Abstract
Statistics on race in the Criminal Justice System
Every two years the Ministry of Justice provides statistics on race and the criminal justice system (CJS). These reports present data on the CJS in relation to victims, police activity, offender characteristics, offence analysis, offenders under supervision or in custody, defendants and practitioners according to self-identified ethnicity. This review will summarize some of the findings of the latest report that are likely to be of particular interest to probation practitioners.
Consistent with previous years, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people are over-represented at most stages of the criminal justice process.
Arrest rates for people from Black and Mixed ethnic groups were almost three and two times higher respectively than for people from other ethnic groups. Stop and search has been controversial in terms of its potential to discriminate against those from BAME groups. This report finds that, compared to the white ethnic group, stops and searches were more likely to be carried out on Black, Mixed and Asian ethnic groups (4.5, 2.5 and 1.5 times more likely respectively). Arrests resulting from stop and search were also higher for those from Black and Mixed groups. Differences in the rates of prosecution and sentencing according to ethnicity reflected the difference in arrest rates. Arrest rates for the Black ethnic group were three times higher and for the Mixed group two times higher than rates for the White group.
Overall, in England and Wales during 2014, 74 per cent of prisoners were White. There were around 16 prisoners for every 10,000 people. However, this report finds wide variations according to ethnicity. There were 55 prisoners for every 10,000 people of Black ethnicity, 44 prisoners for every 10,000 people of Mixed ethnicity and 6 prisoners for every 10,000 people of Chinese or Other ethnic origin. Proportions of those identifying as White, Chinese or Other ethnicity have remained relatively consistent for the past 10 years.
The report finds that PSR recommendations differ for those from the White and BAME ethnic groups. Those from the White group had a lower proportion of Suspended Sentence Orders (SSOs) and a higher proportion of community sentences proposed than those from the BAME groups. The proportion of immediate custody proposals was similar for all ethnic groups. This represents a change since 2010 when PSRs were more likely to propose immediate custody for those from BAME than White groups. The concordance rate for people from all ethnic groups was similar.
In December 2014, there were 110,000 adults under probation supervision on SSOs and Community Orders. This equates to around 25 people per 10,000 of the population. As with the prison population, a breakdown of this figure by ethnicity shows wide variations in the proportion of people under supervision. For those of Black ethnicity, this figure is 46 per 10,000 of the population and for those of Asian ethnicity the figure is 18 per 10,000. The report shows an over-representation of those of BAME ethnicity under supervision. Those of White ethnicity were more likely to have a supervision requirement attached to their Order and less likely to have a requirement of unpaid work than those from BAME groups. There was very little variation by ethnicity in the rate of recall.
This report confirms the continued over-representation of people from BAME groups in the CJS and among those under probation supervision. Though the report emphasizes that some variations reflect differences in the seriousness of offending, that data implies ongoing structural discrimination and will be of interest to probation practitioners working in this context.
Ministry of Justice (2015) Statistics on Race in the Criminal Justice System. A Ministry of Justice publication under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. Available to download at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/race-and-the-criminal-justice-system