RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - UK: Criminalization of Blacks

Can someone find out and share with us what the rates are for France, as we already know that they are higher in the US? Hmmmmmmmmmmm....


> [Original Message]
> From: Tracy Flemming <cafenegritude@gmail.com>
> To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
> Date: 10/26/2011 12:53:13 PM
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - UK: Criminalization of Blacks
>
> Young black men make up four in 10 of youth jail population
>
> Report shows proportion of black and minority ethnic young men in
> young offender institutions in England and Wales has risen
>
> Alan Travis, home affairs editor
> guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 October 2011 19.05 EDT
>
> The chief inspector of prisons says conditions in young offender
> institutions are deteroriating. Photograph: Paul Doyle / Alamy/Alamy
>
> Young black men now account for nearly 40% of the population of youth
> jails in England and Wales, according to a report by the chief
> inspector of prisons.
>
> The report, published jointly with the youth justice board, shows that
> the proportion of black and other minority ethnic young men in young
> offender institutions (YOIs) has risen from 23% in 2006 and 33% in
> 2009/10 to 39% last year.
>
> The changing demographic profile of the population inside youth jails
> in England and Wales also shows an increasing proportion of young
> Muslims, up from 13% last year to 16% this year. Foreign national
> young men account for a record 6% of the population.
>
> The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, says young people aged
> 15 to 18 are being held in deteroriating conditions in the YOI
> network, with fewer feeling safe while they are locked up.
>
> The inspection showed that fewer young inmates felt they could tell
> someone they were being victimised or believed a member of staff would
> take them seriously. Only half said they had done something while they
> were inside that would make them less likely to reoffend in the
> future.
>
> The report also reveals that more that one-third of the young men had
> been physically restrained as part of the disciplinary process at
> their YOI. The highest restraint rate – 66% – was at the Keppel unit
> at Wetherby, which deals with male teenagers who have not responded to
> a "normal" YOI regime. The lowest – 8% – was at the Carlford unit near
> Woodbridge, Suffolk, which holds 30 teenage boys serving long
> sentences.
>
> The over-representation of young black men in youth jails comes
> despite a sharp fall in the number of children and young people in
> custody that has already led to the closure of five YOIs, including a
> specialist unit for young women.
>
> The total population of the youth justice "secure estate", which
> includes eight male YOIs and three specialist units for girls and
> young women, continued to fall from 1,977 in March 2010 to 1,822 this
> March, before this summer's riots.
>
> Hardwick says, however, that the number of black and minority ethnic
> children in custody has not fallen at the same rate as the number of
> white children being locked up.
>
> "Between 2007 and 2011 there was a 37% reduction in white children in
> custody, compared with a 16% reduction in black and ethnic minority
> children," says the report.
>
> The report does not discuss the reasons why young black people make up
> an ever greater proportion of the shrinking youth jail population. But
> Hardwick does note that an increasing number – 53% now, compared with
> 39% last year – of young men are being sent to prison for the first
> time.
>
> Hardwick said: "This report has highlighted some deterioration in
> children and young people's experience of custody. Despite the falling
> numbers, this population has well-defined vulnerability and increasing
> numbers within minority groups. The need, therefore, to provide these
> people with support during their time in custody and in preparation
> for their release is as great as ever."
>
> Frances Done, the chair of the youth justice board, which commissions
> places in youth prisons, said it would be working with all secure
> establishments to make sure that young people's time in custody has
> positive results.
>
> The inspection was based on the experience of 1,115 young men and 47
> young women in YOIs and specialist units.
>
> --
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