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INSPECTORATE OF PROSECUTION IN SCOTLAND
Thematic Report on Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal
Service's Response on Race Issues
CONCLUSIONS
There can be little doubt that the
Chhokar case represented probably the lowest point and
biggest shock for the prosecution service in Scotland in
many years. To put that in context the Lord Advocate, Colin
Boyd, QC, who was appointed in February 2000 and who was
Lord Advocate at the time of the Lockerbie trial, itself
the biggest crime in Scotland in the 20
th century said -
"I believed that the Chhokar case
would cause more difficulties than the Lockerbie case."
(Jandoo report, page 158)
and again
"I think we have to re-establish ourselves and achieve
a place in the minds of the public."
(Jandoo report, page 200)
This report attempts to analyse the way
in which the Department responded to the criticisms in the
Jandoo report and the current effectiveness of the measures
taken.
Ironically before the Chhokar murder the
then Lord Advocate, Lord Hardie, had in 1997 signed up to
the Leadership Challenge, an initiative by the Commission
for Racial Equality, which invited those in positions of
influence and authority in all areas of Scottish society to
take an individual and personal lead in promoting the
principle of racial equality, to create a climate for
change and to effect change with the goal of eradicating
racial discrimination altogether.
In his report Dr Jandoo levels the
charge of institutional racism against the Department which
developing the theme of the MacPherson Report (into the
Stephen Lawrence murder in England) he defines as appearing
in 4 possible ways:-
- the official policies or procedures of an
organisation may be deliberately and overtly
discriminatory
- the official policies may be free of discrimination
but the informal culture - the canteen culture - of the
organisation may be prejudiced and hostile to such
groups
- official policies may be "colour blind" and
unintentionally discriminatory or
- the informal culture may similarly be
unintentionally discriminatory (Jandoo report, page
203).
He defines institutional racism as:-
"Whenever the service provided by an organisation
fails - whether deliberately or not - to meet equally
the needs of all the people whom it serves, having
regard to their racial, ethnic or cultural
backgrounds."
Using his own definition he held that
the liaison arrangements with the Chhokar family did show
evidence of institutional racism. In particular (in
relation to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) he
found the Procurator Fiscal's Office was not well informed
about Sikh custom in relation to cremation after death
causing the family unnecessary (and unintended)
distress.
Secondly, letters sent from the
Procurator Fiscal's Office to Mr Chhokar Snr in English
presupposed his knowledge of English.
Thirdly, the Procurator Fiscal's Office
was slow to discover that interpreters would be needed.
In this report we have attempted to
demonstrate the ways in which the Department reacted and
continues to react to these charges.
Even before Dr Jandoo published his
report the Department had begun to act:
"I have stressed that institutional racism is a
disorder in an organisation which is likely to occur
from time to time in greater or less degree and has to
be tackled whenever it occurs or recurs….. What is
more, not only are the faults remediable but there are
encouraging signs that steps are being taken to cure
them. If this report were concerned only with events up
to the spring of 1999 it would have presented a sorry
picture indeed…… However, much has been done in the
time since then……. Nevertheless there is still a great
deal of ground to be covered before the public can be
satisfied that the Police and prosecution authorities
are clear of institutional racism, they still have a
long way to go."
We have looked at the ways in which the
Department has built on their early work and our
recommendations are intended to highlight improvements we
consider will enable the Department to continue to
improve.
The signs are encouraging and there is
evidence of commitment to the task. What has become crystal
clear to us is that confidence of the ethnic minority
community is at best fragile and could be easily lost - the
price of success is constant vigilance. The areas of race
crime and associated policy, the use of interpreters and
translation, employment practices and outreach initiatives
have been examined in some detail and input sought from as
many system users and others as was possible. Although we
have made suggestions and recommendations in relation to
various practice points the overall conclusion is a
positive one.
"The Chhokar case highlighted a number of issues in
respect of communication and support for victims, witnesses
and their families. It is difficult to be too specific
about which changes have taken place since then as at the
time of the Chhokar case the witness service wasn't fully
developed. Staff currently working within the court setting
confirm, however, that there is now a clear commitment to
providing an effective service to victims and witnesses and
that working relationships between all the agencies at
court are constructive."
(Neil Paterson, Acting Chief Executive, Victim
Support, Scotland)
In the preparation of its Race Equality
Scheme and its Race Equality Action Plan the Department
received wide praise for the meticulous attention to detail
and close monitoring of progress. The Ministerial lead
given by the Solicitor General as head of the Race (now
Diversity) Strategy Group continues to send a clear signal
to staff and others of the commitment of the Department at
the highest level to pursue the race equality agenda. The
momentum must be maintained.
As a final marker against complacency we
quote the words of the former Lord Advocate, Lord Hardie
-
"If you are trying to rebut the allegation that
institutional racism exists in any organisation then a
good starting point is to assume that it exists and
then look at the systems in place to ascertain whether
in fact it does exist."
We would echo that sentiment.
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