UK: We're racist, admits prosecution service chief
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Guardian UK) The director of public prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, acknowledged yesterday that the crown prosecution service is institutionally racist and admitted that this could affect how decisions are taken in the prosecution process.

He made the embarrassing confession after the publication of two damning reports highlighting widespread racial discrimination in the CPS. An 18-month inquiry by Sylvia Denman, a leading academic lawyer, concluded: "Institutional racism has been, and continues to be, at work in the CPS."

A separate report by the commission for racial equality discovered that two distinct prosecuting teams, split on racial lines, were operating in the Croydon branch of the CPS and managers had failed to take action to stop this.

It said: "The level of organisational and management failure was such as would meet the test for institutional racism, as defined by the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report." [More]

Report on Racism in UK 

Printer friendly version

Send page by E-Mail