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Stop and Search: Past Problems, Current Concerns

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Abstract

In 1965 the UK enacted the Race Relations Act while the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) opened for signature and ratification. In the US, the changes that brought down the walls of segregation, conveying some equality to black people essentially began with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These ground-breaking instruments marked a commitment—domestically and internationally by the state parties to the ICERD—to address racial injustice and inequality through legal means. Yet, the intervening years reveal the challenges of pursuing racial justice and equality through the medium of law. In recent years, allegations of institutional racism have been levelled against numerous public institutions in the UK, while the rise of populism globally has challenged the ability of law to effect change. This edited collection draws attention to the need to reflect on the persistence of racial inequalities and injustices despite law’s intervention and arguably because of its ‘unconscious’ role in their promotion. It does so from a multiplicity of perspectives ranging from the doctrinal, socio-legal, critical and theoretical, thereby generating different kinds of knowledge about race and law. By exploring contemporary issues in racial justice and equality, contributors examine the role of law—whether domestic or international, hard or soft—in advancing racial equality and justice and consider whether it can effect substantive change.

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Article
Full-text available
Black and Asian people in the United Kingdom are more likely to be stopped and searched by police than White people. Following a panel of 36,000 searches by 1,100 police officers at a major English police force, we provide officer-specific measures of over-searching relative to two baselines: the ethnic composition of crime suspects officers interact with and the ethnic composition of the areas they patrol. We show that the vast majority of officers over-search ethnic minorities against both baselines. But we also find that the over-searching by individual officers cannot account for all of the over-representation of ethnic minorities in stop and search: over-patrolling of minority areas is also a key factor. Decomposing the overall search bias, we find that the over-representation of Asian people in stop and search is primarily accounted for by over-patrolling, while the over-representation of Black people is a combination of officer and patrol effects, with the larger contribution coming from biases of officers.
Article
Full-text available
This article considers several recent decisions — Beghal v Director of Public Prosecutions, R(Miranda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and R(Roberts) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis — which all concern stop and search powers that do not require reasonable suspicion. The article analyses these decisions, with a focus on the respective courts’ treatment of the lawfulness requirement under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Technical Report
Full-text available
Six police forces trialled pilot stop and search training. The training was intended to focus on practical legal decision making, unconscious bias and procedural justice (ie, fairness and respectful treatment). A total of 1,323 police officers were randomly assigned to the treatment group (to be trained) or control group (not to be trained). The impact of the pilot was mixed overall. The pilot training had some small positive effects on officers’ knowledge, attitudes and anticipated behaviours immediately after the training was delivered. Some of these effects were sustained at a three-month follow-up. No effects were found on recorded stop and search practices (ie, the quality of written grounds for search or arrest rates). Substantial variation was found in training delivered by the pilot forces, although this was possibly because the trainer guidance was not sufficiently prescriptive. The pilot training was generally well received by officers, though some challenged aspects of the training because it went against accepted officer practices. The findings of this study have been taken in account in developing the national stop and search learning programme to be introduced across England and Wales from 2016/17.
Article
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This article explores psychological science on race bias and its implications in several domains of public policy, with special attention paid to biased policing as an illustrative example. Race bias arises from normal mental processes, many outside our conscious awareness and control. This research directly applies to public policy, especially where concerned with regulating behavior and managing uncertainty. Research links both implicit and explicit racial bias to behavior, and uncertainty exacerbates the influence of bias in decision-making. Sample policy domains—where psychological research, race bias, and public policy intersect—include education, employment, immigration, health care, politics/representation, and criminal justice. Psychological research informs policy by documenting causes and processes, by expert testimony in court, and by generating and evaluating interventions to reduce race bias.
Article
Full-text available
It has long been recognised that discretion is vital to good police work. However, in Britain (and many other countries), practices of discretion in the stop and search context have come under much scrutiny as it has widely been linked to racist practices, i.e. a disproportionate amount of Black and minority ethnic individuals are stopped and searched compared to White people. In a bid to counteract the discretionary practices that are seen to be linked to racist stops and searches, police officers are required (in stops and searches under section 1 of the PACE code A) to have ‘reasonable grounds for suspicion’. This article evaluates what has been claimed as the tension between the required reasonable grounds for suspicion and the need to draw on generalisations (police discretion) for effective policing.
Article
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Black Londoners have complained over the years of being overpoliced and harassed by police officers. The history of such contentious encounters between members of the Black community and the police service dates back to the 1970s, an era that was characterised by the implementation of the ‘Suspicion Laws’, popularly referred to as the ‘Sus Laws’, which emanated from the legislation of the Vagrancy Act of 1824. It was an era most Black people would prefer not to talk about because of the oppressive encounters they experienced with the police. This paper has three purposes: first, to highlight the history of police abuses of power in relation to dealing with Black Londoners in a discriminatory way; second, to explore the issue of societal racism, facilitated by the trio of concepts of prejudice, stereotyping and racial discrimination; third, to encourage the debate on police accountability by discouraging the discriminatory policing that permeates UK society.
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Concerns have been raised that counter-terrorism laws and policies are increasingly alienating Muslims, especially young people and students, and that counter-terrorism measures may themselves feed and sustain terrorism. This paper relies on extracts from a report on this issue commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to develop and deepen understanding of the impact of counter-terrorism legislation and policies in general, and on Muslim communities in particular. Building on existing studies, this report contributes to the research and wider public discussion of this matter through an examination of the experiences of counter-terrorism legislation and policies on Muslim communities in four local areas across Britain and interviews with practitioners and officials at a national and local level. The areas focused on relate in particular to various uses of technology to further counter-terror strategies and the reaction to them of those interviewed.
Chapter
In 1965 the UK enacted the Race Relations Act while the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) opened for signature and ratification. In the US, the changes that brought down the walls of segregation, conveying some equality to black people essentially began with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These ground-breaking instruments marked a commitment—domestically and internationally by the state parties to the ICERD—to address racial injustice and inequality through legal means. Yet, the intervening years reveal the challenges of pursuing racial justice and equality through the medium of law. In recent years, allegations of institutional racism have been levelled against numerous public institutions in the UK, while the rise of populism globally has challenged the ability of law to effect change. This edited collection draws attention to the need to reflect on the persistence of racial inequalities and injustices despite law’s intervention and arguably because of its ‘unconscious’ role in their promotion. It does so from a multiplicity of perspectives ranging from the doctrinal, socio-legal, critical and theoretical, thereby generating different kinds of knowledge about race and law. By exploring contemporary issues in racial justice and equality, contributors examine the role of law—whether domestic or international, hard or soft—in advancing racial equality and justice and consider whether it can effect substantive change.
Article
This article analyses the operation of police vehicle stop checks in England and Wales. In contrast to other common police powers, vehicle checks are remarkably under-regulated and have received little academic attention, but they are regularly used coercive powers supported by criminal sanction. Based upon a 6-year ethnographic study, including observations of 205 vehicle stops, this article sets out how stop checks are used as part of routine policing. We consider their effectiveness in reducing crime and assess their link to stop and search. Our data cast doubt on the effectiveness of self-generated vehicle stop checks for identifying crime and indicate that they may play a role in driving racial disproportionality in stop and search. We conclude that stop checks should be recorded by officers, which will improve the accountability of the power and could provide important data for uncovering the reasons for racial disproportionality in the use of stop and search.
Book
Criminal Justice provides a comprehensive overview of the criminal justice system in England and Wales (excluding punishment), as well as thought-provoking insights into how it might be altered and improved and research that might be needed to help accomplish this. Tracing the procedures surrounding the appre-hension, investigation, trial and appeal against conviction of suspected offenders, this book is the ideal com-panion for law and criminology students alike. As the authors combine the relevant legislation with fresh research findings and policy initiatives, the resulting text is a fascinating blend of socio-legal analysis. Whilst retaining its authoritative treatment of the issues at the heart of criminal justice, the book has been fully updated with recent developments, including terrorism legislation and the initial Covid-related restrictions introduced in early-mid 2020. In this, the book’s 5th edition: two experienced new co-authors, Dr Layla Skinns and Dr Lucy Welsh, join Andrew Sanders (Richard Young having decided, 25+ years after the 1st edition, to do other things); the text features chapter summaries and selected further reading lists to support the student and encourage further research; the content of the book has been fully updated to include coverage of new legislation, case law, research and policy developments; and the text is enriched by the new authors’ specialist research into accountability, police custody, magistrates’ courts and criminal legal aid. The theoretical structure of the earlier editions is retained, but developed further by consideration of ‘core values’ in criminal justice and the impact of neoliberalism.
Article
Research Summary This study examines the effects of a 1‐day pilot training program on ethnic/racial bias in police use of stop and search powers, using a randomized controlled trial in six diverse agencies in England. We theorized the training could reduce officer bias by improving their competence to apply legitimate criteria in search decisions, and/or by reducing their reliance on ethnic/racial stereotypes. Survey results showed the training improved officers’ knowledge of stop and search regulations, made them more selective in declared search intentions in hypothetical scenarios, and reduced their support for ethnic/racial stereotyping in policing. While it showed no effects on the ethnic/racial patterns of search intentions in survey scenarios, there was no survey evidence of bias against black people in the scenarios, even in the absence of training. Police search records revealed no clear training effects on recorded street‐level behaviors, whether in relation to the frequency of searches, the strength of grounds for suspicion, or their ethnic/racial patterning. Policy implications A 1‐day police training program to reduce ethnic/racial bias may change officers’ knowledge and attitudes but, on its own, may not be sufficient to impact their street‐level behaviors. Training is probably most effective as part of a package of reforms, and particularly when it: involves sufficient “dosage”; addresses the mechanisms contributing to disparities beyond individual officer decisions; deploys active learning approaches; uses demonstration, modeling and feedback; and pays attention to participant engagement and reinforcement before and after the scheduled training.
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This commentary is in response to the publication of Child C’s serious case review, published in May 2020. Child C was a victim of child criminal exploitation. He was murdered on the streets of London at 14 years old. Using an intersectional lens, together with and the concept of ‘adultification’, this article reflects on professional and societal attitudes towards Black boys and notions of vulnerability. We argue that in order to provide meaningful and effective support to Black boys, both the use of an intersectional lens and an awareness of adultification is necessary.
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Book
This book reviews the key controversies surrounding the police power to stop and search members of the public. It explores the history and development of these powers, assesses their effectiveness in tackling crime and their impact on public trust and confidence as well as on-going attempts at regulation and reform.
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This title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on fieldwork across a range of ranks and units in the UK police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic, and political change have had on police culture. The book offers understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police force. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and equitable service to all groups in society. Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic, and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a comprehensive analysis of present-day policing culture.
Article
In British politics, it is clear that the idea of the ‘Big Society’ encompasses many aspects of state activity and civil society, including the work of constabularies. Implications of ideas related to the Big Society implemented in police policy and practice, particularly in the area of police race relations, are considered in this article. No matter what changes that may take place, they will be mediated by the police occupational culture, which itself might be changed by Big Society ideas and concurrent, significant cuts to police budgets. The article begins with a consideration of whether we adequately understand how police organizations change. Janet Chan’s use of Bourdieu’s ideas on the relationship between ‘field’ and ‘habitus’ is criticized. In light of this discussion, the article considers aspects of police race relations. In particular, the implications of ‘seeing like a citizen’ and ‘participative policing’, Big Society ideas identified by Martin Innes, are discussed.
Article
This paper explores the interpretative practices of the police when carrying out stops and searches. Drawing on ethnographic research carried out in England and Wales, a conceptual framework is developed to understand how officers become suspicious and decide to initiate encounters. It is argued that officers use tacit knowledge to make sense of new situations and determine what action to take, and base their suspicions on signals they come across on patrol. In examining these social processes, the paper shows that categories and stereotypes are central to decision-making which result in a police focus on the socially marginal. Looking beyond the immediate influences on officer action, the paper also explores the role played by the law in regulating police practice.
Article
In 1999, the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry heavily criticized ethnic disparities in stop and search (‘disproportionality’), triggering a national reform effort to make the tactic fairer and more effective. Analyses of searches under core powers using up to 12 years of annual data from 38 police force areas in England indicate that aggregate disparities showed no improvement following the reforms. However, this overall finding is heavily influenced by London and, to a lesser extent, Greater Manchester and West Midlands, which are out of step with most of the rest of the country. The average force showed reductions in disproportionality associated with the reforms, although did not see improvements in arrest rates of searches. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.
Article
Understandings of police culture rely heavily on ethnographies conducted several decades ago. In these classic accounts, authors have identified recurring themes within police dispositions and practices over time and space. There have, however, been important developments within policing contexts, some of which could be expected to transform the cultural ethos that has long underpinned the police identity. This article draws upon ethnographic research conducted in an English police force to explore how much of the classic characteristics of police culture have survived the period of transition. It shows that the underlying world view of officers displays remarkable continuity with older patterns, and argues that police culture endures because the basic pressures associated with the police role have not been removed. In light of this apparent durability of cultural themes, the article calls into question the increasingly accepted view that orthodox conceptions of police culture no longer make any sense.
Article
One of the many reforms to have emerged from the Stephen Lawrence inquiry is that requiring the police to make a record of all stops (Recommendation 61). What might have been accepted as a fairly routine extension of the existing regulatory framework was widely resented by officers who considered it part of an ‘attack’ on the police service spearheaded by allegations of institutional racism. This ‘attack’, it is argued here, has been experienced as a form of collective trauma, giving rise to a series of defence mechanisms and allied forms of resistance that have distanced the new recording requirement from its intended purpose. Such defences, it is concluded, should be anticipated and addressed as part of the process of reform.
Article
Policing in England and Wales has become increasingly contested since the 1960s and has been subject to unprecedented levels of public scrutiny. Stop and search powers have played a central role in this process and, though often described as an essential part of modern policing, have continued to provide a flashpoint in police–community relations. In this article the authors briefly review the history of stop and search in England and Wales, drawing particular attention to the concerns that have been raised about the use of this power in relation to minority ethnic communities. The article goes on to consider how issues of public trust and confidence have been addressed and raises questions about the effectiveness of efforts to regulate this area of activity. Finally, we suggest that regulation has become too tightly bound to ‘‘race’’ and measures of disproportionality. Instead, we argue that the current focus on ‘‘race’’ should be broadened to include other groups that may be subject to over-policing and that monitoring should be based on a system of triangulation, which combines multiple indicators and mixed methods.
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The fourth edition of the popular and highly acclaimed Politics of the Police has been completely revised and updated to take into account of recent changes in the law, policy, and organization of policing. From Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry to Life on Mars, Robert Reiner explores the highly-charged debates that surround policing, including the various controversies and developments that have led to a change in the public's opinion of the police in recent years, and analyses the proposals for reform. The book sets out to analyze how the police are perceived and the impact the mass media has on the public's perception and what we can expect in the future, given current research into police working practices and proposals for reform.
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Does stop and search reduce crime?
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