15 June 2007
Senior MPs have demanded that ministers redouble efforts to address the 'serious crisis' of the over-representation of black people in the criminal justice system.
The Commons home affairs select committee this week said government action to date had been ineffective. It called for a coherent national strategy setting out each agency and department's responsibility.
Its June 15 report marks the conclusion of the first sustained inquiry into the issue for 25 years.
Committee chair John Denham said: 'Five years on from setting up a dedicated Criminal Justice System Race Unit, the government is still not able to say they understand the over-representation of young black people at all stages of the criminal justice system, or that it is improving.'
The committee found that patterns of offending varied between different ethnic groups. Although black people make up 2% of the population, one-third of gun crime homicide victims and suspects were black.
There was also evidence that young black people were over-represented in arrests and convictions for certain types of crime, most notably robbery and drugs offences, despite black people having lower drug use levels than other groups.
Young black people are also more likely to be stopped and searched and the MPs expressed concern about the prediction that 75% of the black male population will soon be on the DNA database because of disproportionate arrest rates.
The report said the primary cause of this over-representation was social exclusion and related issues such as educational under-achievement and poor housing.
It urged all government departments to play their part. For example, the Department for Education and Skills should do more work on alternatives to school exclusion and the Department of Health should develop targeted drug treatment and mental health programmes.
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