NCJ Number
228370
Editor(s)
Nathan Hall,
John Grieve,
Stephen P. Savage
Date Published
2009
Length
320 pages
Annotation
This book examines the impact on British policing of the official inquiry and subsequent reforms associated with the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, an 18-year-old Black youth who was stabbed to death in an unprovoked racist attack by White youths, who were never convicted, raising serious questions about the police investigation.
Abstract
The book consists of 11 chapters in which various authors, both practitioners and academics, present their views on what has happened in British policing in the last 10 years under the influence of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, in which the racism and incompetence of the police service was revealed. The book's overall conclusion is that the "legacy of Lawrence" is a paradigm shift in British policing, which makes his murder and the subsequent inquiry into the police response a watershed in the history of British policing. The inquiry highlighted the many flaws in the metropolitan Police Service and the wider criminal justice system, including the lack of respect that the Metropolitan Police Service showed toward the African-Caribbean community it served. Collectively, all of the authors who contributed to this book agree that significant changes have occurred in British policing since the Lawrence inquiry; however, they also agree that there is still much to be done in the area of race relations in the British criminal justice system. The book assesses the extent to which the original recommendations and issues raised in the Lawrence inquiry have been reflected in policy, practice, and policing outcomes in service delivery. The policing areas analyzed include murder investigations, critical incidents, hate and violent crimes, independent advisory groups, police training, police intelligence, and police educational policy. Approximately 350 references and appended selective chronology and context for the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and recommendations of the inquiry