Prosecutors must ‘consider unconscious bias’ before charging minorities
Prosecutors are to be told they must not let “unconscious bias” sway their decisions on charging ethnic minority suspects.
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The head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Stephen Parkinson, is to introduce a new requirement in the code for all prosecutors that they must be ‘mindful’ of the potential for bias.
He has said he is ‘sure’ there was ‘unconscious bias’ in some charging decisions and he said the issue needs to be “in the forefront of people’s minds”.
Research carried out two years ago found that defendants from minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly more likely to be charged for a comparable offence than white British defendants.
The development is likely to heighten the row about “two-tier” policing after the murder of Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying, after his killer Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, told officers he had been racially abused.
Mr Parkinson said: “I’m inserting in that a clause requiring prosecutors to be mindful of the potential for bias in decision-making,”
“I was particularly keen to do this... it’s something of an article of faith for prosecutors that we weigh evidence independently and objectively.
“When we were doing this research two years ago many of our people felt affronted at the idea that there was any sort of bias in their decision-making and said, ‘We follow the code.’
“So I thought the answer to this is: there is bias, I’m sure it’s unconscious bias, but bias exists; let’s amend the code so we keep it in the forefront of people’s minds.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told The Telegraph: “The accused’s colour or religion should not come into it when making charging decisions. Demanding prosecutors consider their own supposed unconscious bias means ethnic minorities will get treated differently to white suspects. This is unacceptable and will lead to two-tier justice.”