Modern Studies - Rule of Law/Equality

Q. The principle of equality continues to underpin the rule of law in the UK. Discuss. The two principles that are to underpin the rule of law in the UK are equality and democracy. Equality means that every citizen deserves the same treatment and opportunities never mind their race, wealth, social class, gender, sexual orientation or health. There is a lot of discussion as to whether the UK is a fair and equal country and from the sources that I have been researching from it seems that either spectrum of the argument has valuable statistics. The UK is technically a democracy because of our regular election, large range of political parties and a Welfare State that provides for everyone who needs it but proving how equal a nation we truly are is a difficult task. There is much evidence to suggest that ethnic minority’s progress within the UK shows that equality is not a principle which is being met. The Telegraph reported that the Macpherson Report – which stated that the Metropolitan police force were ‘institutionally racist’ - recommended that the Metropolitan police force filled at least 25% with ethnic minority officers; however the figure still stands at around 9.6%. This does not reflect the demographic of London very well as currently 29% of Londoners are non-White, this should be shown in the number of minority police officers but it is not so this suggests that the Metropolitan police force need to address the racial under-representation within the ranks. There is also the issue that ethnic minority’s are more likely to be poor that any other group. Two fifths of ethnic minority’s live in low income households, and the employment rate for ethnic minority’s is around 62%. This means that ethnic minority’s are less likely to be able to afford very good legal representation which could highly affect the accused person’s chance of being acquitted or getting a lesser sentence. Whites who are ‘better-off’ are going to be more likely to afford a top