While the Black Lives Matter movement pushed this topic towards the forefront of public debate in Wales during 2020, the issue of race and the justice system has been a topic of great controversy and soul searching for as long as I can remember.
While a lot of the focus here tends to be on the United States – which has a long and bloody history of police brutality and racism going hand in hand with each other – it’s worth considering what’s happening here in more detail.
The issue of equal treatment within the criminal justice system goes a bit deeper than race.
Men are, generally, more likely to be imprisoned than women for the same crime – Research from the UK Ministry of Justice8 has found that men were between two and six times more likely to be imprisoned than women for the same general offence (and men from non-white backgrounds even more so). There may be valid reasons for this, such as more aggravating factors in cases involving men (like the use of weapons or excessive violence), but you’ll struggle to find as much empathy for male prisoners as female prisoners.
There are active plans to introduce alternatives to prison for women (presumably to cut down on the number of short prison sentences being handed to women for low-level crimes), but nothing similar is being considered for men despite imprisoned men being at high risk of suicide, self-harm and repeat offending. There would obviously be related and more complicated issues involving trans and non-binary offenders too.
Women are more likely to be victim-blamed – Like institutional racism, this is perhaps one of the best examples of institutional sexism. While there are no hard figures, there is some polling that suggests more than half of men (and up to 41% of women) believe “wearing revealing clothes” makes a woman more likely to be a victim of sexual assault or rape9. This is despite the clear majority of rapes and sexual assaults usually being carried out by someone the victim knows.
Women tend to be second-guessed far more than men if they’re a victim of a crime (particularly if alcohol is involved), usually blamed for not being fully aware of their surroundings or having to shoulder some personal responsibility for being a victim. The discussion is usually around the woman and what she did wrong than what men do wrong. This is partially why….
Rape is “close to being effectively legalised” due to very low conviction rates – That’s admittedly a deliberately shocking and over-simplified statement to make, but it needs to shock because it has a basis in truth. According to the BBC, in March 2020 just 3.5% of the more than 58,000 recorded rapes resulted in a prosecution. This is an entire topic in itself with multiple causal factors including issues around male attitudes towards consent, the invasion of privacy of the victim, “power relationships” (particularly if the accused is a public figure of some sort), the adversarial nature of common law criminal procedure (Part IVa) which results in rape victims potentially facing aggressive cross-examination in court by barristers, as well as difficulties around evidence gathering and proving guilt.
While in tribunals and magistrates courts women make up or even exceed 50% representation amongst judges (56% of Welsh magistrates are women), in the higher court system – where rape trials take place – women only made up around 34% of judges in England and Wales as of April 202110.
People with learning disabilities may be over-represented in the prison system – This is a factor that many people may overlook as it’s more complicated than race, gender and social class. There have been estimates11 that around 32% of prisoners in England and Wales have an IQ of 79 and under. Additionally, dyslexia is also believed to be three to four times more common amongst prisoners than the general public, while two-thirds of prisoners had reading problems.
This does suggest a significant number of prisoners may not have fully understood what was happening to them when going through the justice system. Also, when you’re in such a vulnerable position with limited life chances, it may be easier to be influenced and may leave them with the idea that they have no other option but to turn to crime.
8. Hopkins K, Uhrig N, and Colahan M, (2016). Associations between being male or female and being sentenced to prison in England and Wales in 2015, p9. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/571737/associations-between-sex-and-sentencing-to-prison.pdf
9. The Independent, (23rd February 2019). “Majority of men believe women more likely to be sexually assaulted if wearing revealing clothes, study suggests”. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/men-sexual-assault-clothes-women-victim-blaming-rape-a8792591.html
10. UK Ministry of Justice, Diversity of the Judiciary Statistics, Table 3.2 & Table 3.5 (July 2021)
11. Prison Reform Trust, (2008). No One Knows. Available at: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/No%20One%20Knows%20report-2.pdf
