Addressing Race Disproportionality
Identifying and addressing race disproportionality in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is one of the key components of the Government's Justice for All Public Service Agreement (PSA 24).
The PSA will be delivered through the roll-out of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) and analysis of data by Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs). Work will also be undertaken on victims' and witnesses' experiences and staffing.
The MDS provides LCJBs with a robust dataset on suspects', defendants' and offenders' experiences with accompanying guidance on data use and analysis. The MDS is about achieving a long-term change in the use of and attitudes towards ethnicity data, and aims to empower LCJBs to identify local disproportionality issues and tailor effective solutions that will work for them.
In addition to the MDS a series of diagnostic tools to assist LCJBs to identify and address the causes of disproportionality in those areas which are not covered by the MDS, or are particularly challenging:
- Employment - Recruitment, Retention and Progression (publication date November 2009);
- Prosecution of Hate Crimes (Publication Date November 2009);
- Victim and Witness Satisfaction, and those which are particularly difficult;
- Bail Decisions; and
- Arrests.