Despite one fifth of all young people and adults on probation being from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds Justin Russell’s annual report on probation finds “very little evidence of probation officers speaking to service users about their race, ethnicity or experiences of discrimination”.
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Justin Russell on experiences of black and mixed heritage boys in the youth justice system
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Opinion: Bias recognition vital to tackle disproportionality
“Some officers – by their own admission – avoided talking about these issues altogether,” Russell said.
Describing the findings as “disappointing”, he also notes “concerns about every stage of probation supervision from the quality of pre-sentencing reports to the way that minority ethnic service users were involved in their assessment and sentence plans”.
Some 40 per cent of cases looked at as part of the report were “insufficient in considering diversity factors”, the report states.
It adds that people, including young people, on probation reported “a lack of cultural understanding (and sometimes interest) within probation services and a reluctance to discuss related issues”.
Meanwhile, inspectors heard distressing stories of inappropriate behaviour towards ethnic minority staff, including instances of stereotyping, racist and sexualised language, and false allegations, according to the report.
Ethnic minority staff were not always consulted or supported to work with individuals who had committed race-related offences, it states.
In response to the concerns, first raised in a thematic review published by the inspectorate last year, the probation service will develop a race equality strategy for people on probation, due to be published in March 2022, the report concludes.
