Discrimination against black people in the British justice system

Black defendants are tried 16 times more frequently than other defendants in this country, according to British experts who examined criminal court data. This indicates a crisis in the British legal system.

The Guardian claims that under the British Joint Enterprise Law, a person or people may be charged with another person's crime if there is proof or a judge determines that the crime was predictable or that there was a plan to support and help the perpetrator.

Black defendants are prosecuted under this principle 16 times more frequently than white defendants, according to data available as of 2023.

his has raised serious concerns about racial bias in the British judicial system; Such racial bias can even make bystanders to a crime collectively responsible for the crimes committed by some individuals.

The outcome of the trial of seven black teenagers accused of murdering a 15-year-old in 2022 has added to the concerns.

In the case, prosecutors told the jury they could not say who stabbed a London schoolboy, but claimed that everyone in the park where the incident occurred was jointly responsible.

However, this month, after a trial lasting four months, six of the defendants were acquitted by jurors and only one, who faces sentence in April, was found guilty.

After it was revealed that defendants from ethnic minorities were more likely than white defendants to be found guilty under the shared responsibility law, the director of public prosecutions acknowledged last year that racial bias was present in the prosecution service's decision-making.

Last month, a Manchester student had his conviction overturned after serving three years in prison for mistakenly identifying and falsely labelling him as a member of a criminal gang.

Critics of the Shared Responsibility Act say that while the law may be right, the racism in it outweighs the evidence.

They insist that the law must be reformed to resolve the crisis in the UK justice system.