The Lammy Review: An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System

Across England and Wales, people from minority ethnic backgrounds are breaking through barriers. More students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are achieving in school and going to university. There is a growing BAME middle class. Powerful, high-profile institutions, like the House of Commons, are slowly becoming more diverse. Yet our justice system bucks the trend. Those who are charged, tried and punished are still disproportionately likely to come from minority communities.
Despite making up just 14% of the population, BAME men and women make up 25% of prisoners,4 while over 40% of young people in custody are from BAME backgrounds. If our prison population reflected the make-up of England and Wales, we would have over 9,000 fewer people in prison – the equivalent of 12 average-sized prisons. There is greater disproportionality in the number of Black people in prisons here than in the United States.
These disproportionate numbers represent wasted lives, a source of anger and mistrust and a significant cost to the taxpayer. The economic cost of BAME overrepresentation in our courts, prisons and Probation Service is estimated to be £309 million a year.
This report is the product of an independent review, commissioned by two Prime Ministers. The review was established to ‘make recommendations for improvement with the ultimate aim of reducing the proportion of BAME offenders in the criminal justice system’. It reflects a growing sense of urgency, across party-political lines, to find solutions to this inequity.
The Review
This review has two distinctive features, the first of which is its breadth. The terms of reference span adults and children; women and men. It covers the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the courts system, our prisons and young offender institutions, the Parole Board, the Probation Service and Youth Offending Teams (YOTS). A comprehensive look at both the adult and youth justice systems was overdue.
Secondly, whilst independent of the government, the review has had access to resources, data and information held by the criminal justice system (CJS) itself. In the past, too much of this information has not been made available to outsiders for scrutiny and analysis. As a result, this review has generated analysis that breaks new ground on race and criminal justice in this country.
The focus of the review is on BAME people, but I recognise the complexity of that term. Some groups are heavily overrepresented in prison – for example Black people make up around 3% of the general population but accounted for 12% of adult prisoners in 2015/16; and more than 20% of children in custody. Other groups, such as Mixed ethnic adult prisoners, are also overrepresented, although to a lesser degree. The proportion of prisoners who are Asian is lower than the general population but, within categories such as ‘Asian’ or ‘Black’ there is considerable diversity, with some groups thriving while others struggle.
This complexity mirrors the story in other areas of public life. In schools, for example, BAME achievement has risen but not in a uniform way. Chinese and Indian pupils outperform almost every other group, while Pakistani children are more likely to struggle. Black African children achieve better GCSE exam results, on average, than Black Caribbean children. Wherever possible this report seeks to draw out similar nuances in the justice system.
The review also addresses the position of other minorities who are overlooked too often. For example, Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are often missing from published statistics about children in the CJS, but according to unofficial estimates, are substantially over-represented in youth custody, for example, making up 12% of children in Secure Training Centres (STC). Muslims, meanwhile, do not fall within one ethnic category, but the number of Muslim prisoners has increased from around 8,900 to 13,200 over the last decade. Both groups are considered within scope for this review.
I hope and expect that many of my recommendations will benefit White working class men, women, boys and girls too. BAME communities face specific challenges, including discrimination in many walks of life. But some of the most marginalised BAME communities have much in common with the White working-class. A justice system that works better for those who are BAME and poor will work better for those who are White British and poor too.