The aim of this essay is to address the importance of Equality and Diversity in sentencing and subsequently rehabilitating offenders. The author of this essay will use the Probation service as an example of an organisation which has implemented clear poli

Critically assess the term ‘diversity’ in relation to the area in which you practice. To what extent is it important to relate issues of diversity to professional practice?

The aim of this essay is to address the importance of Equality and Diversity in sentencing and subsequently rehabilitating offenders. The author of this essay will use the Probation service as an example of an organisation which has implemented clear policies of diversity.

The function of the Probation service is fundamental in helping to maintain order and safety to the community, this be in the form of rehabilitating individuals who represent a threat to the community. In addition the service works with prisoners to be able to make a more worthwhile contribution to the community upon release. Its effectiveness in delivering this service therefore is paramount to the future of the reoffending rates of service users.

The accuracy in the research carried out is not of the highest standard, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not directly record the ethnicity of the defendants as they are unlikely to have visual contact with them. They do, on the other hand, have the police records and descriptions of the offenders. We can therefore see a trend in the research collected. Dr Bonny Mhlanga conducted a study in 1999, he considered cases referred to the CPS from the thirty first of September to the following October in the year 1996. His data was further analysed by himself and Barclay in 2000. His findings were; white defendants were more likely than ethnic minority defendants to be convicted by the courts. Looking at the statistics in percentages, which one must do in order to see accurately the trends due to the fact that there are far more persons from non-ethnic backgrounds being tried at the courts. Seventy eight percent of white defendants finalised by the CPS resulted in a conviction compared to sixty eight percent for Asian and sixty-nine for black defendants. Ethnic minority defendants were more likely to have their cases terminated before court proceedings than their white counterparts. There were also far more cases discontinued when an Asian defendant was involved, this figure was in fact seventy four percent compared to sixty-three and sixty percent for Black and White defendants respectively. At the magistrates’ Courts, thirty three percent of black defendants pleaded not guilty compared with twenty two percent white and twenty four percent Asian defendants. At the Crown Court the percentages were higher, not surprisingly as it is a well know fact that a trial by Jury will produce a more equitable result. However, the trend was the same, forty six percent of Black defendants and forty one percent of Asian defendants pleaded not guilty compared with only thirty percent of white defendants. For completed cases at the Magistrates Court the acquittal rate for contested trials was higher for Black and Asian defendants, the figures are staggering; thirty six percent of Black people were acquitted and forty four percent of Asians, this is compared to only thirty percent of white people. (Home office, 2004).

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‘There is no evidence that black people are more likely than white people to commit crimes.’ (Stevens and Willis, 1979), however the Report on the work of the Prison environment in 1981 showed that prison population from the ethnic minorities was growing. In some young offenders establishments black people constituted more than a third of the inmates population (Fludger 1981).

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Discrimination has been found to take place at every stage of the Criminal Process, albeit in different proportions. The interdependence of the system is becoming increasingly recognised (Moxon 1985) and whilst policing appears to be a major problem area (Scarman report 1981) the inter-relatedness of the Criminal Justice process is likely to feed though to other parts.

Following the Brixton riots in 1981 Lord Scarman (1981) reported that blacks are more likely to be the subject of police stop and search and were more likely to be arrested for suspicious behaviour. In an extensive investigation the Metropolital police found that West Indian or African origins accounted for 17% of people arrested but for only 5-6% of the population of London (Smith and Grey 1983) This discriminating pattern and the proportion of racially motivated attacks eroded the confidence that ethnic minorities have towards the police. The Howard Journal Vol 26 No. 4 Nov 87 p. 17 reported: “There was a widespread feeling in both Asian and black communities that the police should do far more to respond to the problems experienced by the ethnic minorities and to prevent racial offences”. And p. 351: “..the level of racial prejudice in the Metropolitan Force is a cause of serious concern”.

If black people are more likely to be reported, stopped, searched, arrested and charged then black people are going to appear in court earlier and more often in comparison to whites. Once arrested black youths are more likely to be referred to juvenile bureaux and are less likely to be cautioned, prosecuting being more likely (Landau 1981).

A study of Crown Courts in London and Birmingham (McConville and Baldwin 1982) came to the conclusion that: “There appear to be no evidence of racial discrimination in sentencing in the Crown Court. The implication is that defendants are treated equally once they attain the status of convicted persons”.

A more recent study in two Magistrates’ Courts found some differences in sentencing. Black offenders were less likely to receive a probation order but more likely to receive a community service order that white offenders.

Interestingly, black offenders were also less likely to be given a sentence of imprisonment, however, this study also points out that: “There is a higher possibility that a coloured attacker will cause no injury that a white attacker” (Home Office study Stevens and Willis 1979). In common with previous research this study points to the earlier stages of the criminal process as a source of discrimination.

In 1982 the Home Office established an ethnic monitoring system of the prison population. This showed that the proportion of ethnic minority groups is higher than their representation in the population as a whole; 12% for male young offenders and 11.5% for adult males, compared with 6% and 5% respectively in the general population. Findings showed that black prisoners had fewer previous convictions, and were more likely to be remanded in custody. The prison Department has taken steps in this direction by requiring the appointment of race relation liaison officers.

The Probation services seem to follow the same indications (Whitehouse 1978). Evidence that black people are less likely to receive a probation order comes from the study by Mair (1997). The study by Crow and Cove (1984) also tends in the same direction. However, one of the reasons for ethnic minority clients figuring less prominently on non-custodial cases may be that the predominantly white service is unable to meet the demands of the black offenders

The prison and probation systems are at the end of the Criminal Justice Process and the disproportionately high number of black prisoners seems to be the result of what occurs at earlier stages of the process. However, in order to redress the problem anti-racist policies need to be pursued by the courts, probation services and the prison service as much as by the police. Although some individuals and agencies have begun conducting local surveys, the real need is for a comprehensive research project to be carried out rather than relying on pieces of data from different prevalently white sources.

The following paragraphs will be based upon the journal article, “A Study Of Sentencing In The Leeds Magistrates’ Courts” ‘The Treatment of Ethnic Minority and White Offenders’ written by Imogen Brown and Roy Hullin. This study is based as the title suggests in Leeds and is therefore not proportional to the whole population or the Home Office research. It is, however, interesting and does give the reader an idea on how white people and people from ethnic backgrounds are dealt with in a major city.

The survey took place in 1988 and involved three thousand seven hundred defendants. It took place to determine whether any racial bias was apparent in the treatment of Afro-Caribbean and Asian defendants compared to white ones. There were no overall differences in the sentencing patterns, however, significantly more defendants of Afro-Caribbean origins did receive custodial sentences. It was claimed that this variation was accounted for through the criminal records of the defendants. Following this there was no apparent difference in the passing of non-custodial sentences, however significantly more Afro-Caribbean defendants were being committed to the Crown Court for Trial by Jury. The reported research into potential racial discrimination, in the field of sentencing, presents me with a confusing picture. According to this journal, research conducted by the Home Office in 1989, indicated that Ethnic minorities were over represented in prison, 5.6% as an average over three years 1985 – 7. Yet looking at the three studies in this journal, carried out by McConville & Baldwin (1982), Crow and Cove (1984) and Moxon (1988), it suggests that whatever the explanation for ethnic over representation it is not down to bias on the part of sentences. McConville & Baldwin take the view that, ‘Defendants are treated equally once they attain the status of convicted persons; not necessarily fairly or appropriately but equally.’ Crow and Cove took a similar view, ‘ In Criminal Justice terms, the different ethnic groups present similar patterns of crime, their cases are handled in a similar way and the sentences they are given are similar.’And finally Moxon, yet again, a similar conclusion, ‘overall differences in the use of custody were accounted for by differences in offence and criminal record.’ Hudson, on the other hand, produced different results, he conducted a survey of eight thousand sentencing decisions in fourteen Magistrates and Crown Courts in Greater London. “There remains some residual discrimination which resulted in a custody rate of one in ten West Indian males but only one in twenty seven white males.”

From this survey thirteen percent of white offenders received a custodial sentence, sixteen percent of Afro-Caribbean and only six percent of Asians. There were no significant differences between white and ethnic females, however, more Afro-Caribbean females received custodial sentences than white females, twenty eight percent compared to six percent. Similar proportions of white, Asian and Afro-Caribbean offenders received a community service order; however, white offenders received slightly more probation orders. Afro-Caribbean’s were given more discharges (20%) than whites (16%), Asians (13%). Finally the Magistrates court committed thirty one percent of Afro-Caribbean’s to the Crown Court and only twenty two and twenty four percent of whites and Asians respectively. At the end of the journal it is worth mentioning that there were two major findings; first, the failure to find any overall discrimination in treatment, in terms either of custodial sentencing or of the range of non custodial alternatives. This adds further weight to the finding by McConville & Baldwin (1982), Crow and Cove (1984) and Moxon (1988). Second, the confirmation that greater proportions of Afro-Caribbeans are committed to the Crown Court for trial does point to the need for a closer examination of this aspect of the criminal justice system. (A Study of Sentencing In The Leeds Magistrates Courts, pp52 – 3).

By way of conclusion I believe, which the research indicates, that the sentencing of individuals is not the problem! In the nineteen eighties, which the above paragraphs are referring to, there was little if no difference between the sentencing patterns of different ethnic groups. In the nineteen nineties and beyond the research conducted by the Home Office shows that the ethnic minority groups are being sentenced more leniently. So why is there such a fuss over ethnic representation in the Criminal justice process? As we have seen the problem is before the court process, it lies with the police. As mentioned above a young black male is five times more likely to be stopped by the police. Clearly the courts are now trying to redress this imbalance by ‘letting them off’ in court. In my opinion this is no way to enter the twenty first century, the research carried out in the past is; inaccurate, disproportionate and unclear. We need to introduce schemes on large scales and stop racial bias before it enters the Criminal Justice Process.

Bibliography

Barclay, G. and Mhlanga, B. (2000), Ethnic Differences in Decisions on Young Defendants Dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office Section 95 Findings no. 1, London, Home Office.

Clive Norris, Nigel Fielding, Charles Kemp and Jane Fielding : Black and Blue: an analysis of the influence of race on being stopped by the police.

Crow, I.and Cove, J. (1984) ‘Ethnic minorities in the courts’, Criminal Law Review, pp. 413. –. 417.

Iain Crow, Senior Research Officer :Black People and Criminal Justice in the U.K. Nacro

Imogen Brown and Roy Hullin : A Study Of Sentencing In The Leeds Magistrates’ Courts, The Treatment Of Ethnic Minority and White Offenders,

The Howard Journal Vol 26 No. 4 Nov 87 p. 17

Landau, S. (1981), ‘Juveniles and the Police’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 27-46.

Mair, G. (1997) ‘Community Penalties and the Probation Service’ in Maguire et al. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

McConville, M. and Baldwin, J. (1982), ‘The Influence of Race on Sentencing in England’, Criminal Law Review, pp. 652-658.

Moxon, D. (1988). Managing Criminal Justice: A collection of papers, Home office, London.

Norris, C., Fielding, N., Kemp, C., and Fielding, J. (1992), ‘Black and Blue: an analysis of the influence of race and being stopped by the police’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 207-223.

Scarman, Lord (1981), The Brixton Disorders 10-12 April 1981: Report of the Inquiry by the Rt. Hon. Lord Scarman OBE, Cmnd. 8427, London, HMSO.

Stevens, P. and Willis, C. (1979), Race, Crime and Arrests, Home Office Research Study no. 58, London, Home Office.

Accessed on 2nd April 2005

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