Drug enforcement unfairly targets BME communities
Prosecutions for drug offences are more likely to affect black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, a report has revealed.
Prosecutions for drug offences are more likely to affect black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, a report has revealed.
The numbers in black and white: ethnic disparities in the policing and prosecution of drug offences in England and Wales, builds on research from the London School of Economics (LSE) and drugs charity Release, and describes stop and search powers as a key driver of ethnic inequality throughout the criminal justice system.
Despite lower drug use among BME communities, mixed race people were stopped and searched twice as often as white people for drug offences (1.4 per cent compared to 0.7 per cent in 2009/10), with Asian and black people 2.5 and 6.3 times as likely to be checked. Black and Asian people were also six and 1.9 times as likely to be arrested for drug offences compared to white people.
Charges were brought against black people 4.5 times more often than white people, with guilty verdicts also 4.5 times more common. Black people were also less likely to receive suspended sentences and more likely to be subjected to immediate custody.
The report also pointed to the ineffective use of stop and search powers for drug-related issues. More than half a million stop and searches for drug offences took place, but only seven per cent resulted in arrest.
Criticising the Government for focusing on enforcing criminal laws despite evidence that such an approach does not work, the report claims current policies are undermining officers legitimacy and doing more harm than good at a great cost to the public purse. It recommends an urgent review of drugs policy, higher thresholds for prosecutions and custodial sentences only in cases where a danger to others is prevalent.
The Home Office has launched a public consultation to aid a review of stop and search powers, which were criticised in a recent report by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
Michael Shiner, senior lecturer in social policy at the LSE and co-author of the report, said pursuing offences for possession and other lesser charges distracted officers from more important tasks.
Its shocking that police officers are spending so much time targeting minor drug offences, rather than focusing on more serious matters, he said. This is not the result of a carefully considered strategy, but is the unintended consequence of reforms that have created a perverse incentive structure, rewarding officers for going after easy pickings rather than doing good police work.
While it is hard to see any benefits in terms of tackling serious crime or promoting public safety, there are real costs, including unnecessary infringements on peoples liberty, discrimination against minorities and loss of trust and confidence in the police.
Niamh Eastwood, executive director of Release, claimed decriminalisation of possession offences would help to rebalance the racial picture regarding stop and search.
She said: Black people are more likely to get a criminal record than white people, are more likely to be taken to court and are more likely to be fined or imprisoned for drug offences because of the way in which they are policed, rather than because they are more likely to use drugs.
Despite calls for police reform of stop and search little has changed in the past three decades, this is why the Government needs to take action and change the law. Decriminalisation of drug possession offences would end the needless stop and search of hundreds of thousands of innocent people every year and eliminate a significant source of discrimination with all its damaging consequences.
Chief Constable Andy Bliss, national policing lead for drugs, acknowledged the report highlighted areas of concern for officers to address, but defended the use of stop and search powers as an important policing tactic. He added prosecutions for possession were often necessary as such actions were still unlawful, but said the Crown Prosecution Service acts as a check and balance to ensure only cases in the public interest and