ABSTRACT
Race matters, or at least it should. Black people in England and Wales are much more likely than whites or Asians to be arrested and prosecuted for violent and drug crimes, and they are much more likely to be convicted and imprisoned for those crimes. Major assessments of the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Prison Service have described these agencies as institutionally racist, and their senior executives have accepted the description as apt. There is widespread belief among minority communities and their leaders that minority suspects, defendants and offenders are treated unfairly.
