This report provides an overview of the key findings from the publication ‘Statistics on race and the criminal justice system 2005‘. Statistics are presented on:

A description of what has been done by agencies in the criminal justice system to address the needs of BME communities and increase their confidence in the system is included.

These statistics are produced to meet the requirement of section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, that the Secretary of State publish information annually to help those involved in the administration of justice to avoid discrimination on the grounds of race.

The report is based on ethnic monitoring data from criminal justice agencies. Since 1 April 2003 a standard system of recording has been introduced into all agencies based on self-classification into one of 16 categories used in the 2001 Census. This approach allows direct comparisons to be made between criminal justice data and Census data. Classification is based around five main groups: white, mixed, black, Asian and ‘other’.

The data show that progress continues to be made in relation to the proportion of staff from BME groups working in the criminal justice system, but that other areas remain largely unchanged, with BME groups continuing to be disproportionately represented in the system. The report suggests that the imbalance is not simply the result of people from BME groups committing a disproportionate number of crimes. It finds however, that there is not, as yet, sufficiently robust data and evidence from which to reach definite conclusions as to the cause, or causes, of the disproportionate representation of BME groups.

Home Office, Criminal Justice System Race Unit
Phone: +44 20 7035 8587
CJSRACE@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

01/11/2006

Batool Reza and Christine Magill

research

Urban Policy > Security & crime prevention > Tackling crime

Enforcement & civil intervention