Case of Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence was a teenage who got murdered by a group of white youths in an unprovoked attack at a bust stop in Eltham, South East London. In this discussion, the main aspect as in the changes made in the Criminal Justice System shall be discussed. Apart from that, the detailed study of the case shall be done. This particular case changed the procedure in which racism was being dealt by the United Kingdom’s law enforcement. This case of Stephen Lawrence is still referred to in order to address the issue of racism in the country.
Racism has always been an issue in United Kingdom which most of the times. It has led to hate crimes being committed against certain individuals be it related to a certain race, community or a certain disabled person. In the case of Stephen Lawrence, despite being an innocent individual and having no connections or any kind of provocation to the gang, he was brutally murdered due to his race or who he was.
Even his case was not considered worthy enough to be taken seriously according to the Britain’s Justice System, which is why the Britain’s Criminal Justice System took an approximate of twenty whole years to actually provide justice to Stephen Lawrence and his family (Parmar, 2016). This case also highlighted the lacks in the Race Relations Act while dealing with the issue like discrimination. There were lacks on part of the law enforcement as well since they took everything lightly and also, there was a biased attitude of the police officers that led to justice being delayed (BBC, 2018).
It was by the end of the year 2011 when the remaining culprits were put behind the bars and the family came at peace with the investigation (Holohan, 2017). In the later years after the investigation of the murder, it was found out that the internal legal system in this case was full of corrupt officers who did not wanted the truth to come out and justice to be served. Few of these individuals also defended the theory of eliminating minorities or not supporting them. It took a long time for the family and the people involved for the justice to be served (Heal, 2018). The court also suggested the changes in legislation to be made and also to conduct an internal inquiry on the corrupt officers in order to know more about the lacks (Peracha, 2020).
In conclusion, it can be stated that, despite everything, the race related violence, issues, crime, and abuse has been on the rise in the country. People even now face worse crimes against them in the name of racism. Discrimination now has become a common thing that certain communities face on day to day basis.
Bibliography
BBC, 2018. Stephen Lawrence murder: A timeline of how the story unfolded. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26465916 [Accessed 10 August 2020].
Heal, A., 2018. Stephen Lawrence: timeline of key events. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/19/stephen-lawrence-timeline-of-key-events [Accessed 10 August 2020].
Holohan, S., 2017. The search for justice in a media age: reading Stephen Lawrence and Louise Woodward. Routledge.
Parmar, A., 2016. race, ethnicity, and criminal justice: refocusing the criminological gaze. In Changing Contours of Criminal Justice. pp.55-68.
Peracha, Q., 2020. The horrific murder of Stephen Lawrence and how the Met Police was criticised for being ‘institutionally racist’. [Online] Available at: https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/horrific-murder-stephen-lawrence-how-18603890 [Accessed 10 August 2020].
