Crown Prosecution Service: Racial Bias Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate

Crown Prosecution Service: Racial Bias

Lord Scriven Excerpts
Thursday 25th April 2024

(6 months, 1 week ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate
Lord Roborough Portrait Lord Roborough (Con)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, for his question. As I said yesterday at the Dispatch Box, I am not going to make undertakings, but we take these conclusions very seriously and will act on them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Lord Scriven Portrait Lord Scriven (LD)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

My Lords, three times when presented with evidence of how individuals are being treated differently based on race in the criminal justice system, the Minister has said that individuals are not treated differently based on race. Can he furnish the House with the evidence base that allows him to say that with such certainty?

Lord Roborough Portrait Lord Roborough (Con)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

My Lords, while we accept that the research from the University of Leeds, which covered 195,000 cases between January 2018 and December 2021, found that white British suspects had the lowest charge rate of 69.9%, and mixed-heritage suspects had a charge rate of between 77.3% and 81.3%, the statistics are alarming, which is why the CPS has responded by conducting this independent review on a timescale which I hope will please the House, reporting by the end of 2024.