By Patrick Williams

The key to overcoming institutionalised racism in work with black, Asian and minority ethnic people in contact with the criminal justice system

Why read this evidence review?

This evidence review provides an in-depth look at growing rates of racial disparity in our criminal justice system and highlights key principles for effective interventions with people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in contact with the system.

Patrick Williams, Senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, reviews the current evidence-base - to which he is an important contributor - and covers a number of key issues:

• Racial disparity within the criminal justice system

• The multidimensionality of social inequalities experienced by minority groups

• The lack of a clear strategy and officially approved programs to tackle racial disparity in the criminal justice system

• The criminal justice system’s preoccupation with risk as opposed to need

• Principles to govern minority ethnic interventions

• The importance of acknowledging racialisation and racism(s)

• Community empowerment models

• The argument for paying participants to engage

• The importance of the voluntary sector.

An online evidence base for the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system

This article forms part of a series from Clinks, created to develop a far-reaching and accessible evidence base covering the most common types of activity undertaken within the criminal justice system. There are two main aims of this online series:

1. To increase the extent to which the voluntary sector bases its services on the available evidence base

2. To encourage commissioners to award contracts to organisations delivering an evidence-based approach.

London: Clinks, 2023. 11p.

By Runnymede Trust

Racism has always been a matter of life and death. This was never more true than for Stephen Lawrence, a bright young man who dreamed of becoming an architect. Stephen was murdered by racist strangers as he made his way home with a friend in South East London, 30 years ago. It was not only his killers who targeted Stephen with racism. The behaviour of the police - from those first on the scene, to those who handled the disastrous investigation into his murder and dealt closely with his family - was characterised at every stage by racist treatment and bias in the system. Significant questions were raised on accountability in the criminal justice system and whether Black and minority ethnic communities and families were treated fairly. The fight for justice that followed, led by Stephen’s grieving parents, has brought us all to know Stephen’s name, and carry forward his legacy. The seminal 1999 Macpherson Report, published in direct response to the manner in which the police handled Stephen’s case, recognised unequivocally that the Metropolitan Police Force was ‘institutionally racist,’ an unprecedented finding at the time. Many events in the wake of Stephen’s murder, including race equality legislation, still inform and influence racial justice work today.

London, Runnymede Trust. 2023, 80pg