At just about every stage in the Criminal Justice System, from arrest through to sentencing and beyond, black and Asian suspects/offenders are unfairly treated. Is there any evidence to support such a damaging claim?

Mehera Begum Politics of Law and Order

Mehera Begum

Politics of Law and Order

It is common knowledge in the Criminal Justice System that individuals seem to have different experiences depending on the colour of their skin or their ethnic origin. There have been many accounts and incidents whether these are from theoretical or personal positions, to suggest that there may be patterns of discrimination.

Towards the last end of the twentieth century, criminologists have recognised the importance of racism in the criminal justice experience. Up until the 1970’s and even the 1980’s the possibility of racism in policing of ethnic minority communities was flatly denied. However it is only in the recent years that research and statistics have proved that those from ethnic minority groups are victims of both victimisation and criminalisation. Research such as this and the public inquiry into the Steven Lawrence Murder has led the police being branded “institutionally racist.” Furthermore the findings of the Steven Lawrence enquiry admitted the government and the criminal justice system had failed to “provide an appropriate and professional service to the people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.” (Macpherson 1999)

Such claims may not come to surprise to many ethnic minority groups, who are stopped, harassed and abused on almost daily basis by the police. The intention of this essay is to investigate such charges and recognises evidence that supports and understands why the term “institutionally racist” has been the subject of fierce debate.

The perception of ethnic minorities as criminal and disorderly has been the issue in the British History for a while now. Those whose skin is not white have often been seen as a problem for social control, their role in society has given cause for concern. It is most likely that ones origin has been taken as an indicator of dishonesty, the race of an individual and criminal activity has developed hand in hand. These perceptions have developed to popular ideologies that black immigrants in Britain have a connection with crime; it has almost become universally accepted. This view has provoked moral panics and public fears, one that stands out is the perception of the Black Mugger, ‘mugging’ has been seen as a black crime. (Bowling; 2002: pg 92)It is views such as this that have acted as explanations of why violence and racism has been directed against ethnic minority communities.

In the 1971 select committee report on Police/immigrant relations concluded that those from ethnic minorities are not more involved in crime than others. However contradictive to this there seems to be a stereotypical view which is deeply embedded in the minds of police officers that black areas of Black community are most likely to be involved in crime, despite the lack of evidence to support this claim. Thoughts such as this has led to many believing that the criminal justice system is racist and discriminating to black and Asian communities. This has resulted in a massive breakdown of trust between the police and the black community, the relationship between these two parties has over the last decades been described as conflicting and adversarial.

The conflict between the police and the Black/Asian community was very strong during the 1970’s and 1980’s; this was mainly because of over policing neighbour hoods where ethnic minorities were based. The experience of ‘over-policing’ has constantly been an issue in communities, and even today there are many reports, which also claim this.

One of the earlier studies was completed by Hunte (1966); this was for the Western Indian Conference. He found that sergeants and constables left their station with the purpose of going “nigger hunting.” Such intentions were not ordered “from superiors to act in this way, but among themselves they decided to bring in a coloured person at all cost.” Hunte also highlighted issues, which is still the heart of policing of Black People today, including racist abuse and a failure to protect ethnic minority communities.

Other reports that followed also illustrated a similar picture. All Faiths for ...

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Other reports that followed also illustrated a similar picture. All Faiths for One Race (1978), found that more than one third of the African and Caribbean Men they studied claimed that they had personally experienced police harassment or brutality. Furthermore they accused the police officers of acting and speaking in an abusive manner, which suggested they thought black people were inferior. The report finally concluded that there was a strong widespread of racist tension amongst the Police Force.

This idea of racist tension was further reinforced in August 1982, when the GLC police committee composed an inquiry into Racial Harassment. The inquiry not only looked at patterns of racial harassment but also racial harassment was directed from police officers themselves.

The research found that the police used racist language frequently and found examples of apparently racially discriminatory policing such as forced entry into Black peoples home, stop and search targeted at Black communities, assault and racist abuse during the arrest, the list is endless.

These issues are hardly surprising; evidence that the police have been involved in harassment of ethnic minority communities in London has been published in previous reports. The individuals from ethnic minority’s and the black community have always been victims of police harassment. The GLC report also found evidence of indirect harassment relating to how police officers conduct themselves when a complaint of racial harassment was made. This included non-response, delay, an unwillingness to investigate or to prosecute, defining criminal assaults as non-criminal, treating black victims of crimes as criminals themselves.

The Institute of Race Relations (1979, 1987) also carried a similar study; they also found that Police officers acted in a manner which showed little regard for the Civil rights of Black and Asian people. These various reports illustrate how the use of law is being used by police officers for racist purposes. These police tactics included Mass Stop and Search operations, the use of riot squads using semi-military equipment, excessive surveillance. These practices concentrate on areas of Asian and Black communities and have been described to as ‘over-policing’ of ethnic minorities, which I will go in more depth later on.

Therefore it is not surprising that the consequences of such actions would result in those from ethnic minorities having very little confidence in the police, which could lead to them having little willingness to co-operate with the police. Such actions have led individuals from the black and Asian communities to regard the police as “institutionally racist.”

However there are those who disagree with such claims, such as Lord Scarman. Lord Scarman tackled police racism in his Home Office Report (1981/1986), his discussion on this subject is known as the ‘bad apple’ thesis. He ignored claims that racism was systematic and institutional; he considered that “racial prejudice manifests itself occasionally in the behaviour of a few officers on the street.” (Scarman, 1981:105). He wrote that racially prejudice behaviour is not as common as we are led to believe; the allegations of this behaviour were only down to a few “ill-considered and immature” actions of a few individual officers.

The accusations that police officers failed to provide protection from attack or the oppressive way, in which black people are often treated as suspects, are not “deliberate bias or prejudice.” Scarman also rejected allegations that the police force was institutionally racist. He claimed that there is no evidence to point to an official policy of discrimination against ethnic minorities, however his theory does not explain the other evidence unearthed in other reports, which clearly show that there is racism in the police force and is not restricted to just a few officers.

There is strong evidence to support this in the book “A Man Apart” by Tony Judge, he reported a numerous statements made by officers concerning the black community, such as “it used to be a good neighbourhood. Then we got all those wogs and just look at it.”(Officer in Chapletown, Leeds.) This is just one example of many; it is the results of these beliefs that effect the policemen’s treatment of black people.

In addition to this there was other psychological research done which also found similar prejudice among police officers. The Department of Social Psychology at Leicester University (1982) concluded that the basic training they had only prevented racial prejudice for a small period of time. The researchers found that officers showed racism in relation to black people who they described as “smelly”, “dirty,” and “uneducated.” These types’ of views only resulted in increasingly illiberal and intolerant attitudes to the Black community.

Essays written by white police officers further reinforce the truthness and harsh reality of what was found in their research. These essays were written in 1982 by police candidates at the Metropolitan Police Training School, their subject was “Black in Britain.” Examples of what was written are shown in the following extracts; “I think all blacks are pains are pains and should be expelled from our society.”

It is not a comforting thought that these cadets went on to become police officers that are supposed to protect the community even those who are from ethnic minorities. These essays were released to the media by one of the lectures at the school what followed was somewhat of a shock. Instead of causing storm about police attitudes and media outrage, what actually happened was quite different. The police and even the Media attempted to play down the seriousness of the comments, some even claiming they were jokes.

In fact the irony of the incident was that the lecturer Jon Fernandes, who leaked the essays, was the one who faced punishment; he was required to leave the school. The incident illustrated how the criminal justice system weeding out of racism and responsibility to the ‘multi-cultural’ society by providing an equal policing for all.

It was the racist murder of Steven Lawrence in South-East London in 1993 and the Macpherson inquiry (1999) that brought the issue of racism and racism in the police to the public eyes. The Macpherson Inquiry found that the investigation into the murder of Steven Lawrence was “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers.” (Mac 19999; 46.1) It recorded the denial of the racist motive for the murder among the police officers; it also criticized the use of inappropriate language and behaviour used by police officers while handling the case. Furthermore the insensitive and patronizing behaviour towards the parents of Steven Lawrence throughout the investigation was also recognised. Since this inquiry the response from the government was to establish a ministerial priority for the police service; “to increase trust and confidence in policing amongst ethnic minority communities.”

However with recent studies and reports we can see that the government has unfortunately been unable to provide such a service, individuals still believe that they are discriminated because of their colour skin and the strongest example of this is the stop and search tactic.

The use of the Stop and Search law over the years has often seen by many people as the strongest example of the abuse of the police power. It is seen that police officers conflict this power for their own personal racist reasons. The late Bernie Grant (NACRO 1997:3), a former member of parliament for Haringey recognised the abuse of this law; “nothing has been more damaging to the relationship between the police and the black community than the ill-judged use of stop and search powers.” The national police data for 1999/2000 found that black people were five times more likely stopped and searched than white people. Rates for Asians were also higher.

It also seems that the extent of police intrusion and formal action tends to be greater when the suspect is Black or Asian. Those from ethnic minority communities are most likely to be repeatedly stopped, and more likely to searched. These searches also tend to be intrusive, including the use of clothing searches and strip searches.

According to the criminologist Ben Bowling, the power of the Stop and Search law is 18 times more likely to be used against Asian than whites, and 27.5 times more likely to be used against Afro-Caribbean’s. In London, its usage more than doubled between 2000/1 to 2000/2 to 60000 cases. The Metropolitan Police stopped more Asian people than white people, despite there being fewer of them in the population, and nearly as many Afro-Caribbean people as white people.

It also emergered that that black people from all types of background, such as politicians, lawyers and even police men- have been repeatedly stopped and searched, often without a valid but simply because of the colour of the skin. Among those who stopped were Lord Taylor of Warwick, John Sentamu Bishop of Stepney and even Trevor Hall the advisor to the Secretary of the Home Office. The journalist Darcus Howe concluded that, “Too many police officers seem to think being black constitutes a ‘reasonable ground’ for stopping and searching someone.”

The power allows stop and searches without an offence having reasonable grounds of suspicion. It is authorised under the section 60 of the Crime, Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The level of the disproportionate use of this law against the ethnic minority community is higher than for the more commonly used search powers governed by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Professor Bowling claimed that this power “was intended for narrow purposes is being used much more extensively against black and Asian communities. It’s a way of getting around the tougher controls on Stop and Search introduced after the Macpherson report.” The use of this power has increased dramatically, and has been branded the new Sus law, a reference to the hated law used by the police against black people without valid reasons.

The evidence so far uncovered demonstrates that there is strong evidence to support such claims that the criminal justice system is discriminating towards members of the Black and Asian communities. The most recent evidence which characterizes the extent of police racism is the documentary ‘My life as a Secret Policeman,’ filmed by undercover reporter Mark Daly for the BBC.

The BBC had spent several months investigating allegations of institutional racism within the Greater Manchester Police, the only way they felt was to prove these claims was for a BBC journalist going undercover. The documentary showed Mark Daly being unwittingly recruited, trained and employed by the Manchester Police Force, where he was able to get close with fellow trainee police men.

He found that the minority of the new recruits which joined along side of him, had very racist view’s especially against the Asian community. So far previous research has concentrated on racism against black people; however this documentary shows how this racism is also targeted against the Asian community. The new recruits had very racist attitudes; this went beyond racist language but carried their prejudices to the streets.

One recruit, PC Powling, had views such as “A paki born in Britain, is still a fucking Paki…”, another, PC Andy Hall admitted that his racism would effect his actions, “I’m gonna stop him because he’s a fucking paki and cause I’m British.” When asked about the Steven Lawrence inquiry one PC Powling happily claimed that “he fucking deserved it…” and when asked about the Macprehenson report he said it was “a fucking kick in the bullocks for the white man…”

The rest of the documentary demonstrated how these recruits once police officers used their racist views as reasons for stopping and searching people especially members of the Asian community. One officer admitted stopping an Asian young man because he was driving a jaguar and another was proud that he used his discretion with a white woman but not with an Asian family in the same situation, it made him “sleep like a baby.” Both the Asian and white motorist were driving with no insurance, however the Asian motorist got six points on his licence and a 200 fine while the white motorist was simply let off.

The documentary illustrated how there are policies in place to combat discrimination but they are failing, the training had failed to root out the racism. Instead it only made them more aware their views were wrong and was driving the racism underground. They portrayed their racism in different ways, some used abuse of racist language while others admitted they would put their racist views in practice.

The vast amount of evidence which has been unearthed in this essay, demonstrates that there is efficient evidence to support the claim that the Criminal Justice system treats Black and Asian suspects/ offenders unfairly due to the colour of their skin. We have witnessed that this racism has existed for a long time and it is only since the public enquiry into the Steven Lawrence murder has it come to the public’s eye. The claim that Police force is “institutionally racist” is a very damaging claim however with the various research and reports on this case the claim also holds a certain degree of truth ness to it. The different accounts of policing of ethnic minorities such as the GLC report and the Macpherson Inquiry show how experience is affected by the colour of skin. We should not ignore the fact there has been tremendous amount of effect made to try to erase such claims such as intensive training and campaigns to try to attract more Black and Asians individuals to the police force, however regardless of this the policy does not reflect the practice.