The Macpherson Report - Ten Years On

HC 427, Twelfth Report of Session 2008-09 - Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence

Author:: House of Commons - Home Affairs Committee
Publisher:: TSO (The Stationery Office)

The Macpherson Report - Ten Years On (HC 427)

On 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop in South London in an unprovoked racist attack. The police were heavily criticised for their conduct of the investigation and no one has ever been convicted for the crime.

A judicial inquiry, led by Sir William Macpherson, was announced in July 1997. Its report, published on 24 February 1999 (Cm. 4262-I, ISBN 9780101426220), found that the police investigation into Stephen's murder was "marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers."

This Home Affairs Committee report, 'The Macpherson Report - Ten Years On (HC 427)', finds that since then the police have made tremendous strides in the service they provide to ethnic minority communities and in countering racism amongst its own workforce. Of Macpherson's 70 recommendations, 67 have been implemented fully or in part in the ten years since his report was published.

However, a number of concerns remain. Black communities in particular are disproportionately represented in stop and search statistics and on the National DNA Database and, in fact, the gap has increased since 1999. The Committee says the complex factors behind the over-representation of black people in the criminal justice system do not justify this level of disproportionality.

The Committee also expresses its disappointment that the police service will not meet its target to employ 7% of officers from ethnic minority communities nationally by 2009 and that black and minority ethnic officers continue to experience difficulties in achieving promotion, as well as being more likely to be subject to disciplinary procedures.

Extent	29 pages	ISBN	9780215540294
Size	A4	Price	£8.50
Binding	Paperback	Published	22 Jul 2009
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges