Racial Discrimination within the Criminal Justice Process in England and Wales - Essay Example

?Racial discrimination within the criminal justice process in England and Wales How far is it possible to say that there is racial discrimination within the criminal justice process in England and Wales? Introduction Cohen (1999) asserts that racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is a global phenomenon that undermines the rule of law and faith in the judicial system. Racial discrimination has attracted intense debate since the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the inquiry by Sir William MacPherson in to extend of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system (Bowling, 1998). The investigation was the first to unearth racial discrimination in the police institution. The United Nations Human Rights Committee highlighted some racial discrimination issues in the UK in 2001 especially the high number of the black population in prisons and unlawful stops and searches. Although, the criminal justice system has changed the approach to investigating and sentencing racially motivated crimes, the courts still have the powers to increase the sentence for the racially motivated crimes. This discrimination leads to victimisation of the ethnic minorities by the same institutions that are tasked with safeguarding their rights. Bowling (1998) is of the idea that racial discrimination exists at all stages of criminal justice system from police profiling of offenders on the basis of race, police mistreatment of the offenders in their custody and imposition of harsher judicial penalties to members of particular races (Brown, 1984). Racial stereotyping and prejudices by the officers in the judicial system leads to overrepresentation of members of a particular race in the prison system. Discriminatory law enforcement tactics such as unwarranted stop and searches towards citizens of a particular race and counter-terrorism tactics that aim at invading the privacy of members of a particular race contribute to the undermining and violation of the fundamental human rights of these citizens. Sudbury (2005b) points out that Article 1 of the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), any distinction, preference or restriction that is based on descent, race or ethnic origin which has the effect of impairing the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms can be termed as a form of racial discrimination (McKenzie, 1998). Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system in the UK has attracted intense international debate and condemnation leading to a declaration of several global conferences on racism, xenophobia and racial discrimination. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created several offenses that are lined with racial violence, harassment and public disorder and provided the maximum sentence (McKenzie, 1998). However, the Act increased racial discrimination in police profiling and prosecution of racially motivated offenses. It is a legal obligation for the law enforcement officers to use their powers of stop and search in a fair manner without discriminating the citizens on the basis of race or ethnic grouping (Malleson, 2007). Racial discrimination is evidenced in racial police profiling especially in police stops and searches (Mhlanga, 1997). Law enforcement authorities use racial stereotypes in determining who has been involved in a criminal activity. Racial origins will sometimes influence the law enforcement officers’ decisions in making an arrest. In the case of suspected juvenile crimes, the police officers take in to account the demeanor and race of the juvenile in deciding whether to make an arrest. If the law enforcement officers perceive that the offender is disrespectful, there are higher chances of arrests especially for the racial minorities. Some researchers have argued that black minorities are more likely to be shot during police arrests since the police officers use disproportionately more deadly force while making the arrests (Moorthy, Cahalin and Howard, 2004). Waters (1990) suggests that police culture encourages unprofessional stop and searches that discriminate among the different races. According to Macpherson report, the recruitment and progression of BME officers should be enhanced in order to deal with police racial discrimination. According to Reiner (2000), the cop culture consists of the shared values, norms and beliefs that lead to the perpetuation of group identities (Miller, 2000). The police culture may lead to pessimism since the police officers may perceive themselves as beleaguered minorities thus leading to stereotyping of the suspected criminals and a pattern of discrimination in law enforcement. In addition, some police officers perceive their job as hard occupation that entails the use of violence and force in law enforcement (Malleson, 2007). Although reasonable suspicion is required before making an arrest, the police officers will sometimes harass and arrest people loitering in public places even when there is no reasonable suspicion that such person has the intention of committing a crime. Although the black citizens consists only 2.2 of the total population, statistics point out that black stop and searches constituted about 14.6 percent of the total stops and searches in the year 2008. However, Rollock (2009) questioned the effectiveness of stop and searches since only 12 percent of such stops and searches ultimately led to arrests and convictions (Joyce and Wain, 2012). The UK criminal justice system is characterised by discriminate incidences of police brutality against members of particular racial and ethnic groups. It is true that police officers use unlawful methods of obtaining evidence from citizens of particular races during the investigations, custody interrogations and during the arrests. Discriminate police brutality takes place in the closed police custodies and some of the common methods of interrogating and obtaining evidence from racial minorities include whipping and thorough beating (Bowlings and Phillips, 2002). In deed, the racial minorities do not press charges for police brutality due to fear of retaliation and inadequate access to free legal services. Although Article 3 of European Convention on Human rights (ECHR) requires all citizens to be free from torture and degrading treatment, racial minorities experience absolute torture and degrading treatment and punishments during police arrests and interrogations. In deed, research has shown that the neighborhood influences the use of force during the police swoops and arrests especially in minority neighborhoods. Discrimination on the basis of race is also illustrated in the issue of bail to suspected offenders. The prosecuting authorities and judges have the discretion to grant bail to racial minorities who have been accused of various crimes (Wendy and Kiran, 2002. Generally, the courts will look at the possibility of flight, the seriousness of the offense and the length of time in which the suspected criminal has lived in the particular neighborhood (Wendy and Kiran, 2002). Additionally, the judges will consider the employment and marital status of the accused in deciding whether the individual is likely to flee. Black minorities are less likely to receive bail than white defendants even though the accused persons may have the same educational standards and incomes status (Malleson, 2007). In deed, the prior criminal record of black and Hispanic minorities is more considered in determining whether to grant the accused a bail. However, the prosecuting authorities and judges consider the seriousness of the accused offense and the level of danger which the White accused offender poses to the society in determining whether to grant a bail. This discrepancy in grant of bails among the races suggests that racial stereotyping of black minorities as less likely to adhere with bail terms and more likely to engage in violent crimes accounts significantly in denial of bails to black accused offenders (Cook and Hudson, 1993). Racial discrimination also occurs during charging, prosecution and issuing of court sentences. Available evidence suggests that ethnic minorities are charged for more serious offenses and receive harsher penalties for the same offense compared to their counterparts from the dominant race and ethnic groups (Wendy and Kiran, 2002. Black drug offenders are more likely to be admitted to imprisonment than their white counterparts. According to the statistics on race and the criminal justice system for 2006/2007, there was lower use of caution for the black offenders relative to the arrests (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2007). The statistics indicate that only 16 percent of the black offenders received a caution for their offenses while 24 percent if white offenders received a caution for their offenses. According to the race and criminal justice systems statistics for 2010, Black, Asian and other racial minority citizens were more likely to experience more stop and searches than their white counterparts (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). Although the number of arrests in England and Wales had declined compared with the previous years, the number of arrests for Black persons had increased by 5 percent while that of Asians had increased by 13 percent. The data indicated that Blacks were 3.3 times more likely to be arrested than White people while mixed race people were 2.3 times more likely to be arrested than White people. The data from the court disposals also indicated some discrepancies that pointed out to racial discrimination in the court system. A higher percentage for the Black and minority ethnic group races was sentenced to immediate custody for indictable offenses than the White counterparts (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). The data showed that Blacks had 27 percent of sentencing to immediate custody while Asians had a 29 percent sentencing to immediate custody and Whites had 23 percent sentencing to immediate custody. In addition, the highest custodial sentence length (ACSL) given for the indictable offences was higher for Black offenders, Asian offenders and other ethnic minority offenders compared with White offenders. The data indicated that Black offenders received an average 20.8 months custodial sentence while Asians received an average of 19.9 months custodial sentence and White offenders received a low of 14.9 months custodial sentence (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). In the statistics of criminal justice system staff, the probation service had only 14 percent of the Black and Ethnic minority in its staff while the police and the judiciary had a mere 5 percent staff from the Black and ethnic minority racial groups (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). According to Hood’s study, 95.2 percent of Afro-Caribbean defendants received custody on legal factors while Dudley Crown Court ruling showed some racial discrimination. Hood asserts that Afro-Caribbean defendants are less likely to plead guilty for offense thus failing to receive a sentence discount on conviction (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2007). Failure to plead guilty for the offense make the judges issue the maximum possible imprisonment sentence term to defendants regardless of ethnic or racial background. Feilzer and Hood (2004) studied the pre-court disposal differences in order to identify racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Feilzer and Hood concluded that there were lower rates of pre-court disposal of court cases compared with white young males since the young male of mixed races had 2.7 times chances of being prosecuted that the while young male offenders. In addition, all cases involving restrictive community penalties showed significant discrepancies between the penalties for black and white offenders (Feilzer and Hood, 2004). Black young male offenders received a higher rate and harsher restrictive community penalties than their white counterparts. In addiction, the statistics of race and the criminal justice system for 2008/2009 showed that the conviction rate for the white offenders was 63.3 percent while that of blacks was 50.7 percent. These percentages indicate that blacks are more likely to be convicted in the magistrates and crown courts despite blacks being a minority race in England and Wales (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). Racial discrimination is also evidenced in the access of free counsel. The UK criminal justice system provides for access to state-appointed legal aid for criminal defendants in the serious crimes. Black minorities experience social and economic hardships that make it impossible to afford legal counsel especially in criminal cases. Lack of access to counsel during the preliminary police investigations and subsequent trial constitutes unfair prosecution (Webster, 2007). According to Penal reform Group study, British Afro-Caribbean offenders are more likely to be jailed despite being less likely to commit offenses. In addition, the blacks receive unequal treatment from the police officers despite having the greatest need of protection from the security officers. According to British Crime Survey data, Pakistanis and people of Asian origin are more likely to be stopped and searched by the law enforcement officers. The survey also indicated that out of the 1.3 million people arrested between 1988 and 1999, 7 percent were of Afro-Caribbean origin despite the race forming only 2 percent of the total population. The study also established that 59 percent of the racial minority arrests had been charged despite forming the smallest percentage of the population (Malleson, 2007). The study also indicated that the rate of black incarceration was out of proportion and racial discrimination existed at every stage of the criminal justice system including the employment of prison staff and law enforcement officers (Gabbidon, 2010). Black and mixed race people are discriminated at all levels of the criminal justice system from the stop and search stages to finally imprisonment. In the recent years, the proportion of Asian minorities in the prisons has increased tremendously due racial profiling by the police authorities. Another major concern is the increase in unwarranted stops and searches especially in highways and neighborhoods that are mainly populated by the racial minorities in England and wales. In addition, there is a disproportion in the manner of arrests along the racial groups in England and Wales. The police authorities are more likely to use violence and other non-humane methods in arresting the black suspected offenders due to the racial stereotyping that Blacks are more violent and more likely to resist police arrests (Jewkes, 2012). Although the patterns of offending among the races has remained similar for long, the proportion of Asians and Blacks receiving long sentences without an option of pardon has been increasing over the recent years (Webster, 2007). Although more Black young male citizens self-reported to have committed a crime, the percentage of warnings without trials has also declined thus implying that blacks are more likely to be prosecuted for the minor crimes that often attract non-custodial sentences. Another striking observation is that White males commit more drug-abuse related offenses than Black and Asian minorities in England and Wales, but are less represented in the youth justice system when compared with their Black and Asian counterparts (Webster, 2007). Conflict theories can be used to unearth the cause of racial discrimination in the judicial system in England and Wales. Although the criminal justice system strives to maintain law and order in the society, the values and beliefs of the racial minorities usually conflicts with the values of the ruling elite (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). Since the criminal justice system aims at protecting the values and beliefs of the ruling elite and a majority in England and Wales, the punishments are based on race and social class (Ray and Smith, 2004). Accordingly, the historical prejudices and stereotypes of the ethnic majority especially whites play a considerable part in perpetuating racial discrimination in the justice system. For instance, the law enforcement officers perceive that the Black and Asian citizens threaten the power of the ruling class since they are perceived to be more violent thus the unfair treatment of Blacks during searches and arrests. Patel and Tyrer (2012) are of the opinion that Blacks and other racial minority groups lack the resources and avenues to air their grievances thus are more likely to receive unfair trial and longer imprisonment terms compared with their White counterparts (Ray and Smith, 2004). In addition, the composition of law enforcement and judicial officers consist of few Black and Asians thus they view crime as a minority groups problem. These assumptions make the law enforcement officers associate some lifestyle behaviours, criminal-related diseases and certain offenses like drug abuse with certain racial minorities who live in certain neighborhoods (Ray and Smith, 2004). The law enforcement officers thus conduct unwarranted stops and searches in these racially profiled neighborhoods thus leading to more Black citizens in police custody for interrogations. In addition, Black and Asian minorities are less likely to self-report offenses or admit guilt during trials thus judges will assign them less competent legal counsels due to the negative perceptions and prejudices towards Black and other ethnic minority groups (Patel and Tyrer, 2012). Conclusion Some of the challenges faced by the criminal justice system in addressing racial discrimination include the entrenched assumptions and biases about the criminal attitudes of the ethnic minorities. The UK government also perceives the associations of racial minorities with criminal activities that aim at meeting some political ends. In addition, structural issues such as gathering racial and ethnic data for the criminal justice system hinders the ability of the criminal justice system to combat racial discrimination. From the above discussion, it is evident that there is high racial discrimination in England and Wales criminal justice system. The discrimination is perpetuated by the racial prejudices and stereotypes of the law enforcement officers and judicial officers towards the Black and other racial minority groups. The police conduct discriminate stops and searches that are targeted to the racial minority groups especially in poor neighborhoods. The Blacks and other minority groups are incapable of affording private legal aid due to their poor social and economic backgrounds. In addition, the evidence points out that Black offenders and other racial minor groups’ populations in the prison system have increased despite their low population. Black offenders are more likely to be denied bail and also receive a lengthy imprisonment terms for the similar offenses that their White counterparts. In deed, it is the high time that the criminal justice system addresses the high rate of racial discrimination in England and Wales. Reference list: Bowling, B. 1998. Violent racism: victimisation, policing and social context. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bowlings, B and Phillips, C. 2002. Racism, crime, and justice. London: Longman. Brown, C. 1984. Black and White. London: Heineman. Cohen, P. 1999. New ethnicities, old racisms. London: Zed Books. Cook, D and Hudson, B. 1993. Racism and criminology. London: Sage. Feilzer, M and Hood, R. 2004. Differences or discrimination? Minority ethnic young people in the youth justice system. London: Youth Justice Board. Gabbidon, S.L. 2010. Race, ethnicity, crime, and justice: an international dilemma. London: Sage. Hood, R. 1992. Race and sentencing. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 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