People Arrested in London: An Examination of Ethnic Origin
| Author | Graham Robertson,Richard Pearson,Robert Gibb |
| DOI | 10.1177/146135579900100207 |
| Published date | 01 May 1998 |
| Date | 01 May 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Applied Paper |
-
International Journal of Police Science &Management Volume 1 Number 2
Applied Papers
People arrested in London: An
examination of ethnic origin
Graham Robertson, Richard Pearson and Robert Gibb
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London
SE5 8AF; tel: 0171 703 5411.
Received (in revised form): 17th April, 1998
Dr
Robertson has worked in the field
of
forensic psychiatry
for
many
years
and
his
research activity has involved
most
aspects
of
the way in which the Criminal Justice System
deals with mentally disordered people.
Richard Pearson is Consultant Forensic
Psychiatrist at
Broadmoor
Hospital, Crow-
thorne, Berkshire.
Robert Gibb is Senior Registrar in Forensic
Psychiatry at
St
Nicholas Hospital, Gosforlh,
Newcastle on
Tyne.
ABsTRACT
Most
published statistics about crime
concern
only people who have been charged with,
cautioned
for
or convicted
of
notifiable qffences.
As
many
people again are arrested and brought
to police stations in connection with types
if
c1fence
which are not notifiable. A recent
study
if
mentally disordered people in London police
stations afforded the opportunity to obtain
information on everyone arrested and brought
to those stations.
The
purpose
if
this paper is
to
describe
this population in terms
of
the ethnic
origin
if
detainees.
Keywords: Ethnic minorities,
police
arrest, juveniles,
police
disposal
INTRODUCTION
People
of
African
or
Afro-Caribbean
decent
are
over
represented
at all levels
of
the
Criminal
Justice
System
(CJS).
The
Royal
Commission
on
Criminal
Jus-
tice called
for
research to establish
whether
discrimination
existed against
ethnic
minorities
within
the
CJS.
The
data
presented
here
deal
with
the
entry
of
people
into
that
system
and
the
question
is,
'Do
these data
throw
any
light
on
whether
there
is
discrimination
at arrest,
initial
investigation
or
police
disposal?'
Between
April
and
September
1993
the
work
of
seven
custody
suites
in
the
London
Metropolitan
Area
was
observed.
Twenty-four-hour
cover
was
provided
by
the
authors
throughout
the
three-week
periods
of
observation
at
each
station.
Abnormalities
of
behaviour
or
verbal
response
were
noted
and
the
narrow
brief
of
the
research was to
look
for
evidence
of
a
major
mental
illness
or
abnormality
in
cognitive
functioning,
to
note
this
and
to
note
all
police
actions
in
response
to
this.
In
the
course
of
this
work,
information
was
collected
about
the
ethnicity
and
place
of
birth
of
all detainees,
and
this has
been
used
here
to
examine
the
relation-
ships
between
ethnicity, arrest,
police
procedures
and
police
disposal.
Of
the
2,947
custody
records
opened
during
the
18-week
period
of
observa-
tion,
208
(seven
per
cent)
had
been
opened
in
respect
of
people
who
had
returned
to
the
station to
answer
police
bail in
connection
with
an
earlier arrest.
lntemational
joumal
of Police
Science and Management.
Vol.t
No. 2, 1998,pp.183-191.
©Henry Stewart Publications,
136<HlS76
Page 183
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