Call for inquiry into racism in justice system

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary is to recommend to ministers that an investigation is carried out into the disproportionate number of ethnic minority people arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned in Britain.

It also wants the investigation to assess ethnic representation in all the key law enforcement bodies, from police to judges.

The inspectorate's call, which will be made in a report to Home Secretary John Reid in the New Year, has been prompted by concern-that black and Asian people are being unfairly targeted across the criminal justice system.

It comes after 100 police officers and staff at Hertfordshire Police were disciplined for circulating an email containing a series of images, originating from the United States, entitled "Do not run from the police".

They show a black suspect running from the police and then attempting to jump from a flyover on to a nearby building. He falls, decapitating himself on some railings. The final image is of his head on the railings' spikes.

Official figures show that black people are six times more likely to be stopped and searched than whites while rates for arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment are also higher.

Research also suggested that sentences given to ethnic minority offenders are often longer than those for white criminals committing the equivalent offence.

Robin Field-Smith, the watchdog's spokesman on personnel and diversity said that the findings of a recent probe into the "disproportional" treatment of the ethnic minorities by police would be published shortly. "We have got to deal with it all the way through - the people who police, the people who judge, the people who prosecute, and the prisons."

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokeswoman Lynn Featherstone backed the call for an inquiry.

"We need to look at this across the system so that we can understand why this disproportional treatment takes place," she said.

Met Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said huge improvements have been made in police attitudes and performance over the past 30 years, but he conceded that advances were always possible.