Campaigners demand reform as official figures show one in five found guilty of cannabis possession is black
Warning of link between convictions and police stop-and-search policy
The Independent (UK)
Monday, August 3, 2020
Monday, August 3, 2020
One in five of those found guilty of cannabis possession in England and Wales last year was black, official figures show, prompting accusations of racial injustice at the heart of the UK’s drug laws. Campaigners said the rate was grossly disproportionate when only an estimated 3 per cent of the population is black. They also warned of a link between the convictions and the police stop and search policy, a central concern during the Black Lives Matter protests. The latest figures, obtained from the Ministry of Justice, show one in five, 21 per cent, of those convicted in 2018-19 was black. But the true figure could be even higher, because in 23 per cent of cases data on ethnicity was not recorded.
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