CPS Joint Enterprise cases 'rife with racial discrimination', experts claim
More than half of those prosecuted for Joint Enterprise are from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to recent figures published at the end of a six-month pilot scheme by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Joint Enterprise is a common law that allows more than one person to be convicted of murder or manslaughter, even if the individual(s) did not play a decisive role. Sometimes, whole groups are convicted for a crime committed by one person.
In a six month pilot scheme, the CPS agreed to track cases regarding Joint Enterprise from February 2023 to August 2023. The scheme reviewed 190 cases, including 680 defendants in 14 regions. Out of this 56% of the defendants were from ethnic minority backgrounds, with experts arguing that this is a result of injustice and institutional racism.
The pilot was run across a series of locations across the UK. These were CPS London North and South, Mersey Cheshire, North East, North West, West Mids, and Yorkshire and Humberside.
The data collected by the pilot scheme shows that children make up 54% of the defendants in the CPS file, most disproportionately coming from Black and Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds whilst there were 27 defendants aged between 18-24.
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Joint Enterprise was blasted as "a racist doctrine with no place in the British justice system (PA Archive/PA Images)But, it is not just those from Black and Asian backgrounds who face this injustice, there are other striking patterns of disproportionately, such as, when it comes to those with disabilities as 37 defendants out of the flagged cases have a disability. This causes concern on whether the CPS are following their own policy in regards to ‘unnecessary charging of vulnerable defendants.’
Senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and researcher Becky Clarke has found that a lot of prosecution narratives have relied on racial stereotyping. She said to the Institute of Race Relations’ News Service: “Sadly, the report confirms all our concerns about the distinct use of joint enterprise to convict a disproportionate number of people from Black, Asian and other racialised defendants. The evidence reveals so starkly that too many of these defendants are children and young people.
"We know what the problems across the criminal justice system are, from prejudicial ‘gangs’ policing and an over-reliance on unsubstantiated police ‘intelligence’, to the overcharging of defendants with little or no involvement or intent and unfair prosecution strategies that rely on stereotypes such as the racialised ‘gang’. Criminal justice agencies must now take collective responsibility for the harmful and discriminatory use of these punishments," he added.
Despite Black people making up four per cent of the population in the UK, they are 16 times more likely to be prosecuted under the Joint Enterprise law than their white counterparts. This compares to those from Asian backgrounds who make up nine per cent of the UK population, but make up 14% of all the cases are enclosed.
Co-founder of Joint Enterprise Not Guilty By Association, Gloria Morrison who pushed for legal action commented: "Joint enterprise charging is not simply disproportionate against black and working class defendants, it is a useful tool to gather up as many convictions as possible using what is clearly a racist doctrine that has no place in the British justice system."
When publishing its report on the pilot scheme on its website, the CPS maintained: "The data does not refer directly to CPS decision-making – it refers to the entire CPS caseload for joint enterprise homicide and attempted homicide in the pilot Areas since the pilot started. Conclusions regarding CPS decision-making cannot be drawn from the data in this pilot. Data on defendants, including demographic data, is passed to the CPS by the police. The data is not complete, though the CPS has endeavoured to fill as many gaps as possible.
The overall sample includes 190 cases and 680 defendants. This is a relatively small sample size when broken down by CPS Area, case feature, defendant characteristics, and other variables captured in the pilot. Given that one case will likely feature several defendants, single cases can have a significant impact on patterns in the data. Strong conclusions cannot be drawn from this analysis."
Baljit Ubhey, CPS Director of Strategy and Policy, said: “This pilot has identified ethnic disparities in the CPS caseload for secondary liability homicide and attempted homicide cases.
“It is important to say that this data does not demonstrate that any charges have been improperly brought. We will continue to monitor these cases carefully so that we can ensure that we are prosecuting joint enterprise homicides and attempted homicides appropriately.
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“However if a person knowingly helps or encourages another to commit a crime, it is right they face prosecution.
“We are grateful to those who have worked with the CPS throughout this pilot, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in our monitoring of secondary liability prosecutions.”
You can read more about the six-month study on the CPS website and read the IRR report here.
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