that now is the time for a new approach to tackle race inequalities in the criminal justice system.
Whilst tackling institutional and individual racism should still be a priority, the report argues, it is crucial that wider inequalities in employment, pay, education and housing are tackled in order to reduce the numbers of black and minority ethnic people (BME) in the criminal justice system.
In particular, the report highlights the shocking statistic that there are three young African Caribbean men in prison for every one at a Russell Group university.
Due to the impact deprivation and inequality has on participation in criminal activity, the report argues, over-respresentation in the criminal justice system will only be defeated once these issues are tackled.
The report features contributions from Danny Dorling, Manny Barot, Theo Gavrielides, Mary Hickman, Simon Holdaway, Kelly Jussab, Karim Murji and Colin Webster and was edited by Kjartan Sveinsson.
Read the report
Read the press release
