ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will attempt to place the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (SLI) into a broader context, in two closely related ways. Firstly, we shall consider the Lawrence case as a particular form of miscarriage of justice to enable us to understand how the case sits in the lexicon of British miscarriages of justice and how it exists as an example of system failure. Secondly, and one reason why we consider Lawrence as a miscarriage of justice, we shall build on existing work about the role of miscarriages of justice and more generally system failure in driving change and reform in policing (Punch 2003; Savage 2007: 11-45) and where Lawrence sits in that respect. In that regard, rather than examine how Lawrence has had an impact on policing, or in what ways Lawrence has left a legacy – these are the primary concerns of other parts of this book – we shall in this chapter attempt to explain why: why Lawrence was to become so powerful an influence on policing. If, as this collection of essays as a whole indicates, the Lawrence agenda has constituted a watershed in British policing, we need to ask what it was about the Lawrence case which made it so. The chapter will proceed firstly by reflecting on definitions of ‘miscarriage of justice’; secondly by examining the relationship between system failures and police reform; thirdly by outlining how the Lawrence case constitutes a miscarriage of justice; before finally asking the question, ‘Why Lawrence?’
