Book Review of A Fair Hearing? Ethnic minorities in the criminal courts

Ali Adnan Al-Feel

University of Mosul, Iraq

Abstract:

This book is based on questionnaire research, which investigated the experiences of ethnic minority, as well as, white, defendants and witnesses in the English criminal courts between 2000 and 2002. It examines in particular, the extent to which black and Asian people who had appeared in both the crown court and the magistrates' courts perceived their treatment to have been unfair, whether they believed any unfairness to have been the result of ethnic bias, and whether this had affected their confidence in the criminal courts of England. The research on which this monograph is based is concerned with such perceptions and beliefs held by minority ethnic citizens who have come into contact with the criminal courts. It is the first large-scale study in Britain to have concentrated on how minority ethnic defendants and witnesses experienced their treatment, as compared with white defendants and witnesses. It raises the question of the extent to which those members of ethnic minorities who felt they were not treated fairly and with equal respect by the criminal courts believed that this was due to discriminatory treatment based on their race, colour or culture.

Keyword:

discriminatory treatment ,Oxford Center for Criminology ,Ethnic minorities