Discuss the Impact the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Has Had on the Criminal Justice System
Discuss the impact the Stephen Lawrence inquiry has had on the Criminal Justice System? This essay will screen through the changes made in major areas of Criminal Justice System after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report published and attempts to address changes that have already implemented, the supposed and actual outcomes, and effectiveness of these changes in tackling institutional racism 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 many as 70 recommended changes in policies regarding how police should communicate with ethnic minority groups such that these people will trust police, as well as the practice of handling hate crime. Adoption of these changes, as well as reaction of criminal justice system towards the crime, seems to be slow. It is not until January 2012, thirteen years after the inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson concluded, that changes in the Criminal Justice System have finally resulted in two of the five perpetuators successfully sentenced to jail. The various problems in adopting such changes will be reviewed in assessing the overall effectiveness of suggestions made by Sir William Macpherson in the inquiry report. Policing practice is the key area in the report. Institutional racism, as defined by Sir William Macpherson in Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report, is “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour; culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people” (Macpherson, 1999). It is noted that the Metropolitan Police Force accepted this definition and criticism (House
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