Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 8 March 2022.

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Photo of Rhys ab Owen Rhys ab Owen Plaid Cymru 1:41, 8 March 2022

Now, we have known for decades about the prejudices faced by people of ethnic minority within the justice system globally. What we have not known, until recent years, is that racial prejudice within the justice system in Wales seems to be worse here in Wales than in England. Through the work of the Cardiff University Wales Governance Centre, we now know that black offenders receive the highest average custodial sentence length in Wales, whilst white offenders receive the lowest average custodial sentence length. New stop-and-search data by the governance centre show that matters in Wales are far worse than in England. For every 1,000 white persons living in Wales, eight were stopped and searched, and this compares to 56 per 1,000 people in the black community in Wales. Individuals from black, ethnic backgrounds in Wales were seven times over-represented within police use of restraint, six times over-represented in police use of weapons, such as tasers. Now, these are disgraceful figures, which should worry all of us within this Chamber. I'm pleased that Wales is called a nation of refuge, but it can't really be called genuinely a nation of refuge if people in the black population are far more likely to be dragged into the criminal justice system than their white contemporaries. Now, will the Prif Weinidog set up an inquiry to analyse the extent of the racial prejudice within our justice system so we can understand why it's happening and address that fully? Diolch yn fawr.