tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/race-crime-21821/articlesrace crime – The Conversation2023-04-20T16:33:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002032023-04-20T16:33:35Z2023-04-20T16:33:35ZStephen Lawrence: how family liaison officers became an integral part of policing in the wake of his murder<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521580/original/file-20230418-22-11rksw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4860%2C3237&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Family liaison officers are a vital part of murder investigations in the UK. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-police-officers-hivisibility-jacket-patrolling-333009221">CLICKMANIS/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stephen Lawrence was murdered on April 22 1993 in an unprovoked racist knife attack in south London. He was just eighteen at the time. He had been waiting for a bus with his friend, Duwayne Brooks. A group of five to six white youths surrounded him and at least one of them stabbed him to death. Almost 20 years later in 2012, two men were convicted of Stephen’s murder. </p>
<p>The murder and its aftermath set off a series of changes in police investigations, most notably regarding family liaison. The public inquiry that followed culminated in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277111/4262.pdf">Macpherson report of 1999</a>. This uncovered major failings in the police investigation and the way Stephen’s family and his friend were treated. </p>
<p>Racism and the police response to racially-motivated crime featured high in the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. There were also new recommendations about how police deal with the family of murder victims.</p>
<p>The words “family liaison” were mentioned 136 times in the Macpherson Report. And the failure of family liaison was described as “one of the saddest and most deplorable aspects of the case”. Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville, were treated with insensitivity, patronised and not given information about the investigation to which they were entitled. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the inquiry made many recommendations regarding family liaison. These included ensuring that <a href="https://profdev.college.police.uk/professional-profile/family-liaison-officer-flo/">family liaison officers</a> (FLOs) were available at a local level, who were dedicated to the role and who were not deployed elsewhere. It also recommended that training of FLOs include racism and diversity awareness. </p>
<p>Another recommendation stated that it was the “positive duty” of the police to provide “all possible information to the family about the crime and its investigation”. For its time, this was an enormous shift in police investigative culture. Detectives had been used to deciding what the family needed to know. Now they had to accommodate the needs and choices of the family. </p>
<p>The implementation of FLO recommendations was immediate and the Metropolitan Police almost instantly moved into an era where training courses took place every week at Hendon Police College.</p>
<p>The role of the FLO is now integral to <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/understanding-homicide/book262945">murder investigations</a> and is one of the first roles to be filled when an investigation begins. Its <a href="https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/PoliceChief_September2015_web.pdf">function</a> is twofold. </p>
<p>First, FLOs are trained investigators who gather, and help to assess the relevance of, any information that relatives can provide to an investigation. Second, the FLO is a conduit between the family and the investigation. They ensure the family understand the process and are provided with as much detail as can be shared regarding the progress of the investigation.</p>
<p>The FLO helps to prepare the family for what is inevitably a traumatic experience, supporting them through important moments such as press conferences, appeals and the trial. The role requires significant expertise and sensitivity and, undertaken properly, can help to identify killers while improving trust and confidence in the police.</p>
<p>Family liaison officers have also become <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Police_Family_Liaison.html?id=D9bItU7Z4jsC&redir_esc=y">invaluable in other incidents</a> at home and abroad. For example, FLOs were deployed following the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/17/ladbroke-grove-paddington-train-crash-inquiry">Ladbroke Grove rail crash</a> in October 1999, the September 11th attacks in New York in 2001 and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Ocean-tsunami-of-2004">2004 Boxing Day tsunami</a> in the Indian ocean.</p>
<h2>Training</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, there is more that can and should be done to continually assess whether police forces are making proper and best use of FLOs. The regular training of FLOs is important to maintain and improve this role, while carefully matching FLOs to families is also vital. This ensures that social, demographic and cultural diversity are recognised and that FLOs can engage effectively with the communities they serve. </p>
<p>It is also important to recognise that being a family liaison officer can be an intense and harrowing experience and so it is necessary for the police to look after and recognise those who volunteer to undertake this role. </p>
<p>Families and communities should have the opportunity to assess whether the police are making best use of FLOs. Conducting interviews with families at the end of an investigation would be one way to achieve this. </p>
<p>Sadly, it took the murder of Stephen Lawrence for this style of policing to be recognised as an absolute right of bereaved families. It is now incumbent on the police to ensure that family liaison remains a priority and is properly resourced.</p>
<p><em>You can also read this article <a href="https://theconversation.com/stephen-lawrence-daeth-swyddogion-cyswllt-teulu-yn-rhan-annatod-o-blismona-yn-sgil-ei-lofruddiaeth-204128">in Welsh</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Brookman would like to give special thanks to Duncan McGarry MBE, special advisor, family liaison, for providing invaluable material and advice for this article.</span></em></p>The Stephen Lawrence inquiry and subsequent Macpherson Report led to changes in how police deal with the family of murder victims.Fiona Brookman, Professor of Criminology, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796272017-07-13T01:53:28Z2017-07-13T01:53:28ZRace, cyberbullying and intimate partner violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177745/original/file-20170711-13828-1sbom74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Though popular culture might suggest otherwise, cyberbullying isn't just a white problem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-using-her-mobile-night-510758131?src=SgsVzU0SITina_cEnh-gOg-2-64">tommaso79/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past two decades, cyberbullying has become a major focus for parents, educators and researchers. <a href="https://www.stopbullying.gov/">Stopbullying.gov</a> lists several effects of cyberbullying, including depression, anxiety and decreased academic achievement.</p>
<p>Judging from popular culture, the narratives surrounding cyberbullying tend to have at least one of two themes. One, cyberbullying is a mob-like phenomenon: Television shows such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3488298/">“American Crime”</a> depict a group of teens preying on a vulnerable individual by using social media and text messaging. Second, the face associated with cyberbullying is often a white one. Both in the aforementioned “American Crime,” for example, and in the television movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1930315/">“Cyberbu//y</a>,” the victim is white.</p>
<p>Without discounting youth bullied by groups of their peers or young white men and women who have been cyberbullied, there’s a missing piece of this equation. As a researcher of technology usage and racial inequality, I am interested in the racial differences in cyberbullying.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177765/original/file-20170711-14468-13e5u9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Cyberbu//y, 17-year-old Taylor Hillridge is pushed to the point of attempting suicide when she’s harassed by her classmates online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC Family</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why study racial differences?</h2>
<p>Studies from the Pew Research Center have shown that African-American youth <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/07/07/mobile-access-2010/">own smartphones</a> at higher rates and <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/25/cell-phone-activities-2012/">use them more frequently</a> than youth of other backgrounds. My own research has shown that young African-Americans have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809341436">more positive views toward technology</a> than other segments of the population.</p>
<p>Their frequency of use and willingness to engage with new technologies suggest that black youth may frequently find themselves in contexts that can lead to cyberbullying – both as victims and perpetrators.</p>
<h2>Cyberbullying as intimate partner violence</h2>
<p>One of those contexts is in digital communication within a current or past relationship. Although much media attention has been paid to the mob characteristics of cyberbullying, there’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9358-2">ample opportunity</a> for cyberbullying in one-to-one situations. In these scenarios, cyberbullying is a form of intimate partner violence, which the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/index.html">CDC describes</a> as physical, sexual or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177742/original/file-20170711-14423-1v7awfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Online harassment is likely to come from people close to the victim.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smiling-teenage-black-girls-using-mobile-89886766">Samuel Borges Photography/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cyberbullying and race: The data</h2>
<p>I used survey data collected from <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/01/teens-technology-and-romantic-relationships/">September 2014 to March 2015</a> by the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/">Pew Research Center</a> to explore connections between race and cyberbullying.</p>
<p>I focused on the 361 teens in that study who replied “yes” to the question: “Have you ever dated, hooked up with or otherwise had a romantic relationship with another person?”</p>
<p>These teens were then asked a series of yes or no questions about their experiences with cellphones in intimate relationships. Nine questions were about their partners attempting to control or harass them through cellphones. These questions measure cyberbullying victimization. Six questions were about how the respondents themselves attempted to control or harass their partners. These questions measured offensive cyberbullying.</p>
<p>My analysis showed that African-American youth as a group responded “yes” to questions about cyberbullying victimization and perpetration more than other groups. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gAVFM/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="570"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/33514331/African-American_Digital_Practices_and_Cyberbullying_Exploring_Cyberbullying_Victimization_and_Perpetration_Within_Relationships">More in-depth analysis</a> shows that common criminological and sociological explanations do not explain the racial differences.</p>
<p>For example, one common theory is that students who have unpleasant experiences (what are often called “strains”) <a href="http://cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying-and-strain">are more likely to lash out and bully others</a>. The Pew survey asked questions about unpleasant experiences online such as seeing people post events they weren’t invited to or feeling pressure to post things online that make you look good to others. However, African-American teens are more likely to be perpetrators and victims of cyberbullying – even when they report similar amounts of strain. </p>
<p>The difference in reported cyberbullying is also not a result of social class. Middle-class black teens are more likely to be perpetrators and victims when compared to their white middle-class peers. </p>
<h2>Why are there racial differences in cyberbullying?</h2>
<p>Given the relatively small sample size (361 teens), it would be unwise to jump to any major conclusions. Moreover, we don’t have sufficient data on Asian-American students, so African-American youth can only be compared to white and Hispanic youth. With these caveats, the results still warrant further explanation. </p>
<p>The CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/Bullying_Factsheet.pdf">does not list</a> race as a risk factor in bullying in general, and academic research has been <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2013.822209">inconclusive</a> as to whether African-Americans are more likely to bully (or be bullied) than their white peers. </p>
<p>This suggests that the relationship between cyberbullying and race is not powered by a disproportional desire to bully per se, but instead by the interest and ease in using technology for social ends. </p>
<p>The high rates of cyberbullying among black youth are likely to be tied to a general cultural orientation toward using cellphones to navigate the ups and downs of a relationship. Black youth, because of their agility online, simply find technology more amenable to reaching their goals; they’re more likely to turn to technology when choosing to bully their romantic partners.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177761/original/file-20170711-13828-glit6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a correlation between rates of cyberbullying and frequency of technology use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-high-school-student-by-lockers-198896987?src=xpFGV4LbSCi0vk2oIH9Nkg-1-26">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This unique adoption of technology appears in other aspects of life. The phenomenon of <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/black-twitter-contains-multitudes-20150716">“Black Twitter”</a> and its ability to influence the national dialogue is a prime example. My own research has identified several <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-1335-2">digital practices</a> that distinguish African-Americans from other racial groups. For example, African-Americans are more likely to use social networking sites to make new professional contacts than other racial groups. </p>
<p>This explanation for greater rates of cyberbullying among African-American teens conforms most closely to the data. It also suggests positive recommendations. If black youth are simply more active in the digital environment, the answer for parents and educators may not lie in banning or restricting cellphone use. The answer instead may be to find ways to harness this interest and channel it in more fruitful directions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roderick S. Graham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recent Pew survey reported that young African-Americans are more likely to be both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying. Why?Roderick S. Graham, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Old Dominion UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/609492016-06-14T12:30:35Z2016-06-14T12:30:35ZOrlando massacre shows our understanding of ‘terrorism’ is too focused on jihad<p>In many respects, the aftermath of the US’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/orlando-shooting-2016">latest mass shooting in Orlando</a> followed a familiar pattern. Calls for gun control were met with opposing calls to protect the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment">Second Amendment of the US Constitution</a> and to resist making political capital from such a tragic event. But once it was established that the killer, Omar Mateen, had <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/orlando-omar-mateen-pledged-loyalty-isil-160613174808533.html">pledged allegiance to Islamic State</a>, concerns about over-politicising the attack were quickly forgotten. </p>
<p>This narrative seemed to drown out all other perspectives on the attack. It was now no longer just your everyday run-of-the-mill mass shooting – this was terrorism. It was “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/06/12/president-obama-orlando-shootings-press-conference-sot.cnn">an attack on us all</a>”, on “our way of life”. So loud and familiar was this narrative that any attempts to discuss alternative perspectives on the attack were also shouted down.</p>
<p>It’s not that these different perspectives came out of left field – frankly it isn’t exactly strange to suggest that a mass shooting in a gay night club may be somehow motivated by homophobia. But time and time again this reasoning was trumped by the view that this was a terrorist attack, full stop. </p>
<p>The clearest example of this was Owen Jones, a prominent left-wing and LGBT activist journalist, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-not-get-confused-about-this-orlando-was-a-queerphobic-attack-60957">stormed off the set of Sky News</a> following assertions from the presenter, Mark Longhurst, and fellow guest, broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer, that the Orlando attack was on “human beings” in general and that the LGBT community has “no ownership of horror”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"742420386554449922"}"></div></p>
<p>To be clear, the LGBT community certainly does not have ownership of horror. But the Orlando attack was clearly designed to intimidate, frighten and hurt the LGBT community in the same way as the mass-shooting in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/us/church-attacked-in-charleston-south-carolina.html?_r=0">June 2015 at an African-American church in Charleston</a>, North Carolina, was designed to strike at the black community. When Dylann Roof shot dead nine people during a prayer service in the hopes of starting a race war, nobody questioned whether Roof was racially motivated. </p>
<p>So why – if that attack was broadly accepted as a race-hate crime – do some people have such trouble accepting that the Orlando shootings was a homophobic attack? Perhaps the better question to ask is why the Charleston attacks were not – like Orlando has been – labelled as “terrorism”. </p>
<h2>Violence and symbolism</h2>
<p>Terrorism is not just about the body count; it is about the symbolism behind the attack. The targeting of a gay night club in Orlando was an integral part of this <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-omar-mateen-got-very-angry-seeing-two-1465749495-htmlstory.html">message that Mateen wanted to send</a>. Yet somehow, because there is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/13/pulse-nightclub-attack-shooter-radicalized-internet-orlando">evidence linking Mateen to Islamic extremism</a> – but none of a formal link to any group – it appears to be that this motive overrides the homophobic element of his crime. </p>
<p>Terrorism is essentially politically motivated violence. The UK <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/11/section/1">defines terrorism</a> as the use or threat of violence that must be for the “purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause”. This use or threat of violence must also be designed to influence the government or intimidate the public or section of the public. These terms are incredibly broad, as definitions of terrorism invariably are. The US <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92340">does not have one single definition of terrorism</a> – rather, it has multiple definitions used by different state agencies for different purposes. Nevertheless, the requirement for a political motive is often a common element of many definitions of terrorism.</p>
<p>Islamic extremism may satisfy this UK definition of terrorism or any definition that emphasises the politically motivated nature of the violence. However, so too would an attacker, motivated by homophobia, who is seeking to send a message to the government or to intimidate the LGBT community. There is no tension between these two competing frames. An attacker such as Roof, seeking to start a race war, would also satisfy this definition of terrorism. </p>
<p>But Islamic extremism now seems to have a monopoly on terrorism. The <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/02/us/san-bernardino-shooting/">December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino</a>, California, by a couple who “pledged allegiance to the Islamic State” is terrorism – meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/27/colorado-springs-shooting-planned-parenthood">November 2015 attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic</a> in Colorado Springs by Robert Lewis Dear who expressed anti-abortion statements is not.</p>
<h2>Familiar territory</h2>
<p>In reality, what this debate reveals is the subjective nature of how the term terrorism is used by the media and politicians. Some of this may be explained simply by journalists and politicians trying to make sense of an event by using a “frame” that is familiar to them. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"742491995508203520"}"></div></p>
<p>However, there may be other political motivations to choosing one frame over another. The frame of Islamic terrorism reasserts the threat from Islamic state and can be used to justify counter-terrorist or military measures against them. Alternatively, drowning out the homophobic aspect of the attack can deflect attention away from politicians whose record on gay rights or gun control is questionable at best. </p>
<p>In turn, there are clear dangers of reserving the label of “terrorism” solely for “Islamic extremism”. It hinders, rather than helps, the understanding of terrorism by heightening the subjective nature of the term. This can then further vilify a minority community already under the suspicious gaze of a fearful public. </p>
<p>The Orlando shootings are a textbook example of where labelling somebody a terrorist tells us more about the person applying the label than it does about the person labelled. The worst mass shooting in US history can be both an act of terrorism and an act of homophobia – there is no tension between the two, apart from in the eyes of the beholder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Greene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In our modern understanding of terror, Islamic extremism seems to trump everything else. This is a mistake.Alan Greene, Lecturer in Law, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/494532015-10-21T14:37:47Z2015-10-21T14:37:47ZTwo decades after death of Stephen Lawrence, questions remain about police racism<p>For 22 years the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26465916">Stephen Lawrence murder</a> has returned to pose critical questions about policing in England and Wales, questions that go far beyond the specifics of the investigation of the murder – the latest being allegations that corrupt Metropolitan Police officers <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/16/stephen-lawrence-inquiry-hunts-police-alleged-to-have-shielded-killers">shielded suspects</a> who were eventually prosecuted for the murder. </p>
<p>When, in 1998, I was asked by the erstwhile Commission for Racial Equality to write their evidence to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277111/4262.pdf">Lawrence Inquiry</a> I had little idea that the case papers I read were of such lasting importance. The large file of official papers certainly demonstrated clearly that officers dealing with the case had been incompetent in the extreme. </p>
<p>Central to their failures was, despite clear evidence to the contrary, an inability – deliberate or unwitting – to recognise that Stephen Lawrence, a black British 18-year-old school student, was murdered for one reason and one reason alone: he was black. His murder was racially motivated – something the officers working on the case and, perhaps even more extraordinarily, senior officers who investigated subsequent complaints by his parents refused to admit.</p>
<p>It was and remains the concerted campaigning of Stephen’s parents, Neville and Doreen Lawrence, that probed and to some extent revealed the truth of what happened when the Metropolitan Police investigated their son’s murder. </p>
<h2>Hate and race crimes</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/report-hate-crime">working definition of crimes motivated by racial discrimination</a> has been scrutinised and sharpened. Minority ethnic victims have stronger foundations of law and policy on which claims to being subject to what is now called hate crime are made. Indeed, race is now just one of a number of criteria defining crimes motivated by discrimination.</p>
<p>Neville and Doreen Lawrence have drawn international attention to racial inequalities of police work. Their son’s murder led to academic research and action by community groups about <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3bhn3jf">racial disparities in the use of stop-and-search powers</a>. Work to ensure the equitable use of stop-and-search powers is still being undertaken and policing’s professional body, The College of Policing, is <a href="http://tinyurl.com/q883xtv">currently working</a> to design adequate training and standards of service for this area of police work . </p>
<p>Race inequality was not just found in the way populations are policed. After Lawrence, black and minority ethnic police officers <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ng542g">began talking</a> about their experiences of racial prejudice and discrimination within the police. The Lawrence case has led to hugely increased confidence to speak about inequality, to form related police associations and, independent of formal police policy, form links with minority ethnic groups.</p>
<h2>Institutional racism</h2>
<p>The official report into the police investigation of the Lawrence murder, the Macpherson Report, <a href="http://tinyurl.com/d4mssrl">described the Metropolitan Police as institutionally racist</a>. That analysis provoked dismay among officers who interpreted it to mean that they, as individuals, were racist. That misunderstanding remains and there is reluctance within constabularies to talk about issues for fear of being cast as a racist. </p>
<p>Racial inequalities have been translated into rhetoric about problems of “diversity”, “cultural competencies” and “unconscious bias”, masking the true extent of the problem. The notion of institutional racism certainly needs to be subjected to critical questioning by the police and by academics. But tackling that problem shouldn’t mean the police should shy away from thinking about how their policies and practices lead to racialised inequalities. And it certainly does not mean that officers should not talk about the problems of policing black and other minority ethnic populations, fearful they will make a mistake and be dubbed a racist.</p>
<p>Suspicions about racial prejudice and discrimination are deep rooted and, although it is recognised that overt racism has diminished very significantly, there is real concern about “<a href="http://tinyurl.com/oy6yfsu">covert racism</a>”. The institutional memory of racism within the police is powerful and sustained by officers’ continuing suspicions and direct experiences of subtle (and at times not so subtle) forms of race prejudice and discrimination.</p>
<h2>Fair cop?</h2>
<p>The National Police Crime Agency is about to begin an investigation into Doreen Lawrence’s complaint that corrupt officers were involved in the investigation of her son’s murder, committed 22 years ago. That inquiry draws together themes of the institutional memory of racism, which is not just relevant to black and ethnic minority police officers but to the black and minority ethnic populations of the UK. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_8GRYFGrjRg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">20 years on: Doreen Lawrence on the legacy of her son’s murder.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Stephen Lawrence murder was racially motivated – it drew public attention to prejudice within the police and, to some extent, more widely within UK society. A clear, public memory of police inability to address problems of race relations adequately is revived and sustained every time Doreen or Neville Lawrence reveal further police failings in the investigation of their son’s murder. After 22 years, the Lawrence case is not yet fully investigated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Holdaway receives funding from the ESRC, Home Office and others</span></em></p>Reports of an inquiry into allegations that police tried to shield the killers suggest the murder has yet to be fully investigated.Simon Holdaway, Professor of Criminology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.