Page 99 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

4.51 We recognise that in addition to CSPs, police forces have internal review
mechanisms to investigate allegations of wrongdoing. The College of
Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice recommends that supervising
officers examine emerging trends. However, these scrutiny mechanisms vary
from force to force. In the BTP, for example, a sergeant assesses every stop
and search undertaken, and conducts randomised reviews of historic searches
on a regular basis. Moreover, all stop forms include details on ethnicity.
Internal scrutiny should identify whether an officer is regularly stopping
people without reasonable grounds, and prompt further action in the form of
training to improve their use of the power.

Bias in decision-making
4.52 After a case is determined at court, if the defendant is unhappy with their
conviction, or the length of their sentence, they can, under certain
circumstances, lodge an appeal. This process helps to ensure the decisions of
judges are scrutinised and held to account through a forensic analysis of the
law and facts.

4.53 Appeals are an essential part of the CJS. However, they require legal
representation (with costs or Legal Aid), time and energy. They also mean that
the fate of the individual appealing remains uncertain until the appeal is
concluded. Where the sentence is short or where someone is a repeat offender,
the value of an appeal reduces, regardless of the strength of the case. In turn,
judicial accountability (and the development of best practice) fades away.
Moreover, even where a defendant is successful in their appeal, it is rare that
issues of racial bias are ventilated.

4.54 Another block to accountability is the discretionary nature of many judicial
decisions. For example, provided that a judge or magistrate makes a decision
that is within the range of sentencing guidelines and is not explicitly racist, it
is unlikely that an appeal based on bias will be successful. Although the
research is patchy, there have been worrying reports and anecdotal examples
of racial bias. 273 We heard one striking example from a child, who a judge
referred to as a “strapping Black lad.” Such language is clearly alienating,

273 O. Bowcott, ‘Judges told they should consider previous racial bias before sentencing’ The Guardian,
9 December 2021.

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