The latest ethnicity in the Criminal Justice System statistics published 25th January 2024 paint a clear picture of a system still struggling to tackle racism.
The biennial publication from the Ministry of Justice, as well as the annually published Youth Justice Statistics paint a grim picture of continuing disproportionality for Black, Asian, and mixed heritage people in the criminal justice system.
Most concerningly, stop and searches of children increased by 13%. Black children were involved in 20% of stop and searches (where ethnicity was known), that’s 14% higher than the 2021 statistics. Over three quarters of stop and searches of children resulted in no further action.
Black children also experienced often worse sentencing, and were disproportionately over-represented in custody and on remand.
Action for Race Equality’s chief executive, Jeremy Crook, wrote about the bleak statistics for LBC.
“Black children are being let down by the systems which should be supporting them, and while there have been some small improvements in decreasing disproportionality, there is still a lot more work to be done,” he wrote.
Action for Race Equality is proud to have worked for over 13 years of our 33 year history to help the criminal justice system deliver fair outcomes for all.
Our purpose is to help those involved in the development and delivery of criminal justice practice and policy to create a system free from unfair outcomes for Black, Asian, and mixed heritage people. We believe that action must be taken to address the issues that lead to unjust experiences and outcomes for these communities in the criminal justice system.
Take Action
If you’d like to be part of our work influencing criminal justice policy and practice to make it more equitable for our communities, then apply to join our National Independent Advisory Group.
We’re currently looking to recruit new members to shape our long-running criminal justice work.
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