MA CRIMIAL JUSTICE RACE ETHNICITY AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

1
MA CRIMIAL JUSTICE RACE ETHNICITY AND THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

• Mike Kilroe
• October 2008

2
OUTLINE OF SESSION

• Migration to Britain in the Post-War period
• Changing perceptions of ethnic minority
  communities
• Riots, Protest and Conflict
• Ethnic minority communities and policing
• The murder of Stephen Lawrence, Policing and
  Institutional Racism
• Beyond Macpherson

3
MIGRATION TO BRITAIN IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD

• Britain and the colonial enterprise (Bowling
  Phillips 2002)
• The colonising of territory and cultural
  resources
• Many people in various parts of the world
  encouraged to see themselves as British
  subjects
• England presented as the mother country

4
MIGRATION TO BRITAIN IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD

• Royal Commission on Population reported in 1949
  that immigration would be welcomed without
  reserve only if the migrants were of good human
  stock..
• However, British race relations research in the
  1950s and 1960s documented rejectionism
  towards people migrating from the Caribbean,
  Africa, and the Indian subcontinent
• Official policies became concerned with
  managing settlers
• The need for assimilation
• Absorption into mainstream (white) culture
• Political and media debates re race
• Notting Hill riots 1958
• The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 limiting
  immigration
• Enoch Powell , April 1968 - The dangers of
  coloured immigration
• He later argued for a programme of voluntary
  repatriation
• Even a Ministry of Repatriation!

5
MIGRATION TO BRITAIN IN THE POST- WAR PERIOD

• John Solomos (1989) on aspects of legislation
• The 1971 Immigration Act
• He sees this as the Last of a series of
  legislation aimed largely at excluding
  commonwealth migrants from Britain (Restrictions)
• The 1981 British Nationality Act
• He sees this as , not only consolidating and
  rationalising the discriminatory basis of
  previous immigration and nationality legislation
  , but also removing the automatic right of
  citizenship to a person born on British soil

6
THE 1981 BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT

• Modification of Jus Soli (The right of territory)
• Prior to Act any person born in Britain was
  entitled to British Citizenship
• After the Act came into force it was necessary
  for at least one parent to be a British citizen

7
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• Ethnic Minority Communities as Disorderly
  (Bowling Phillips 2002)
• The authors argue that the experience among
  ethnic minority communities as being subjected to
  special attention from police/ CJS can be
  traced back to 1960s
• Nigger Hunting (Joseph Hunte Commonwealth
  Institute 1966) Identified policing practices
  in Brixton , in the years that followed Notting
  Hill riots, as malicious and extremely hostile
• Policing the Crisis Hall 1978 The
  criminalisation of black people as folk
  devils
• But, a history of oppressive relations existed
  before 1960s (Cashmore McLaughlin, Solomos,
  Rich etc)
• Rich (1986) points to the heavy - handed policing
  of black communities in decades leading up to
  1960s as laying foundations for subsequent
  strained relationship between police and black
  people in Britain
• Breakdown of consensual policing in 1960s
• Policing without consent Increased
  Paramilitary style policing

8
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• Sivanandan 1982, Fryer 1984, Howe 1988
• For the above writers policing black Britain was
  an extension of colonial policing which had
  existed for decades in the Caribbean, India and
  Africa.
• This had now been turned inward to police the
  domestic colonies
• This hard side of policing designed to
  implement a ruling class assimilation and
  integrationist ideology which in turn was based
  on colonialist-paternalist mentality (Cashmore
  McLaughlin 1991)

9
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• The Thatcher Government elected 1979
• The Enemy Within
• Following on from Gramsci and Poulantzsas, Hall
  (1978) develops the critical debate around the
  concepts of Authoritarian Populism/ Authoritarian
  Statism
• The Thatcher Project (Scraton 1985-revisted
  2005)
• Central to the Thatcher project was the
  criminalisation of certain groups in society
  and the identification of the other
• The politics of otherness and moral panics

10
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• Mugging, the State and Law and Order Hall et al
  1978
• The apparent rise in muggings in the 1970s
• No such crime!
• Media term for robbery and other theft
• Not new and not exclusively black crime
• But moral panic was created by this and allowed
  the state to mobilise police to discipline
  young black males to conformity with neo-
  bourgeoisie values
• The historical proof that blacks were
  incompatible with the standards of decency and
  civilisation which the nation desires
• ( Gilroy 1987)

11
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• Jock Young (2008) on the Social Construction of
  the immigrant
• No other group more than the immigrant has the
  power to mobilise prejudice
• The alien other, a carrier of problems into the
  first world
• Americans the sixth largest immigrant group into
  UK (Institute of Public Policy 2006) but not
  described as immigrants
• Brits in Spain! (674,000) But not seen as
  immigrants
• ..because immigrants, of course, are from the
  South, from India or Columbia, sometimes from the
  former Soviet bloc countries, often with dark
  skins, from Africa, Albania, Algeria.

12
THE ROOTS OF OTHERING

• Jock Young The Vertigo of Late Modernity(2008)
• The invention of a fixed identity based on the
  notion of a cultural essence which is reaffirmed,
  rediscovered and elaborated upon
• This process is inevitably accompanied by the
  denigration of the other
• See also Franz Fanon Decolonization-The
  Wretched of the Earth (1967) The dehumanising of
  oppressed populations

13
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES

• Riots, protest and Conflict
• David Harvey Social Justice and the City 1973
• A Marxist account of social relationships in the
  urban environment
• The city, under capitalism, is an inequality
  generating machine characterised by conflict/
  competition for space and resources
• Result is fragmentation of communities and ghetto
  formation
• Tensions/ strains between different groups
• This can be linked to more recent debates re
  fragmented communities
• See Trevor Phillips, former chair CRE (2005) on
  fragmentation of communities and deteriorating
  Race relations in inner city areas
• A Police management problem!

14
RIOTS, PROTEST AND CONFLICT

• 1950s - Nottingham, Notting Hill
• 1980s - Liverpool, Moss Side , Bristol, Brixton
• 1990s - Manningham, Bradford, Sheffield
• 2001 Oldham, Leeds, Burnley, Bradford
• 2003 - Birmingham

15
RIOTS, PROTEST AND CONFLICT

• Riots/ Urban disorder
• Explanations
• The role of the police
• Deprivation
• Political/social exclusion
• Racism
• Culture clashes between ethnic minority
  communities and white communities
• Divided communities
• Criminal activities within certain communities
• A lack of assimilationist policies

16
UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS

• The Reports
• The Scarman Report 1982
• The Gifford Report 1989
• Bradford Commission Report 1996
• The Cantle Report 2001
• The Denham Report 2001
• The Ouseley Report 2001

17
MAIN POINTS FROM THE CANTLE REPORT 2001

• Commissioned by Home Secretary
• After riots in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley
• All towns show in- depth polarisation
• Segregated communities
• Living parallel lives
• no- go areas
• Policing/stop and search etc
• Deprivation
• Further violence likely

18
THE CRIMINALISATION OF BRITISH ASIAN YOUTH

• Jo Goodey 2001
• Research involving young British Pakistani males
• After riots in Sheffield/Bradford mid-1990s
• Young males A feeling of marginalisation
• Police actions cited as major problem
• Stop and search/ over policing certain areas
• She refers to the reactions of white society
  and the police to the riots involving young
  Pakistani males in the mid 1990s
• Negative imaging/stereotyping etc

19
THE RIOTS IN FRANCE 2005/2006/2007

• Paris Nov 2005 Oct 2006 Nov 2007
• Riots
• Saint Denis suburbs
• Largely immigrant communities
• High levels of deprivation/unemployment
• Many without citizenship/voting rights
• Many from Muslim background
• Relations with police historically hostile
• Nicolas Sarkozy (then Interior Minister) talked
  of Karcherising the scum
• Ethnic cleansing? Underclass?
• What rioters had in common was that they were
  poor/alienated/suffering police prejudice (Young
  2008)

20
ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITIES AND POLICING

• Ethnic minority people (especially black people)
  are substantially over-represented in police stop
  and arrest statistics
• Black people are about 8 times as likely as
  whites to be stopped by the police and about 5
  times as likely to be arrested (Home Office 2007)
• Ethnic minorities remain under-protected as well
  as over- policed
• Levels of victimisation overall remain higher
  among ethnic minorities
• The police service has come under continued
  criticism for failure to deal effectively with
  such crimes
• Ethnic minority remain markedly underrepresented
  among police officers
• High level of ethnic minority resigners from
  police service
• See Holdaway Resigners 1997
• The Culture of the Police

21
THE MURDER OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE ,POLICING AND
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

• Stephen Lawrence murdered in London 1993
• The Macpherson Report published February 1999
• Identifies a catalogue of errors in the police
  investigation
• Insensitive and racially stereotypical behaviour
  by police officers at the scene of the murder
• Failure (via racial stereotyping) to treat family
  as victims
• Refusal to accept murder as racially motivated
• Officers negative attitudes
• The use of inappropriate and offensive language
  by police officers
• An investigation marred by a combination of
  professional incompetence, Institutional racism
  and failure of leadership
• Calls for major reforms in policing
• Before looking at impact of the Macpherson report
  on race relations we will consider the concept of
  institutional racism

22
POLICING,DISCRIMINATION AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

• Institutional Racism/ structural Racism
• Term used in 1960s by Stokley Carmichael (USA)
• The existence of systematic practices/policies
  within institutions that have the effect of
  disadvantaging certain ethnic groups.
• The collective failure of an organisation to
  provide an appropriate and professional service
  to people because of their colour or ethnic
  origin (Macpherson 1999 , par 6.34)

23
POLICING, DISCRIMINATION AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

• Institutional Racism as per Macpherson (cont)
• It can be seen or detected in processes,
  attitudes and behaviour which amount to
  discrimination through unwitting prejudice,
  ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist
  stereotyping which disadvantages ethnic minority
  people. (Macpherson 1999, para 6.34)
• However, It is important to understand that the
  concept of institutional racism can be applied to
  any institution in contemporary society
• Education/Higher education/Housing/Health Service
  etc

24
THE MACPHERSON REPORT

• The report insisted on
• New procedures for investigating racist crime
• Rule tightening re stop/search
• Targets for recruitment, progression and
  retention of minority officers
• Making racism a disciplinary offence
• Revised race awareness training
• Race Relations Act to be amended to apply to the
  police
• This led to Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2001
• Direct/indirect discrimination outlawed
• Chief police officers now liable for all aspects
  of discrimination carried out by an officer
• The CRE given responsibility for ensuring
  compliance

25
THE RESPONSE TO MACPHERSON

• The response to the report
• Met Policing Diversity Strategy designed to
  construct the worlds first ant-racist police
• In 2000 the Home Office hire Saatchi advertising
  agency to run countrys first national
  recruitment campaign to re-brand the police
  service
• The Could You campaign in 2001
• The Refer a Friend Scheme 2002
• New race relations programmes run by Ionann
  Management Consultants in order to facilitate
  organisational change
• United in Diversity programmes

26
THE RESPONSE TO THE REPORT

• Racist incidents now investigated via Racial and
  Violent Crime Task force led by then Deputy
  Assistant Commissioner, John Grieve (2000)
• Then the establishment of Community Safety Units
  (CSUs) concentrating on hate crime

27
BEYOND MACPHERSON

• Despite all this, the Black Police Association
  2000 were
• critical of the impact of reforms in police
  service
• The association identified
• A racist culture that was allowed to go unchecked
  in training schools (see also Secret Policeman
  2003)
• Ethnic minority officers were being set up to
  fail in prominent /prestigious roles
• Ethic minority officers frozen out of
  specialist policing units
• Malicious complaints used to trigger serious
  disciplinary proceedings against ethnic minority
  officers who had played key roles in the
  Macpherson inquiry
• Ethnic minority officers had lack of support from
  Police Federation

28
BEYOND MACPHERSON

• The Culture Wars within the police service
• Response from Some elements of Police Federation
  /ACPO
• Institutional racism is an affront to police
  professionalism (Holdaway ONeil 2004)
• Operational policing had been handcuffed in
  multicultural neighbourhoods by the imposition of
  politically correct softly softly tactics
• Politically correct chief officers looking for
  scapegoats
• Reverse racism resulting in under-qualified
  ethnic minority candidates being fast-tracked
  into the service
• Ethnic officers using race card to gain
  preferential treatment and to block disciplinary
  action over poor performance
• The Home Office making cynical use of Diversity
  Babble

29
BEYOND MACPHERSON

• Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
• CRE report 2005
• Examined training/ management recruitment and
  policing in England and Wales
• Concluded ..the service in England and Wales
  was still frozen solid to the core on race and
  diversity issues
• Policing in its current form is nearly 180 years
  old but, according to Clements Spinks (2000) it
  has not kept pace with changes taking place with
  regard to increased diversity in society
• Cressida Dick Met Diversity Directorate Its
  very difficult to imagine a situation were we
  (police) will say we are no longer
  institutionally racist (2003)

30
Irish people, Discrimination and Criminal Justice

• Irish people long established ethnic minority
  group in Britain
• Settlement as early as 12th century
• Population estimates suggest a community in
  excess of 2 million
• Homelessness as an issue
• 25 of day centre users are Irish
• Concentration in low-status jobs
• Poor health
• Homeless- over representation in prison
• Subject of targeting/stop and search by police in
  North London
• Travelling community enduring the highest levels
  of discrimination

31
OTHER AREAS OF CONSIDERATION

• Stop and Search
• Deaths in police custody
• Discrimination in the courts
• Over representation of ethnic minorities in
  prison
• Discrimination and racism in prisons

32
SELECTED READING

• Bowling B Phillips C (2002) Racism, crime and
  Justice Longman
• Cashmore E McLaughlin E (1991) Out of Order
  Policing Black People. London Routledge
• Fryer P (1984) Staying Power- the History of
  Black People in Britain.London.Pluto Press
• Gilroy P (1987) Aint No Back in the Union Jack
  London . Routledge
• Howe D (1998) From Bobby to Babylon Blacks and
  the British Police. Race Today Publications
• McLaughlin E (2007) The New Policing. Sage
• Rowe M (2008) Introduction To Policing. Sage
• Sivanandan A (1982) A Different Hunger London.
  Pluto
• Solomos J (1989) The Politics of Race and
  Residence Citizenship, Segregation and White
  Supremacy in Britain Cambridge. Polity