Been reflecting on recent events and wondering whether we in the legal profession can truly say we are consciously #antiracist in the way that we preside over, present and defend cases. We often criticise policing but what do we do in court? For example:
[A thread]
1. I've seen Criminal Behaviour Order applications being made referencing points like the number of times a defendant has been stopped and searched without contemplating the fact that Black people are x40 more likely to be targeted in this way by police: theguardian.com/law/2019/may/0…
2. Gang affiliation or association is often the subject of bad character applications even though the Gangs Matrix and categorisation of gang "intelligence" is HEAVILY criticised by very well respected human rights charities amnesty.org.uk/london-trident…
3. I've seen cases with clients accused of gang association due to being in the back of a YouTube vid/ their older brother or cousin being a gang member/ their having friends associated with gangs. Friends they've made from being in the same school, or living on the same estate
4. I've seen many times, in mags' courts in particular, defendants being reprimanded for looking at the ground or having their hands in their pockets when addressing the court. Without recognition that these are young people intimidated by the pale and stale environment
5. The amount of times a case has been prosecuted on the basis of identification evidence that simply categorises a person as "IC3" (police code for Black) without going into further detail about skin tone shade
6. Use of school records of poor behaviour forming the basis for cross-examination of witnesses & defendants to show propensity towards negative behaviour. Without recognition of the fact that Black children are overpunished in the school system: independent.co.uk/news/education…
7. I could go on. If we were truly anti-racist, wouldn't there be more hesitation before even agreeing to make these applications, or to rely on that evidence or observations in criminal cases...?
8. Me again, another one. How many times have we seen a police officer say they've stopped someone (Black) because they can smell cannabis...when the case is nothing to do with drugs. And then we just crack on and use that officer's evidence as though that is acceptable?
9. There's no "fruits of the poisonous tree" doctrine in UK law. So an officer having a weak AF reason to stop someone doesn't prevent their evidence then being used in court.
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🧵 To journalists contacting me about the recent developments with the #StephenLawrence case. I don't have much to say without sounding like a broken record. I say the below entirely in my own capacity:
I've become friends with Stuart Lawrence. This year marked the 30th anniversary of Stephen's murder. I attended an event with Stuart a few months ago where he was asked by a police org to, once again speak about racism in policing, the investigation & how it affected his family.
Stuart cried on stage that day. He spoke about the pressure he feels to be positive and to be honest, it broke me. I am heartbroken by the number of times the victims of murder have to become activists, spokespersons and pioneers to receive even a semblance of justice.
They've concluded that the system of accountability for racism and racial discrimination in deaths of Black people following police contact is not fit for purpose. 🧵
Black people are 7 times more likely than white people to die following police restraint.
The role of racism in these deaths is not substantially scrutinised.
Chris's mum shared how much joy he brought to her home. How he shone a light. How he would go out to his way to ensure she was happy
Chris's dad has spoken about the moment he was called and informed his son had been shot by the police. His voice broke as he shared that it wasn't until 12h after Chris had died that he received the news.
1. I saw this article and paused at the headline for a moment wondering whether to retweet it. To me the issue was much more fundamental than this but less straightforward to explain. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
2. One of my duties as @policeISOB chair is to ask challenging questions of the police; particularly of the ones in leadership positions within this programme.
3. On Friday, @CliveMyrieBBC asked both me and DAC Amanda Pearson to provide examples of the most egregious instances of racism that we'd seen or experienced. He clarified that this could be personally or professionally.
These Kilclooney tweets are a real insight into racism
1. Does something racist
2. Doubles down on said racism using the "I know one or two ppl of that race" excuse
3. Denies it's racist and lies to shift the goalposts. But the lie actually reinforces the racism by again showing he thought it was acceptable to call Kamala Harris "the Indian". Also just an unbelievable lie tbh.
1. Many missing the point. Black lawyers are exhausted when mistaken for a defendant because black defendants are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. It is a SYMPTOM of the over-criminalisation of black people.
2. It reminds us that people who work in the CJS are so used to seeing Black faces to the point that ANY Black face in the court room is a defendant. It shows the internal programming of those that work at court and how deep this issue runs.
3. The solution to this isn't just anti-racism training of course staff and the judicary. It's dealing with the wider issues of racism across the entire justice system that cause so many Black people to end up in docks of court in the first place