Accredited official statistics
Race and the criminal justice system statistics 2018
This publication compiles statistics from data sources across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales, to provide a combined perspective on the typical experiences of different ethnic groups.
Applies to England and Wales
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The areas of focus include: Victimisation, Police Activity, Defendants and Court Outcomes, Offender Management, Offender Characteristics, Offence Analysis, and Practitioners.
This is the latest biennial compendium of Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System and follows on from its sister publication Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System, 2017.
Introduction
This publication compiles statistics from data sources across the Criminal Justice System (CJS), to provide a combined perspective on the typical experiences of different ethnic groups. No causative links can be drawn from these summary statistics. For the majority of the report no controls have been applied for other characteristics of ethnic groups (such as average income, geography, offence mix or offender history), so it is not possible to determine what proportion of differences identified in this report are directly attributable to ethnicity. Differences observed may indicate areas worth further investigation, but should not be taken as evidence of bias or as direct effects of ethnicity.
In general, minority ethnic groups appear to be over-represented at many stages throughout the CJS compared with the White ethnic group. The greatest disparity appears at the point of stop and search, arrests, custodial sentencing and prison population. Among minority ethnic groups, Black individuals were often the most over-represented. Outcomes for minority ethnic children are often more pronounced at various points of the CJS. Differences in outcomes between ethnic groups over time present a mixed picture, with disparity decreasing in some areas are and widening in others.
Key findings
Victims
- The Asian ethnic group had the lowest proportion of both adults (2%) and children (5%) who had experienced personal crime in the last year. In 2018/19, both adults and children from the Asian ethnic group were half as likely to report victimisation when compared to the White ethnic group.
- A higher proportion of Black homicides were against children, 17% of Black victims were 17 or younger, compared to an average of 11% across all ethnicities. Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, Black children made up 20% of all child victims, while Black victims made up 13% of victims across all age groups.
Police Activity
- The proportion of stop and searches conducted on White suspects decreased from 75% in 2014/15 to 59% in 2018/19 and increased for all minority ethnic groups. The largest increases were from 13% to 22% for Black suspects and from 8% to 13% for Asian suspects.
- In the last five years, the proportion of stop and searches involving Black suspects in London increased from 30% to 37%, now equal to the number of White suspects searched. In 2018/19, 48% of all stop and searches (where ethnicity is known) were conducted in London, and increasingly involving a higher proportion of suspects from minority ethnic groups when compared to the rest of England and Wales.
- Black suspects had the highest proportion of arrests that resulted from stop and searches in the latest year, at 20% which has increased from 15% since 2014/15. This is driven by a higher number of stop and searches in London, where resultant arrests accounted for 22% of all arrests, compared to 5% for the rest of England and Wales. For other groups, between 6% and 13% of arrests resulted from stop and searches.
- In 2018/19, two thirds (67%) of children arrested in London were from minority ethnic groups, compared to 21% of children arrested in the rest of England and Wales. Just over half (52%) of adults arrested in London were from minority ethnic groups, compared to 22% of adults arrested in the rest of England and Wales.
Defendants
- In the latest year, the largest fall in the volume of prosecutions and convictions for indictable offences was seen in the Asian group, down by 22% and 20% respectively. Prosecutions and convictions fell by 18% and 16% for Black defendants, by 13% each for White defendants, by 8% and 10% for defendants from Mixed ethnic groups and by 7% and 14% for defendants from Chinese or Other ethnic groups.
- White defendants consistently had the highest conviction ratio for indictable offences over the last 5 years (with the exception of 2015) and was 85% in 2018. The conviction ratios for White, Asian (83%) and Black (81%) defendants have converged with each other over the last 5 years, remained constant for defendants from Mixed ethnic groups (77%) and fallen for Chinese or Other ethnic groups (75%).
- Compared to White defendants (38%), larger proportions of Asian (40%), Mixed ethnicity (45%), Black (46%) and Chinese or Other (46%) defendants were remanded in custody for indictable offences at Crown Court. Of those remanded in custody, 73% of White defendants were sentenced to immediate custody, a larger proportion when compared to all minority ethnic groups (between 69% and 72%).
- Asian and Chinese or Other offenders had the highest custody rate for indictable offences in 2018 at 37% each, compared to 33% for White offenders. Over the last 5 years, custody rates for indictable offences across ethnic groups have been converging, and the overall custody rate (where ethnicity is known) has increased from 28% in 2014 to 34% in 2018.
- White offenders have had a consistently lower average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for indictable offences than all other ethnic groups since 2014. In 2018, White offenders had an ACSL of 18.3 months compared to 29.1 months for Asian offenders, 28.0 months for Black offenders, 23.3 months for Chinese or Other offenders and 22.2 months for offenders from Mixed ethnic groups.
- White defendants have consistently had the highest guilty plea rate since 2012, with 70% pleading guilty in 2018. Defendants from Mixed ethnic groups had a guilty plea rate of 64%, Black defendants had a rate of 57% and Asian and Chinese or Other defendants had a rate of 56%.
Offender Management
- A greater number of children in prison were from minority ethnic groups. Two fifths (40%) of prisoners aged under 18 were Black or Mixed ethnicity, despite these ethnic groups accounting for less than one fifth (17%) of the entire prison population.
- Black prisoners served the greatest proportion of their original sentence in custody. Black prisoners continued to serve a greater portion of their sentences in custody (70% in 2018) when compared with White (63%) or Asian (61%) prisoners.
Offender Characteristics
- Over the last 3 years, Asian male offenders had the longest ACSL which was 29.5 months in 2018 compared to 19.1 months for White males. In 2016, Asian males received on average a 34% longer custodial sentence than White males, in the latest year this disparity has increased to 54%.
- A higher proportion of prosecutions in the Black and Mixed ethnic groups were against children, 13% and 14% respectively, compared to 5% for White defendants. In 2018, minority ethnic children also had a higher proportion remanded in custody, had a higher custody rate and received longer custodial sentences.
- In 2018, a higher proportion of White offenders had a long history of offending. Over a third (36%) of White offenders had 15+ previous cautions or convictions, compared to 25% of Black offenders and 17% of Asian offenders.
- The Black ethnic group had the highest reoffending rate and White reoffenders had the highest number of reoffences per reoffender. The reoffending rate for Black offenders was highest at 33%, compared to 31% for White offenders, and 24% for Asian offenders. The average number of reoffences per reoffenders was 4.1 for White offenders, 3.6 for Black offenders and 3.4 for Asian offenders.
Offence Analysis
- Since 2016, Asian Offenders had the longest ACSL for possession of weapons offences. In 2018, the ACSL for possession of weapons offences was highest for the Asian Ethnic group (17.1 months) and lowest for Chinese or Other offenders (8.8 months).
- Since 2016, Black offenders had the lowest proportion remanded in custody that went on to receive an immediate custodial sentence for sexual offences. In 2018, for sexual offenders remanded in custody at Crown Court, 54% of Black offenders went on to receive an immediate custodial sentence; compared to 68% of White offenders.
- For drug offences, the custody rate was consistently highest for the Chinese or Other ethnic groups over the last 5 years. For the Chinese or Other group, the custody rate has ranged between 27% and 35% since 2014, whereas for the White group it has ranged from 15% to 20%.
Practitioners
- The proportion of staff and practitioners in criminal justice system organisations from White ethnic groups has slightly decreased over the last 5 years with equivalent increases seen across most minority ethnic groups. The largest shift in representation was seen in the Ministry of Justice and magistrates, with a decrease of 3 percentage points each in staff from White ethnic groups.
Updates to this page
Published 28 November 2019