Race and the criminal justice system

The Ministry of Justice has published data race and the criminal justice system for the year 2011/2012.

• In 2011/2012, a person 'belonging to the Black ethnic group' was six times more likely than a White person to be stopped and searched.
• Just under one in ten stop and searches in 2011/2012 resulted in an arrest in the White and Black self-identified ethnic groups, compared with 12 per cent in 2007/2008.
• Black persons were less likely to receive an out of court disposal for an indictable offence, and more likely to be proceeded against at magistrates’ court, than all other ethnic groups.
• There has been a decrease across all ethnic groups in the proportion receiving community sentences. In contrast there was an increase for most ethnic groups in the proportion receiving an immediate custodial sentence for an indictable offence. 

For the full report and excel tables, check out Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System.

In 2008 the Centre published Ethnicity, Harm and Crime. A discussion paper. Authored by Rebecca Roberts and Will McMahon, they took a social harm perspective to the question of so called 'black-on-black' crime and disproportionality in criminal justice.