HL Deb 24 January 2000 vol 608 cc175-6WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have conducted research into the extent to which members of the ethnic minority community suffer discrimination within the criminal justice system, as recommended by the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (Cm 2263, July 1993, paragraph 25); if so, whether they will publish such research; and, if not, why not. [HL549]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

The Home Office has undertaken or commissioned a number of pieces of research which have included consideration of issues of ethnicity in the criminal justice system and the operation of the criminal justice system in relation to ethnic minorities.

All commissioned research is published as a matter of course. Ministers receive regular advice from officials in the form of submissions and briefing papers about the research and statistical data available in the department.

The Home Office has published the following research of relevance:

Ethnic Minorities: Victimisation and Racial Harassment: Findings from the 1988 and 1992 British Crime Surveys, Home Office Research Study 154 (1996);

Ethnicity and Contacts with the Police: Latest Findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Office Research Findings Number 59 (1997);

Ethnic Monitoring in Police Forces: A beginning, Home Office Research Study 173 (1997);

Statistics on race and the Criminal Justice System 1997, Published under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (December 1997);

Sentencing Practice: an examination of decisions in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in the mid-1990s, Home Office Research Study 180 (July 1998);

Entry into the criminal justice system: a survey of police arrests and their outcome, Home Office Research Study 185 (August 1998);

Statistics on race and the Criminal Justice System 1998, Published under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (December 1998); and

Statistics on race and the Criminal Justice System 1999, Published under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (December 1999).

Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have introduced, in accordance with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (Cm 2263, July 1993, paragraph 26), a system of ethnic monitoring to establish how ethnic minorities are treated and to identify the measures needed to ensure that the rules, procedures and practices of the criminal justice system are applied, and seen to be applied, in the same way. [HL550]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

Her Majesty's Government's aim is to introduce ethnic monitoring throughout the criminal justice system. Since the Royal Commission's report, monitoring has been extended to the police service and employment within criminal justice agencies. In addition, pilot trials are taking place on persons dealt with by the courts. Results from current monitoring and future plans are described in the recent Home Office report under Section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 1999.