Page 38 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

pilot measures detailed above, saw an 85% decrease in the number of stops and
searches in the year up to March 2020 (i.e. 316 from 2041 in the previous
year), 109 with crime falling by 5% over roughly the same period. 110

2.33 We see little benefit in how section 60 stops are currently used. It is of great
concern to us that continued use of this tactic in this way will continue to
damage the relationship between the police and the communities, which
section 60 targets. Given its ineffectiveness, its increased use and its undue
targeting of BAME people, we consider that the Home Office should
immediately suspend any further section 60 authorisations until it has
undertaken an independent evaluation, supported by public consultation,
of the impact and effectiveness of these searches. In the meantime, while
section 60 authorisations continue, we recommend that the changes made
under the pilot scheme be immediately reversed, and be subject to the
prior review of Community Scrutiny Panels (see Chapter 4 below).

Gangs

For some Black kids, stigmatised and overpoliced, the toxic ‘gang’ label, once you
scratch the surface, seems to be little more than who your friends are, what music
you like and where you live – Dr Eithne Quinn
111

2.34 Gangs are often blamed for the rise in serious violence among BAME children
and young adults, particularly in connection with the distribution and sale of
drugs, and dispute over territory. The 2011 riots which followed the police’s
killing of Mark Duggan 112 marked a turning point in the Government’s
approach towards the issue of so-called ‘gangs’. With little evidence, the
Government focussed on gangs as being responsible, promising a “concerted,

109 Home Office, ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2020’, p.12.
and see D. Gayle, ‘Police force declines new powers lowering bar for stop and search’ The Guardian,
16 August 2019. See also Criminal Justice Alliance, ‘CJA and EQUAL respond to s.60 stop and search
equality impact assessments’ 2019.
110 ‘Crime falls by five per cent in the West Midlands’ West Midlands Police, 29 October 2020.
111 K. Rymajdo, ‘Drill lyrics are being used against young Black men in court’, Vice, August 2020.
112 Forensic Architects, ‘The Killing of Mark Duggan’, June 2020.

31