Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
Ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) are well-documented and widespread. The 2017 Lammy Review, commissioned by two UK governments, presented evidence of stark ethnic disparities at all stages of the CJS. From the point of arrest, through prosecution to custodial remand, sentencing and imprisonment, ethnic minority groups are both disproportionately represented, and appear to experience disproportionately worse outcomes. The underlying reasons for these disparities are not well understood and the lack of rigorous empirical evidence hampers efforts to effectively address them. Working closely with project stakeholders, the research will seek to deepen understanding about ethnic inequalities in court practices and outcomes, to support, guide and inform policy and practice to address ethnic inequalities in the CJS.
The project will draw on Crown Court and Magistrates' Court datasets created through the Data First (DF) programme to generate the most comprehensive evidence about ethnic disparities in court processes and outcomes in England and Wales than has hitherto been possible. Taking advantage of detailed information on defendants, court characteristics and court proceedings embedded in the datasets, the project will explore the influence of different drivers on experiences and outcomes in courts between ethnic groups. It will distinguish how court processes, and a range of individual case, mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as contextual factors related to individual courts, are associated with ethnic inequalities.
Vitally, the study will go beyond previous studies of ethnic disparities in the CJS by providing evidence on the extent to which ethnic disparities are related to structural factors including discrimination. It will take into account a comprehensive set of factors that influence differential experiences and outcomes in the CJS utilising the unique features of the data, and will integrate multiple advanced methodological techniques. In this way, it will provide compelling evidence about the relative importance of compositional factors in ethnic minority court experiences and outcomes, and the presence of structural effects, that may be down to discrimination. Understanding the drivers of ethnic inequalities and the stages of the CJS at which they occur, will pave the way to plan strategies of agencies involved in the CJS, and address ethnic inequalities in effective and tangible ways.
The project will draw on Crown Court and Magistrates' Court datasets created through the Data First (DF) programme to generate the most comprehensive evidence about ethnic disparities in court processes and outcomes in England and Wales than has hitherto been possible. Taking advantage of detailed information on defendants, court characteristics and court proceedings embedded in the datasets, the project will explore the influence of different drivers on experiences and outcomes in courts between ethnic groups. It will distinguish how court processes, and a range of individual case, mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as contextual factors related to individual courts, are associated with ethnic inequalities.
Vitally, the study will go beyond previous studies of ethnic disparities in the CJS by providing evidence on the extent to which ethnic disparities are related to structural factors including discrimination. It will take into account a comprehensive set of factors that influence differential experiences and outcomes in the CJS utilising the unique features of the data, and will integrate multiple advanced methodological techniques. In this way, it will provide compelling evidence about the relative importance of compositional factors in ethnic minority court experiences and outcomes, and the presence of structural effects, that may be down to discrimination. Understanding the drivers of ethnic inequalities and the stages of the CJS at which they occur, will pave the way to plan strategies of agencies involved in the CJS, and address ethnic inequalities in effective and tangible ways.
Publications
Lymperopoulou K
(2023)
Data Comic: Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System
Lymperopoulou K
(2023)
Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System. A policy Briefing by EQUAL
Lymperopoulou K
(2022)
Data Explained: Ethnic inequalities in the criminal justice system
Lymperopoulou, K.
(2022)
Ethnic Inequalities in Remand and Sentencing: Evidence from UK Courts
| Description | The research used Crown Court and magistrates' court datasets created through the Data First (DF) programme led by the Ministry of Justice to generate comprehensive evidence about ethnic disparities in court processes and outcomes in England and Wales. Taking advantage of detailed information on defendants, court characteristics and court proceedings embedded in the datasets, the study aimed to examine the extent and drivers of ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and identify effective ways of addressing them. The research findings offer compelling evidence that race and ethnicity play a significant role in remand and sentencing decisions. Key findings from the research include: 1. Ethnic disproportionality exists to varying levels at different stages of the CJS and over particular defendant and case characteristics. • Defendants from ethnic minority groups are more likely to be sent to Crown Court for trial, to plead not guilty, and to be remanded in custody when they appear in the Crown Court than the White British group. • While ethnic minority defendants have lower or similar conviction rates than the White British group, if convicted, they are more likely to receive a custodial sentence and a longer sentence length than defendants in the White British group. • The extent of disproportionality varies considerably between ethnic subgroups within the Asian, Black, Mixed and White ethnic groups. • Custodial sentences for drugs offences are more disproportionate than custodial sentences for other offences. Disproportionality in custodial sentencing for drugs offences is highest among defendants in the Chinese and the Other White group. • Ethnic disproportionally is much more pronounced among young male defendants. Black Caribbean young males are far more likely to receive a custodial sentence compared to young males from all other ethnic groups. 2. Sentencing outcomes are determined by legal factors such as offence severity, plea proposal and pre-trial detention. The association between poorer plea bargaining and pre-trial detention outcomes and harsher sentencing outcomes, combined with the higher Not Guilty pleas and pre-trial detention rates amongst ethnic minority groups suggests that ethnic minorities are subject to 'cumulative disadvantage'. 3. Ethnic disparities in remand and imprisonment remain or become more pronounced after important legal factors affecting these outcomes are taken into account. There is a consistent association between ethnicity, remand and imprisonment and ethnic disparities become more pronounced after controlling for legal factors. Net of other factors the likelihood of remand and a custodial sentence is higher for defendants from most ethnic minority groups compared to their White British counterparts. 4. Ethnic disparities in sentence length are largely explained by legal factors, and after adjusting for these factors, observed differences between most ethnic minority groups and the White British narrow or disappear. There are no differences in sentence length between defendants from most ethnic minority groups and the White British after legal factors are taken into account. The exceptions are defendants from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean groups who have worse sentencing outcomes receiving longer sentences than the White British. 5. The existence of ethnic differences in remand and sentencing net of other important factors affecting these outcomes indicate biases in the CJS Ethnic differences in remand and imprisonment net of other factors indicate that even if people from ethnic minority groups share the same demographic, social and case characteristics in courts as the White British, they will not have equal CJS outcomes. Disparate impacts of criminal justice policies and practices on ethnic minorities and the existence of systemic and individual bias by criminal justice officials are likely causes of these disparities. This work led to a series of detailed recommendations for policy and practice reform developed through consultations with practitioners working across the criminal justice sector and close working with Action for Race Equality. Additionally, the research made contributions to the development and documentation of the Data First criminal justice datasets highlighting gaps and inconsistencies in its recording. The research examined patterns of missing information on ethnicity and showed there is substantial variation in ethnicity recording across the years covered in the Data First datasets with a marked decline in ethnicity recording over more recent years. Analysis of missing ethnicity revealed that ethnicity coverage varies across courts and is less complete for females compared to males, and for older than younger defendants. There is also more substantial variation in the coverage of ethnicity of defendants by type of offence. In the magistrates' court dataset, the highest proportion of missingness of ethnicity relates to defendants in cases for summary offences. Summary offences make up the majority of cases in the magistrates' courts which explains the high proportion of defendants with missing ethnicity in the magistrates' courts dataset since information on ethnicity has primarily been collected for defendants charged by the police. |
| Exploitation Route | The research has delivered important insights about the extent of drivers of ethnic disparities for policy making, practice and service delivery to address ethnic inequalities in the CJS. The research findings will help to shape future direction of research on ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System and identify new areas for investigation. It has contributed to debate around the drivers and patterns of ethnic disparities in the court system and worked closely with CJ practitioners in statutory and non-statutory organisations to develop tangible recommendations to help address inequalities. The research has also contributed to raising awareness of the value of administrative data research whilst broadening the appeal of the MoJ Data First Datasets to future research users. Learnings from the analysis of the Data First datasets are contributing to the development of the datasets and improvements in the capacity of the research community to carry out high impact research. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://ethnicityandcriminaljustice.co.uk/ |
| Description | The research has delivered important insights about the extent and drivers of ethnic disparities for policy making, practice and service delivery to address ethnic inequalities in the CJS. The findings demonstrate considerable ethnic disparities in remand and imprisonment which cannot be fully explained by legally relevant defendant and case factors, raising concerns about unequal, discriminatory and biased treatment of people in the CJS. The research engaged with a range of stakeholders including policymakers, decision makers, practitioners in statutory and non-statutory organisations and user groups in the development and dissemination of the research and contributed to public and policy debates about the drivers of ethnic disparities. A workshop (May 2022) held with practitioners working across the CJS generated important insights about why and how ethnic disparities in the CJS manifest and captured practitioner perspectives on effective approaches in addressing inequalities. The research findings were presented to a group of policy makers drawn from across government departments at a roundtable hosted by the Ministry of Justice (July 2022) and informed discussions about the drivers of ethnic disparities and effective ways of addressing them. A hybrid public engagement event 'Ethnicity and Criminal Justice' held during the ESRC Festival of Social Science (Nov 2021) examined ethnic disproportionality and informed Fishbowl discussions with practitioners from statutory and non-statutory organisations. The research findings and recommendations were also presented at the ADR UK Showcase event (July 2022) which was attended by professionals from government and third sector organisations and included workshop discussions about policy and practice applications of the research findings. The event led to an invitation to discuss the research findings at a Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service practitioners' network meeting ( Nov 2022) attended by around 40 family court advisors. Additional public engagement activities included presentations to the ADR UK policy stakeholder group, the ADR UK User Representation Panel, the MoJ Data First Symposium (Nov 2022) and an MoJ Data First seminar (Oct 2022). A policy briefing and data comic have been produced with support from EQUAL and CLINKS and disseminated through broadcast, social media channels and CJS networks including membership organisations such as CLINKS (over 600 voluntary organisations) and the Criminal Justice Alliance Network (170 organisations), Russel Webster (6,000 subscribers), Action for Race Equality, and statutory service providers including Greater Manchester Probation Service, and CAFCASS. The research was covered by news outlets and featured in articles in the Metro and the VOICE. A number of resources have been produced to aid the development of the DF Crown Court and magistrates' Court datasets and to support future data users. These include a Data Explained report aimed at data owners and users which has resulted in changes in MoJ guidance about some of the variables included in the datasets. Training materials and activities aimed at post-graduate students, academic and non-academic researchers were also delivered to facilitate the usage, and widen the appeal, of the datasets within the research community. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Manchester ESRC Festival of Social Science |
| Amount | £1,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2021 |
| End | 11/2021 |
| Description | Policy roundtable |
| Organisation | Ministry of Justice |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Organisation of roundtable, invited audience and speakers, contributed in discussions, speaker at roundtable and author of policy briefing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | MoJ hosted the roundtable, provided speakers and invited participants for the discussions. EQUAL organised the roundtable, invited speakers, participated in discussions and produced the policy briefing following the policy roundtable. |
| Impact | Ongoing engagement with roundtable participants including decision makers and policy professionals from government and non-government organisations to communicate and implement research findings. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | A close look at Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System: new research shows significant disparities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Press release of the Policy Briefing by Action for Race Equality (EQUAL) drawing on the policy implications of the project research findings. Following the publication of the press release there has been increased engagement with the research findings, media interest, and increased social media activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.actionforraceequality.org.uk/ethnic-inequalities-cjs-briefing/research/ |
| Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science -Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System, Manchester, 26/11/21 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Hybrid public engagement and stakeholder event as part of the ESRC FoSS held at Manchester Metropolitan University attended by 20 physical participants, as well as 75 online participants. Findings from the research were presented, followed by a Fishbowl discussion attended by a group of practitioners drawn from a range of statutory organisations including the National Probation Service, Youth Justice Services, the Police and non-statutory organisations from the wider CJS, and government researchers. The Fishbowl discussion explored understandings of ethnicity, disproportionality and the CJS and evidence gaps and challenges. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://festivalofsocialscience.com/events/ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-cjs/ |
| Description | Kitty Lymperopoulou Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System blog - 31/8/21 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Part of the ADR UK blog series to disseminate the aims, objectives and methods of the research to a wider audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/news-blogs/ethnic-inequalities-in-the-criminal-justice-syste... |
| Description | Minority ethnic groups 'still dealt with more harshly at courts' new research finds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Article in the Metro discussing the research findings Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System, 20 January, 2023.Following the publication of the article there has been increased engagement with the research findings and increased social media activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/20/minority-ethnic-groups-dealt-with-more-harshly-in-justice-system-1813... |
| Description | Practitioner workshop, online 26/5/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings at practitioner workshop followed by discussion on the implication of the research for policy and practice. The workshop was attended by a range of practitioners from statutory and non statutory organisations including National Probation Services, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, Prison Reform Trust,Revolving Doors, Action for Race Equality and The Traveller Movement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Data First Academic Quarterly Seminar, ADR UK/Ministry of Justice,21/10/21 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the research Ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System project at the Data First Academic Quarterly Seminar Series. The main audience was academic and government researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation at CAFCASS Kaleidoscope Network Meeting 10/11/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings at the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service Kaleidoscope Network attended by around 70 practitioners. The event was followed by discussion on the implications of findings for practice and participants expressed interest in further research findings and project outputs such as the policy briefing and data comic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Ministry of Justice Data First Symposium 24/11/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of policy recommendations of the research findings at the Ministry of Justice Data First Symposium attended by over 100 participants (in-person and online) including government policy analysts and advisors and professional practitioners from third sector organisations. There was significant interest in the project outputs and requests for the policy briefing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Ministry of Justice Data First seminar 20/10/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings at the Ministry of Justice Data Data First seminar attended by government analysts and policy advisors. Significant interest in the project outputs and requests for statistical analysis outputs from the academic paper which has been submitted to a journal for publication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Public Policy Stakeholder Engagement Event, ADR UK/Ministry of Justice,26/07/21 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Policy Stakeholder event organised by ADR UK attended by representatives from various government departments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation at User Representation Panel (URP) Engagement event, ADR UK/Ministry of Justice, 24/05/21 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research aims and objectives to a User Representation Panel (URP) comprising of representatives from criminal, civil and family justice organisations that work with, and on behalf of, system users (such as defendants, prisoners, claimants in civil disputes, or parties to family law cases) followed by discussion based on feedback from the URP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation at the ADR UK Magistrates' and Crown Court Fellowship Showcase event 22/07/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings at ADR UK Magistrates' and Crown Court Fellowship Showcase event. The event was attended by professionals from government and third sector organisations and included workshop discussions about policy implications and practical applications of the research findings by third sector organisations and service providers. The event led to an invitation to discuss the research findings at a Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service practitioners network meeting. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Roundtable on Ethic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System at the Ministry of Justice, 14/6/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented research findings at a Policy Roundtable at the Ministry of Justice co-organised with Action for Race Equality. The Roundtable was attended by decision-makers from government and non-government organisations including the Home Office, Prison and Probation Service, Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board, Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime,the Magistrates' Association, CLINKS, and the Burrow Cadbury Trust. The Roundtable discussion focused on the implications of the research findings for policy and practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | UK criminal justice anti-Caribbean racism exposed |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Article in the Voice discussing the research findings Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System, 23 January, 2023.Following the publication of the article there has been increased engagement with the research findings and increased social media activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2023/01/23/uk-criminal-justice-anti-caribbean-racism-exp... |
| Description | Using the Data First criminal justice datasets in ethnicity research training webinar 14/09/22 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Training webinar on using the Data First Crown Court and Magistrates' Court datasets in ethnicity research. The webinar was attended by 15 practitioners, postgraduate students, academic and non-academic researchers and covered a guided tour of relevant variables and methods to measuring ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system. All participants reported improved understanding on the topic covered by the webinar and a number of participants requested additional information/support to develop relevant research and to access the Data First datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/events/using-the-data-first-criminal-justice-datasets-in-eth... |