Ethnic and Racial Inequalities in the Justice System Essay

Ethnic and Racial Inequalities in the Justice System There are many ethnic differences in each stage of the justice system. In order to be able to prove these it is important to break the system down, and evaluate it bit by bit, showing the possible signs of ethnic differences. Firstly Policing, Philips and Bowling (2007) have noted that in the 1970’s there have been many accusations of oppressive policing if minority ethnic communities. These have included mass stop and search operations, police violence and failure to respond to racist violence. It has been known that members of ethnic minority groups are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. Police are able to use this â€Å"power† if they have â€Å"reasonable†¦show more content†¦There are three reasons for the disproportionate use of stop and search against members of minority ethnic groups. Firstly Police Racism; the Macpherson Report (1999), on the investigation of the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, concluded that there was institutional racism within the Met.Police. Other people have also found there to be excessive racist attitudes among officers. Also Phillips and Bowling suggested that officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities. Such stereotypes are endorsed and upheld by the canteen culture. Ethnic differences in offending is another explanation to explain the disproportionality in stop and searches simply reflect ethnic differences in levels of offending. There is low discretion stops and high discretion stops. In low discretion stops the police act on relevant information about an offence e.g. description. In a high discretion stop police act without any intelligence. In these stops is where officers can use there stereotypes. Ethnic minorities are over represented in population groups who are most likely to be stopped such as the young, unemployed and urban dwellers. These groups are most likely to be stopped, regardless of their ethnicity. Figures show that in 2006/07 the arrest rate for blacks was 3.6 times the rate for whites. By contrast, once arrested, black and Asians were less likely tan white toShow MoreRelatedRacial Inequality919 Words   |  4 PagesWhat is racial inequality? Racial inequality is discrepancies in the opportunities and treatment of people based solely on their race. Racial inequality is a serious issue that is often discussed in the American criminal justice system. 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