His Honour Judge Peter Openshaw QC

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

His Honour Judge Peter Openshaw QC

Judge Openshaw welcomed delegates to the conference. He said that the Report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry had served as a wake up call to all criminal justice agencies. It had thrown into sharp focus the fact that members of racial minorities had highly negative perceptions of the way the police and the courts treated them. It also showed the critical importance of not just acting fairly but demonstrating fairness so that not only was justice done but it was seen to be done by all, and in particular by the minority ethnic communities.

To judges it was axiomatic that the courts existed to protect the rights and enforced the duties of all citizens, and properly held the balance between the victims of crime, those accused of crime, and the public interest. As senior judge in Lancashire, it was clear to him that in order to do so effectively in today’s society, judges must inform themselves of the problems and issues that affected and troubled minority ethnic communities. Only if the professionals within the system were aware of the problems that existed, and resolved to do something about them, would all sections of the community again place trust and confidence in the system.

There were some, perhaps many, underlying social issues concerning education, housing and employment over which the criminal justice system had little or no control, but there were many issues which could be dealt with. There were problems which had to be recognised and addressed such as:

Black people were far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people.
Racial minority groups were about 7% of the population, yet they formed 18% of the prison population.
People from racial minorities were disproportionately the victims of crime.

The conference had been arranged not to pretend that these problems did not exist, but to recognise and identify what was wrong with the system and what was thought to be wrong. A lot had been done; all agencies had actively recruited within the ethnic minority communities. Policies had been actively pursued to retain and, where appropriate, promote the staff who had been recruited.

There was now an increasing number of full and part time judges and many magistrates from the ethnic communities. The number of QCs was steadily increasing and 10% of the legal profession as a whole was now drawn from the ethnic minority communities. This demographic change in the profession would inevitably translate into appointments to the bench. So things were changing and with the help of the members of the conference they would continue to change.

He wanted to hear the perceptions and suggestions from members of the conference to ensure an effective exchange of views. It was not supposed that they would find many answers, but it was hoped they might at least identify some of the questions.