Local Criminal Justice Boards join-up to address race issues in the CJS
12 Nov 2004
The Forum was set up by the Criminal Justice System Race Unit (part of the Office for Criminal Justice Reform) and brought together key leaders from across Local Criminal Justice Boards and experts within the field of race and criminal justice. Baroness Scotland, Minister of state for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform chaired the meeting, supported by David Evans (Director of Confidence, Customers and Communication).
The agenda included a presentation by Hamid Samiy on the Race For Justice Project based in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The project aims to raise the confidence of the Black and Minority Ethnic communities in the Criminal Justice System. Initiatives include a fun and graphic poster illustrating all aspects of the Criminal Justice System, the aim of which is to raise awareness and confidence amongst the school children, BME communities and the general public in the Criminal Justice System. Race For Justice is also running a BME offender consultation, which aims to establish the experiences of BME offenders of the Criminal Justice System as a whole. Members of the Forum agreed that the Project was an excellent example of good practice and CJS Race Unit will look into the feasibility of rolling this model out across other Criminal Justice Board areas.
Tony Apperley, CJS Race Unit gave a presentation on the Race Self-Assessment Tool that is currently being piloted in four Local Criminal Justice Boards. The Tool is aimed at providing a framework for constituent members of the LCJB to assess their current progress on race in both employment and service delivery at Board level and to identify and challenge the barriers preventing progress.
A number of actions and ideas were generated, which the CJS Race Unit will be formally taking forward.