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UK: Racism in court

01 January 1993

It has been estimated that if police racism accounts for 80% of the over-representation of black people in British prisons (where Afro-Caribbeans and Asians make up 16% of the population, as against just over 5% of the population of the country), racism in the courts accounts for the other 20%. A CRE report published in December confirms that sentencing is racially biased, with Afro-Caribbeans in the West Midlands study 17% more likely to go to jail than whites, while Asians were 18% less likely to do so. Society of Black Lawyers' chair Peter Herbert, who in November urged multi-racial juries, monitoring court decisions and tough sanctions against racist practice under the new s25 of the Criminal Justice Act, called for urgent talks with the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, and for the suspension of racist judges. In a milder rebuke, Mr Justice Brooke called for more "race awareness" training of judges, to prevent black defendants from being disadvantaged in court. Currently their training is limited to a talk on "demographics, language, oaths [the religious variety], personal names, cultural differences, communication problems, body languages and avoiding generalisations which might give offence". Race awareness training has had no notable success in the USA, where it originated. In November Nacro, reported that only 1% of police,
less than 1% of prison officers, 2% of magistrates and solicitors and 3% of probation officers were black (Afro- Caribbean Arab Asian or of mixed race). There are no black magistrates' court clerks and only three black judges. (Guardian, 10 & 11.12.92 12 16.11.92.)