NCJ Number
174752
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This document discusses the findings of several studies on black people and the British criminal justice system.
Abstract
An aggregation of findings from approximately a dozen studies conducted at different times and in different geographical areas throughout Britain discloses that, among other things: (1) young black males ages 16 to 24 were stopped roughly 10 times more often than the average at two London police stations; (2) people of West Indian and African origin accounted for 17 percent of people arrested in London, but only 5 or 6 percent of the city's population; (3) black juveniles were less frequently referred to the juvenile bureaus and at the bureaus were less frequently cautioned than white juveniles; (4) the probation service failed to prepare social inquiry reports on a substantial number of black offenders, did not recommend the same range of sentences for black offenders as for whites, and was less successful in having its recommendations for black offenders accepted by magistrates and judges than for whites; and (5) prisoners of West Indian/African origin received under sentence generally had fewer previous convictions than white prisoners sentenced for the same type of offense and were significantly less likely to receive bail. Tables