He showed how the conduct of the police was influenced by what is called ‘institutional racism’. He defines this as
‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin’ (Macpherson, 1999)
This shows how racial prejudice and discrimination is generated by the way an organisation functions as a whole, as opposed to individual members, as Lord Scarman described as ‘a few rotten apples in a barrel…’
Macpherson attempted to apply the concept in more depth compared to the Scarman report of 1981, the result of an earlier major inquiry into the state of relations between the police and ethnic communities. However, Macpherson failed to locate the roots of institutional racism within the structure of the police service and ethnic communities. The result was that he missed a major opportunity to spell out a policy agenda, which given time, may ultimately have eliminated racist policing.
The result of this reform was a 15-point plan put forward by the Metropolitan Police designed to tackle institutional racism. This would be achieved by the recruitment of more ethnic minority officers.
Both Scarman and Macpherson called for an increased recruitment, retention and progression of ethnic minority officers having noted that in 1981, Black officers constituted 0.5 per cent of the Metropolitan police force. The proportion of minority officers currently stands at 3.3 per cent, a figure still dwarfed in comparison to the 25.5 per cent of ethnic minority residents in London.
The government reacted to this recommendation by pledging to increase the number of officers from ethnic groups from around 2,500 to 8,000 by the year 2009. But a survey carried out on the second anniversary of the Macpherson report revealed only 155 new officers from ethnic minority had been recruited in the past year compared to an increase of 261 in the year following the report.
Thirteen forces had either failed to recruit a single Asian or Black officer or had seen their numbers fall.
Macpherson highlighted that the first investigating team on the murder case failed ‘to recognise and accept racism and race relations as a central feature of their investigation’. He believed that the then-current definition of a racial incident was potentially ambiguous and so he introduced a broader classification of racially motivated crime whereby a racist incident became defined as "any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person" (Macpherson, 1999: recommendation #12).
The police failed to recognise the murder as a racist attack despite the fact that all of the victims of the incident - including the family, and Stephen Lawrence’s best friend and witness to the murder, Dwayne Brooks – saw the attack as racially motivated. The new definition is designed to ensure that the police take full account of not only their own perceptions of the incident, but those of the victim and other witnesses alleging the incident as racially motivated.
A further proposal was also considered by Macpherson after evidence had been obtained from a police surveillance video showing some of those accused of Stephen Lawrence’s murder acting in a violent manner and using racist language towards Mr and Mrs Lawrence. The proposal aimed to make the use of racial language and behaviour in private a criminal offence. ‘Private places’ would include the home but also extend to venues such as clubs and public meeting places. However this proposal proved controversial with the government. Critics have said this is a contravention of an individual's human right to freedom of expression. But the government has said it might change the law in particular cases such as where a neighbour hurls racist abuse at another through a shared wall.
Concrete action has already been taken on one of the report's key proposals - strengthening the 1976 Race Relations Act.
The report called for a toughening of the Race Relations Act to make police officers vulnerable to compensation claims if they are found guilty of discrimination. At present they are exempt from such a process. If implemented, courts could award damages of up to £500,000 for loss of employment or aggravated damages. This was a significant reform as it gave the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), powers to launch investigations into police accused of racial misconduct.
The new law, which was secured from April 2001, extended the act to bring public authorities and bodies within the scope of the law. It required major central and local government bodies, the police and educational establishments to ensure their workforce reflects their communities, and that policies and practices do not indirectly discriminate.
Various forms of race-awareness training have been on the agenda of police forces in the UK for many years. Scarman’s report called for training aimed at ‘an understanding of cultural backgrounds of ethnic minority groups’ and was satisfied that improvements were being made. Macpherson was unhappy with the true success of his proposal. He found that 18 years after Scarman’s report, ‘not a single officer questioned before us in 1998 had received any training of significance in racism awareness and race relations throughout the course of his/her career’ (Macpherson, 1999:30).
So Macpherson called for more development of this race-awareness training in the police service (recommendations 48-54) to ensure that training courses developed the understanding that good community relations are vital for good quality policing. He stressed that there should be independent and regular monitoring of training within all police services to test both the operation and success of such training programmes.
But while noting the failure of police training, he provided little analysis as to why it had failed. If the issue was simply to increase the contact between police and ethnic communities, then progress should have been outstanding. The fact that they failed suggests that some important factors were overlooked not only by Scarman in 1981 but also by Macpherson in 1999.
As well as recommendations relating to the police, the Macpherson report also proposed legal changes to the law. The most controversial proposal was to amend the law of 'double jeopardy'.
The ancient policy of double jeopardy states how prosecutors have just one chance at proving the case against somebody. It means once defendants have been found not guilty - which includes cases where the prosecution has simply not been able to prove their guilt - then that is an end to the matter.
Three of the five suspects in the Lawrence case were acquitted of Stephen's murder and the law did not allow them to be tried for a second time if reliable evidence was brought forward. Consequently, the Law Commission agreed with the proposal regarding double jeopardy; however the change would only apply to serious trials, such as murder, and only with the permission of the High Court.
This change showed it had taken effect when a 10-year old black youngster named Damilola Taylor was followed home by some white youths and brutally beaten up and killed. Those accused of the boy’s murder were also acquitted but were then re-trialled after a young girl later came forward with fresh viable evidence.
Stop and Search is a key cause of conflict between the police service and ethnic minorities. Macpherson accepted the reasoning behind the use of such powers in preventing and detecting crime but wished to improve the protection of those who were exposed to them. He proposed closer monitoring of stop-and-search practices suggesting that all police should record every 'stop and search' they make, and give a copy to the person stopped with a valid reason.
This reform was intended to make the powers of police officers being effectively monitored by their supervisors.
The MP for the Conservative party, William Hague, linked a rise in violent street crime in some areas to a 6% drop in stop and searches of black people because police officers feared being called racist. However, many black and Asian people - including Stephen Lawrence's father, Neville, who filed a complaint after being stopped last year - said they were still being unfairly targeted. In January, figures from the Home Office showed black people were still five times more likely to be stopped in London than white people.
Home Secretary, Jack Straw promised to implement several of the recommendations, but as well as the issues of double jeopardy and private use of racist language he also expressed doubt about making police officers liable for disciplinary action for up to five years after they retire. He was also concerned about publishing the number of racist incidents at every school as this could discourage the reporting of incidents.
Many have argued that Macpherson’s report has seen no changes. But the Lawrence family's lawyer Imran Khan has disagreed. "There has been a profound change," he said. "What the report has done is to articulate for the first time in official circles the fact that racism exists, It's made racism official" (The Guardian, 24/02/2000).
He also said the report made very clear what the phrase ‘institutionalised racism’ means. "It's about outcomes. It's the way in which, for example, we have disproportionality in stop and search, disproportionality in numbers of black deaths in custody, and so on."
So what have the public services learned from the Stephen Lawrence case? The Macpherson report into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence acted as a wake-up call to public services. As well as examining the problem of institutional racism in the police force, the report found that public bodies do not take the issue seriously.
The government's response was the Race Relations Amendment Act, which aimed to stop racism within the public sector. Unlike the 1976 Race Relations Act – which concerned itself with the private sector, the Act commands hospitals, police forces, prisons, schools, universities and other public bodies to take measures to promote good race relations with communities.
In conclusion, the Macpherson report delivered seventy recommendations; many aimed specifically at improving police attitudes towards racism and improving the relationship between the police and ethnic communities.
The report of the inquiry identified institutional racism as a major factor in the failed investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s murder. The identification of how racist stereotyping filters through police practices is clearly of significance. This was made evident in the BBC documentary called ‘The Secret Policeman’. It revealed that no considerable changes have taken place, five years after the inquiry. The documentary illustrated how the police service was still recruiting racist officers, and it showed that institutional racism continues to exist throughout the police culture. Despite the issues raised in the documentary, no officers were dismissed as a result of their racist attitudes.
The inquiry report showed support from the Home Office in its enthusiasm to ensure the police recruit, retain and promote more people of Black and Asian origin so that the police service better reflects the community it serves.
The report also improved the accountability of the police by involving independent authorities to monitor racial discrimination within the police force. Meaning individual officers can now be subject to investigation if a complaint is made against them and could therefore lead to dismissal.
Macpherson’s new definition of a racist incident is one which the victim and/or witnesses allege the incident as racist.
His amendment of the Race Relations Act meant that the full force of the race relations legislation should apply to all police officers.
The abolition of double jeopardy enables the Court of Appeal to permit a person to be re-tried for the same crime, having initially been acquitted, if compelling new evidence should arise.
Overall, evidence shows much has been done since the Macpherson report but there is always more room for improvement, as revealed in ‘The Secret Policeman’ documentary.
