Impact the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Essay

Discuss the impact the Stephen Lawrence doubt has had on the roughshod justness System? This essay will screen through the changes made in major scopes of Criminal Justice System after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry proclaim published and attempts to address changes that befuddle already implemented, the supposed and actual outcomes, and authorisation of these changes in tackling institutional racialism mainly based on qualitative academic debates. The murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager, in a racist attack in 1993, resulted in a detailed inquiry published in 1999 outlining the existence of institutional racism and as some(prenominal) an(prenominal) as 70 recommended changes in policies regarding how natural law should communicate with pagan nonage groups such(prenominal)(prenominal) that these people will trust constabulary, as well as the drill of handling hate crime. Adoption of these changes, as well as reaction of distressing rightness agreement towards the crime, seems to be slow.It is non until January 2012, thirteen years after the inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson concluded, that changes in the Criminal Justice System cook fin wholey resulted in two of the quintette perpetuators successfully sentenced to jail. The various problems in adopting such changes will be examineed in assessing the overall effectiveness of suggestions made by Sir William Macpherson in the inquiry sketch. Policing practice is the key ara in the subject field. Institutional racism, as defined by Sir William Macpherson in Stephen Lawrence Inquiry traverse, is the collective failure of an organisation to provide an clutch and professional service to people because of their colour culture, or pagan origin. It evict be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to contrast through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people (Macpherson, 199 9).It is notable that the Metropolitan jurisprudence Force accepted this commentary and criticism (House of ballpark Home affaire Committee, 2009) despite initial unanimous reaction from frontline officers (Foster et al, 2005, Foster 2008). In academic bent grassting the acceptance of such definition is dis jelled, however. While earlier journal articles criticized the definition of institutional racism, and somemultiplication the whole inquiry report, as flawed and problematic (for example McLaughlin and Murji 1999, Innes 1999, Anthias, 1999), by and by academic articles and reports centralize on monitoring the implementation of suggestions and appreciation of changes suggested in the inquiry report. While the definition of institutional racism is not the tension in assessing the overall effectiveness of Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on criminal justice system, how people react with this definition is crucial, and the initial unwelcoming reaction towards the inquiry report pr obably explains the signifi toilet buoyt delay in implementing some of the suggested changes. The other focus area on policing is reside and hunt club power and practices.In the report Macpherson (1999) recommends more than detailed records on stop and search incidents, which requires two duplicate of records detailing the reason for the search, the findings and action taken, and ethnic identity provided by the person creation searched. While wholeness copy is retained by police baron, the other copy must be given to the person being searched. The record is simplified to a receipt in 2009 unless present ethnicity of the person being searched and the location, and the full record can now only obtain in person at police station or online (Bennetto 2009, milling machine 2010). Bennetto (2009) expressed concern in his report, claiming such change shifts fend for towards the discredited pre-1995 model. Such concern is reasonable because it can be seen as tightening of informa tion freedom, which contradicts to what Macpherson hoped to achieve through his suggestion on stop and search records.No changes are suggested in relation to stop and search power, which the reason is not suggested. Changes in stop and search practices are, however, can be discovered, as stated in moth millers (2010) evaluation. aside from periodically publishing stop and search records, supervisors and managers of police force are now required to closely monitor such statistics and take well-timed(a) actions if something wrong is being observed. Also stricter rules on stop and search know since been imposed, along with the requirement of police officers writing a detailed report on spot about every champion incident which subjects to review seems helpful in improving police conduct (Fyfe 1979 Skogan and Frydl 2004 in Miller 2010). While stop and search practice has been somehow improved, racial diversity can legato be seen in stop and search statistics. The stamp of Black a nd minority ethnic groups, particularly black people, have for many years been disproportionately at the receiving end of police stop and searcha fact associated with profound community resentment towards the police (Bowling and Phillips 2002 in Miller 2010) still largely applies today.Millers (2010) analysis predict that black people are about 6 clock more likely to be stopped and searched, while it is about 2 times more likely for Asians. Similar idea is seen in Bennettos (2009) report, which draws on police statistics that shows in 2009 black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white, worse than Millers analysis with the most recent figures in 2008. No semiofficial explaination is provided by Police, but Bennetto (2009) assumes this may be caused by simply diversity of police officers against black youths or misunderstanding of black youths as problem seekers by police officers that prompts them to carry out stop and search. This can be seen as a weakness in Macpherson report as such issue still exists after related recommendations have been implemented (House of Commons Home Affair Committee, 2009). Another area addressed in policing is the fundamental underrepresentation of police officers with self-claimed minority ethnic identity.Macpherson examined this issue with particular focus on employment practices of police force. Although Black Police Associations have existed well in the first place the inquiry report published, it has been viewed as fragile (Holdaway and ONeill, 2006), and Macpherson report have actually overseen this as a tool for promoting recruitment of minority ethnic police officers, particularly black. The result is that police force still faces difficulties in recruiting ethnic minority police officers frankincense unable to achieve their set targets (House of Commons Home Affair Committee 2009, Foster et al 2005). new-fangled recruit training scheme has since been launched, however it is the organi zational culture, dominated by racism, that creates the glass ceiling of ethnic minority and women police officers which fears such potency applicants off regardless of what the police force attempt to promote in recruitment advertisement (Fielding, 1999).Legislation and Adjudication is not a focus area in Macpherson report. Macpherson (1999) only suggested current sentencing practices to remain in place, and the abolishment of iterate jeopardy rule on murder charges due to seriousness of such crime. The abolishment of double jeopardy rule on murder charges seems to have nothing to do with institutional racism rather, this change, implemented only in 2005, seems only to pave the path for retrial on the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which the police force admits to have been mishandled (Foster et al, 2005). It is a positive move, however, because such change in code allows two of the perpetuators to be sentenced to prison and clearly demonstrate how the criminal justice system accep t criticism on past mistakes. There are debates on overall effectiveness of the changes suggested in Macpherson report. One claim, as noted in Rowes work (2004) and Waddingtons (1999), is that institutional racism is so deeply grow in police force in which contrariety has actually become a culture, evidenced by female officers and those of ethnic minorities do not receive equal opportunities in promotion.Innes (1999) also claimed in his work that Macpherson report focus too much on institutional racism and fails to understand the complexities and subtleties intrinsic to, and constitutive of this particular aspect of police work, and at the same time displays a tendency to melt what are in actuality separate problems of racism and systemic management failures, thus raising doubts in the overall effectiveness of the suggestions. However, official report in 2009 indicates that the recommendations are being implemented with positive feedback (House of Commons Home Affair Committee, 2 009). In recent journal articles, although concerns have been raised as well, in that respect are still acknowledgements of changes being implemented and positive outcomes have been observed (Bennetto 2009, Miller 2010, Rowe 2004).It can be seen that if all the changes are implemented, institutional racism can be effectively tackled one cannot expect it to completely diminish, however. To conclude, it is diaphanous the Criminal Justice System has positively implemented to almost all of the suggested changes in the Macpherson Report. The time taken to implement these changes, however, is considered too long that hate crimes, similar to the murder of Stephen Lawrence, has not been addressed timely before 2005. The limitation of the Macpherson inquiry in the areas of policing, legislation and adjudication practices only leads to issues in correction institutions not properly addressed. However, as the inquiry itself is based on a single unresolved hate crime that occurred 6 years be fore the inquiry, one cannot expect the inquiry to address every single issue in the criminal justice system.In fact, the coverage of Macpherson inquiry is so large-minded that institutional racism has been properly tackled in the past ten years, although still exists today because it has become a culture so deeply rooted in the criminal justice system that complete elimination is about impossible. Not all intended effects of the changes can be seen by now, but there is an obvious trend that the criminal justice system has accepted the criticism as institutional racist and moving on the right direction to have things amended. In recent years humane right advocacies such as Equality and Human Rights Commission has put an eye on this particular issue and with their consistent lobbying effort, one can expect major progress in eliminating institutional racism from criminal justice system to be successfully achieved in foreseeable future.BibliographyAnthias, F (1999) Institutional Rac ism, Power and Accountability, sociological seek Online, vol. 4(1). Available from http//www.socresonline.org.uk/4/lawrence/ /anthias.htm Accessed November 30, 2012 Bennetto, J. (2009) Police and racism what has been achieved 10 years after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report? capital of the United Kingdom Equality and Human Rights Commission. Available from http//www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/raceinbritain/ policeandracism.pdf Accessed November 30, 2012 Foster, J. 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