New research revealed on today’s Independent front page has found that black teenage boys guilty of homicide are 62% more likely to get convicted of murder rather than manslaughter, and that they get harsher sentences. Analysis of figures for 2009-17 shows one in four black teenage boys guilty of manslaughter were given maximum jail terms, while white children found guilty of the same crime were sentenced to no more than 10 years, with the majority getting less than four. It argues that “’cumulative’ racial discrimination within policing and the judiciary means black young offenders are subjected to harsher punishments and therefore have worse life chances.”
MP David Lammy commented: “As I found in my 2017 review of the criminal justice system, some of the difference in sentencing is the result of a ‘trust deficit’. Many BAME defendants simply still do not believe that the justice system will deliver less punitive treatment if they plead guilty”. Read the full article.
