NCJ Number
120058
Date Published
1989
Length
70 pages
Annotation
Racial incidents continue to seriously damage the quality of life for members of ethnic minority communities in some areas of Great Britain.
Abstract
The interdepartmental Racial Attacks Group was established by the Government to consider whether current response to these incidents could be improved if local agencies were to coordinate their efforts. Racial harassment needs to be tackled on three levels if it is to be tackled effectively: prevention; assisting the victims; and dealing with the perpetrators. Different agencies, such as the police, the courts, and social services, have different strengths, and no one agency can provide a total response to this problem. Recommendations include: (1) Establishment of defined procedures by the police forces in responding and following up racial incidents; (2) Awareness of the courts to cultural sensibilities of some minority ethnic witnesses; and, (3) Monitoring of incidence of harassment by social services. Annex.