Page 13 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

investigation. The inquiry was intended to enable the CJS to learn from
what went wrong and culminated in the MacPherson Report in 1999. It
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concluded that the investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s murder had
been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence,
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institutional racism and a failure of leadership”;
c) The Young Review: Chaired by Baroness Young in 2013, the primary
goal of this review was to identify how to improve the negative outcomes
experienced by Black and Muslim male offenders between the ages of 18-
24. The report highlighted concerns around the drivers that bring young
adults into the CJS, the disproportionate use of stop and search, and the
risk-driven nature of policing; and
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d) The Lammy Review: Led by David Lammy MP and published in 2017,
this review examined the treatment and outcomes of BAME individuals
in the CJS, analysing data that has not previously been made available to
scrutiny. It concluded that “BAME individuals still face bias, including
overt discrimination, in parts of the justice system”.
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1.3 In spite of these reports and various legislative initiatives, the public attention
they received, and government commitment to the recommendations, many of
their recommendations remain unimplemented and racial disparity and
discrimination within the CJS persist. At the same time, the challenges faced
by BAME individuals become ever more urgent. For instance, during the UK’s
first COVID-19 lockdown (March – June 2020), BAME people were more
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likely to be fined than their White counterparts. This reinforces the scale and
nature of the problem, serving to highlight the need for a complete overhaul in

5 Sir William MacPherson of Cluny, The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, (1999).
6 Ibid, para 46.1.
7 Baroness Young, Improving outcomes for young black and/or Muslim men in the Criminal Justice
System, (The Young Review, 2014), p.11.
8 D. Lammy, The Lammy Review, An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black,
Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System, (2017), p. 69.

9 R. Currenti and J. Flatley, Policing the Pandemic: detailed analysis on police enforcement of the Public
Health Regulations and an assessment on disproportionality across ethnic groups, (National Police
Chiefs’ Council, July 2020), p. 3.

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