Racial disparity

Children of different ethnicity sat on a wall talking
We work to understand and address racial disparity within the justice system.

We work with people who have lived experience of the system, and those working on the frontline, to build a picture of the causes of racial disparity in the justice system, and understand the impact it has on these individuals and their communities. We use this insight to work towards a fairer system, through supporting those on the frontline to improve their practice, conducting research, and engaging policymakers through our influencing work.

Previous projects in this area have included shining a light on the experiences of justice-involved children and young people to understand how they perceive their ethnicity to have impacted the youth justice process and outcomes, strengthening and expanding the use of pre-court diversion (a key recommendation of the Lammy review) and exploring how our criminal courts can improve the experience for racially minoritised defendants.

 

Latest blogs

Publications

  • report

    A safe place and a safe time

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    This research looks at the provision of effective advocacy to Black and Minoritised victim-survivors of domestic abuse in contact with the criminal justice system.

  • report

    Children and young people’s voices on youth diversion and disparity

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    This project explores the experiences of children and young people currently in the youth justice system, and how they perceive these interactions with the police, solicitors and youth justice services to have been influenced by their ethnic background.

  • Literature review

    Disparities in youth diversion – an evidence review

    by and

    This literature review summarises the international evidence base on racial disparities in accessing youth diversion schemes, in advance of the release of the Centre's research paper in the spring.

     

  • report

    Building Trust: how our courts can improve the criminal court experience for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic defendants

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    Widespread distrust among British-born Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) people towards the British justice system is undermining the legitimacy of our criminal courts. This report looks at the origins of the lack of trust in the system, why perceptions of fairness and trust in the justice system matter and what can be done to improve the experience of court for BAME defendants.