Black people 'in criminal justice crisis'

The government must do more to tackle the disproportionate number of black people in the criminal justice system, according to MPs.

The Commons home affairs committee said the overrepresentation amounted to a "serious crisis" and criticised policy to date for making "little impact".

It said that each government department must take responsibility for the issue, with the contribution of each regularly assessed.

Black people account for two per cent of the population, yet 75 per cent of the victims of gun crime in London last year were black and 79 per cent of the suspects were black.

Calling for a "coherent" national strategy, the committee suggested that safe places be set up for gang members wanting to escape a life of crime.

Committee chairman John Denham said: "We think there needs to be a closer attention on the way we can enable young people to escape from involvement in criminal groups and criminal activities.

"Safe houses were one of the ideas that we thought was worthy of study.

"Young people's behaviour changes and there are many cases where young people who will have been involved in crime will wish to move out of it.

"There is a practical challenge about how we support a young person who wants to move out of it if they are living in a community where varying factors work to draw them back."

Exclusion

Friday's report found that social exclusion - often compounded by underachievement at school, deprivation and poor housing - was largely responsible for the vast numbers of black people tangled up in the criminal justice system.

It highlighted a close link between school exclusion and over-representation in the system, citing a report from the DfES which found "a compelling case" for the existence of "institutional racism" in schools.

The report also raised concerns over the use of "stop and search" powers which mean that black people are nearly twice as likely to enter the criminal justice system.

A co-ordinated approach should see the Department for Education and Skills working to avoid full exclusion, and where there is no alternative they should ensure that excluded students receive a proper education.

The MPs also called for more mentoring programmes, a review of housing for young people of all ethnicities and targeted drug treatment and mental health programmes from the Department of Health.

Warning against negative images in the media, it argued that this "web of disadvantage" was often exacerbated by a lack of a father figure.

Damning

The Conservatives said the report highlighted the government's poor record on dealing with the causes of crime.

"This report paints a damning picture of the high levels of educational underachievement, school exclusion, deprivation and poor housing affecting young black people and says this is the primary cause of their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system," said shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire.

"Despite the prime minister's promises, soaring crime rates show that Tony Blair has failed to be tough on crime. Evidence like this demonstrates equal failure on dealing with the causes of crime."

Denham said that five years on from setting up a dedicated Criminal Justice System Race Unit, the government "is still not able to say that they understand the overrepresentation of young black people at all stages of the criminal justice system, or that it is improving".

"Our committee spoke first hand with the agencies and organisations working with young black people on the ground, and with young people themselves," he added.

"The range of factors involved - while they are complex and interact with each other - are not difficult to identify.

"Yet we seem to be no closer to the targeted policies to address this or to measurable success - and there is some evidence that the problem is getting worse."