BLACK CARIBBEAN young males are more likely to be sentenced to jail time than any other ethnic group, a report has revealed. 

EQUAL, an advisory group advocating for racial justice, compiled the report titled “Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System” and laid out recommendations for reform in policy and practice in the court system. 

The research analysed data from the Crown Court and magistrate’s databases as well as the Ministry of Justice’s Data First programme to understand racial disparities in remand and sentencing. 

It comes as a response to the 2017 Lammy Review, a report led by Labour MP David Lammy that revealed the severe racial inequality towards black men in the criminal justice system. 

Dr Kitty Lymperopoulou, a Principal Investigator of the research carried out by Manchester Metropolitan University, blamed the disproportionate treatment towards black Caribbean defendants as “discrimination”.  

“The findings suggest that there are significant ethnic inequalities in terms of the severity of sentences received, particularly the likelihood of receiving a custodial sentence, and that these inequalities disproportionately affect certain ethnic groups,” she said.

“Black Caribbean defendants are more likely to receive prison sentences, and they receive on average longer prison sentences than white British defendants, even after controlling for other factors that affect sentencing such as the severity of the offence and prior criminal record.

“The findings suggest that there are significant disparities in sentencing outcomes for Black Caribbean defendants, and that these disparities may be due in part to discrimination in the criminal justice system.”

People from ethnic minority backgrounds were overall more likely to experience the harsher end of the criminal justice system compared to white British people. 

Although ethnic minority defendants have lower or similar conviction rates compared to this group, they still proved to be most likely to be hit with a custodial sentence and a longer jail sentence. 

Young black males from Caribbean backgrounds were identified as being more likely to have a custodial sentence in comparison to other ethnic groups and 1.6 times more likely than white British people. 

Despite characteristic adjustment, a custodial sentence was also noted as being between 9% and 19% more likely for defendants from black backgrounds, and 22% more likely for white as well as black African defendants than white British defendants after

The 10-page report said that remand for defendants from black backgrounds was between 15% and 18% higher than for people from of white British origin. 

The figure skyrocketed even higher for those of a mixed background – a total of 22% and 26% compared to white British defendants. 

The report has now urged for reform of policies and practises leading to worse outcomes for young black Caribbean males, including a re-evaluation of guidelines and greater transparency during the police remand process. 

The charity is also calling for changes to the legislative framework with pre-sentence reports undergoing revision to consider factors like culture, racism and victimisation. 

Recommendations also included monitoring of the progress made and providing high quality training for a better response to racially charged issues.

A spokesperson from EQUAL said: “EQUAL will use its formal links with the MoJ and HMPPS to ensure the probation service gets a grip on improving pre-sentencing reports.

“HMPPS is committed to tackling race  disparities and our job is to keep challenging until there are improvements. Influencing our independent judiciary is less straightforward.

“However we plan to liaise with MoJ on this and we will reach out to Magistrates Association and their ethnic minority network to highlight the research and encourage a review of their training to determine if it’s appropriate.”