Black and minority ethnic offenders are far more likely to be sent to prison for drug offences than other defendants, according to groundbreaking research commissioned by the Sentencing Council.
The stark disparity in courtroom outcomes is exposed by the official body that advises judges as it prepares to update guidelines for dealing with drug offenders in England and Wales.
The investigation reinforces concerns raised by the review conducted by the Labour MP David Lammy on behalf of the Ministry of Justice in 2017 that found that BAME individuals face bias in court.
The Sentencing Council’s research concentrated on associations between an offender’s sex and ethnicity and the type and length of sentence they received in three supply-related drug crimes. It drew on statistics from crown court records between 2012 and 2015.
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