Ethnic injustice
01 May 2004
[Figures only available in printed format]
More black and Asian people are being stopped and searched than ever before.
The Home Office published the
Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System – 2003 in July. These form part of a series of statistics, which the Home Secretary has an obligation to publish, for among other things, in to order to enable persons working in the criminal justice system ‘to avoid discriminating against any persons on the ground of race or sex or any other improper ground’. The report was due out in March but was delayed possibly because of the highly controversial nature of some of the statistics which suggest that the non-white population is being disproportionately subject to stop and search powers.
The report covers all stages in the criminal justice system but only the use of the powers of stop and search are considered here. There are three main powers for which statistics are published. First, the police may stop and search persons and vehicles under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984. Second, they can stop and search under section 44(1) and section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act, 2000, which gives them the power to stop and search persons and vehicles without any suspicion in an ‘authorised’ area. The whole of London has been permanently designated as at risk and hence this power can be used anywhere in the city. Third, the police can stop and search under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which enables a police officer to authorise, for a period not exceeding 24 hours, stop and searches ‘in anticipation of violence’.
Statistics on the use of these powers without any breakdown by ethnicity were published for 2002/03 last December and were examined in Statewatch (Vol 13, No 6). It has taken seven months for the ethnic information to be released.
Section 1 PACE power
Statistics on the PACE power have been published annually since 1996/97. Figure 1 shows the trend in the number of stops and searches from 1996/97 to 2002/03 by ethnicity. The MacPherson inquiry, which was set up in 1997, to examine the police investigation into the death of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993, who was murdered in a racist attack, clearly had a dramatic impact on reducing the number of stop and searches for all groups. MacPherson had condemned the Metropolitan police for incompetence and complacency and for ‘institutional racism’. The impact occurred following the start of the inquiry in July 1997 and then was shortlived with the number of stop and searches beginning to increase from 1999/00. They now stand at the highest number ever recorded. The pattern for the Asian community was slightly different. The initial increase was much less dramatic, and then began to fall from 1997/98 until 2000/01 when it began to rise. As with the black community, the number of stop and searches are now higher than they have ever been.
There are wide variations between police forces. Table 1 shows the number of stop and searches per 1,000 of the respective populations for 2001/02 and 2002/03. As can be seen, the per capita rate for white people has increased from 14 to 16 per 1,000, whereas the rate for black people has increased from 67 to 92 per 1,000. The Asian rate has gone up from 20 to 27 per 1,000. In 2002/03 black people were therefore 6 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. Asians were twice as likely.
Table 1: Total stops and searches under PACE per 1,000 of the population, 2001/02 to 2002/03
Ethnic appearance 2001/02 2002/03
White 14 16
Black 67 92
Asian 20 27
These figures disguise large variations in the use of the PACE power between different police forces. In 2002/03 Merseyside police stopped and searched 168 black people per 1,000, South Yorkshire 147 per 1,000, Metropolitan police 114 per 1,000 and Cleveland 102 per 1,000. In contrast, Durham, Humberside and Lincol