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Stop and search of ethnic minorities in the UK
A researcher’s perspective
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Introduction “Stop and search” – legislative and non-legislative encounters: stolen goods, tools for theft, drugs, weapons, terrorism, traffic stops, stop and talk Historical resentment among ethnic minorities (especially black people) Trigger for Brixton riots (1981) Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: “institutional racism” of stop and search (1999)
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“Disproportionality” in stop and search statistics
>20 years of surveys: blacks stopped/searched more than whites. “Ethnic monitoring” within the police service shows also blacks searched more. Evidence of police stereotyping in decisions to stop/search (“ethnic profiling”)?
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Police search statistics 2004/5: Searches per 1,000 population
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“Disproportionality” in stop and search statistics
>20 years of surveys: blacks stopped/searched more than whites. “Ethnic monitoring” within the police service shows also blacks searched more. Evidence of police stereotyping in decisions to stop/search (“ethnic profiling”)?
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Questioning “ethnic profiling”
Does disproportionality mean stereotyping? Problems with census benchmark Police operational factors affect stop patterns: Geographical/temporal deployment Suspect descriptions Ethnic differences in lifestyle affect stop patterns: Use of public space Time of day
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New research challenges “ethnic profiling”
Measures of “available populations” (in streets/cars where stop and search takes place) different from resident populations similar to stop and search profiles. Similar conclusions across sites and studies: Watford (Bonniface, 1999) Greenwich, Hounslow, Leeds, Leicester, Ipswich (MVA & Miller, 2000) Reading and Slough (Waddington et al. 2004) City of London (Hallsworth et al. 2006)
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Pedestrian searches in Hounslow (London) (MVA and Miller, 2000)
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Indirect racism? “indirect discrimination shall be taken to occur where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.” (European Race Directive 2000, Article 2 b)
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Is use of stop and search “appropriate and necessary”?
Limited effectiveness against crime: no correlation between searches and crime or detection across forces no correlation between searches and crime rates through time Wide variation in use of power: West Yorkshire 40 searches/1,000 people, Nottinghamshire 5 searches/1,1000 people London ( MPS): increases black disproportion from 4 to 6 times
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Conclusions Focus on “ethnic profiling” in stop and search reform efforts accountability on-the-spot monitoring of officer discretion (e.g. through review of data) Other causes of disproportionality not addressed Disproportionality similar today as before Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
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