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Ethnic inequalities in the criminal justice system

Categories: ADR England, Office for National Statistics, Crime & justice, Impact, Policy

9 October 2025

Ethnic inequalities in the criminal justice system

This research used data made available via the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service, which is being expanded and improved with ADR UK funding.

Author: Dr Kitty Lymperopoulou,  University of Plymouth

Date: September 2025

Research summary

This research responded to the 2017 Lammy Review which called for evidence into the causes of ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system. It revealed previously unseen disparities by analysing disaggregated ethnicity data for the first time, which led the Ministry of Justice to adopt this approach in published analysis. The research findings were cited in news articles and submitted as evidence in the Independent Sentencing Review and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination.

The research project used magistrates’ and Crown Court datasets from the Ministry of Justice Data First programme, which is funded by ADR UK. This data was used to better understand the extent and drivers of ethnic inequalities in the criminal justice system. Taking advantage of the unique features of the datasets, the project aimed to:

  • examine the experiences and outcomes of minority ethnic groups in the court system 
  • understand the relative importance of defendant, case, and court factors in explaining any ethnic differentials at different stages of the criminal justice system
  • make recommendations about ways of effectively addressing ethnic inequalities.

This project aimed to explore the following research questions:

  • How do the experiences and outcomes of defendants in magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court differ by ethnicity? 
  • Do ethnic disparities persist after controlling for defendant, case and court characteristics? 
  • What are the main drivers of any differences by ethnicity in court outcomes? 

The findings offered compelling evidence that ethnicity plays an important role in remand and sentencing decisions, showing that defendants from ethnic minority groups are treated more harshly than white British defendants in the court system.

The project disseminated a series of recommendations for policy and practice co-produced with two project partners: CLINKS, an infrastructure organisation supporting voluntary sector organisations in the justice system, and Action for Race Equality, a national charity working to end racial inequality.

The research was funded through an ADR UK Research Fellowship (ES/V015613/1).

Data used

The study used data from the magistrates’ and Crown Court datasets developed through the Data First programme, which is led by the Ministry of Justice and funded by ADR UK.

The magistrates’ and Crown Court data forms part of an ADR UK flagship dataset: Data First: Cross-Justice System – England and Wales, which accredited researchers can apply to access.

Methods used

The study used the following methods:

  • Disproportionality analysis using the Relative Rate Index examined the extent of disparities in court experiences and outcomes between white British and minority ethnic groups.
  • Multilevel modelling  was used to examine the effect of offender, case and court characteristics on court outcomes, and to determine whether ethnic disparities persist after controlling for these characteristics.

Research findings

Ethnic disproportionality exists to varying levels at different stages of the criminal justice system, and over particular defendant and case characteristics.

The extent of disproportionality varies considerably between ethnic subgroups within the Asian, Black, mixed and white ethnic minority groups. Defendants from ethnic minority groups are more likely to be sent to Crown Court for trial, to plead not guilty, and to be remanded in custody when they appear in the Crown Court, than people from the white British group. While ethnic minority defendants have lower or similar conviction rates than white British defendants, if convicted, they are more likely to receive a custodial sentence and a longer sentence length. Ethnic disproportionally is much more pronounced among young male defendants and for drugs offences.

Sentencing outcomes are determined by legal factors such as offence severity, plea proposal and pre-trial detention.

The research found that people from ethnic minority groups are subject to cumulative disadvantage. This is due to the association between poorer plea bargaining and pre-trial detention outcomes and harsher sentencing outcomes, combined with the higher Not Guilty pleas and pre-trial detention rates found amongst people from ethnic minority groups.

Ethnic disparities in remand and imprisonment persist after controlling for other factors, indicating unequal and biased treatment of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the justice system.

The results show that defendants from most ethnic minority groups are more likely be remanded to custody prior to trial and receive a custodial (prison) sentence than their white British counterparts. For example, the odds of imprisonment were 41% higher for Chinese defendants, and between 16% and 21% higher for defendants from Asian groups, compared with white British defendants. Similarly, imprisonment was between 9% and 19% more likely for defendants in the Black groups, and 22% more likely for white and Black African defendants than white British defendants, after adjusting for other characteristics such as offence type and severity, and previous convictions.

Ethnic disparities in sentence length are largely explained by legal factors, and after adjusting for these factors, observed differences between most ethnic minority groups and the white British group narrow or disappear.

The exceptions are defendants from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean groups. These groups were shown to have worse sentencing outcomes than the white British group, receiving between 4% and 11% longer sentences. These findings suggest that ethnic minority defendants are treated more equally at later stages of the sentencing process.

Research impact

The research engaged with a range of stakeholders including policymakers, practitioners in statutory and non-statutory organisations and user groups, and contributed to public and policy debates about the drivers of ethnic disparities. A policy briefing and data comic drawing on the research findings and recommendations, co-produced with Action for Race Equality and CLINKS, were disseminated through criminal justice membership organisations, broadcast, social media channels and featured in news articles in the Metro and the VOICE.

The research findings were discussed at a policy roundtable hosted by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and have been shared with the Shadow Data Governance Panel. The Deputy Senior Presiding Judge has shown active engagement with the findings, and discussions are ongoing about their implications for judicial training and guidance. Following the research findings which revealed previously unobserved disparities in criminal justice outcomes among ethnic minority subgroups, MoJ published disaggregated ethnicity statistics for the first time in the 2024 release of Statistics on Ethnicity and the criminal justice system and cited the research. In July 2024, findings from the research featured in the Equality and Human Rights Commission report “Racial Discrimination in Great Britain” submitted as evidence to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination. In January 2025 the research was submitted as evidence in the Independent Sentencing Review.

The research also contributed to the development of the Data First datasets as documented in a Data Explained report, which resulted in a change in MoJ guidance on the datasets. Training materials and activities aimed at post-graduate students, academic and non-academic researchers were also delivered to facilitate the usage, and widen the appeal, of the datasets within the research community.

Research outputs

Publications and reports

Presentations and awards

Blogs, news posts and videos

News posts

About the ONS Secure Research Service

The ONS Secure Research Service is an accredited trusted research environment, using the Five Safes Framework to provide secure access to de-identified, unpublished data.

If you use ONS Secure Research Service data and would like to discuss writing a future case study with us, please get in touch at IDS.Impact@ons.gov.uk. Please also report any outputs here: Outputs Reporting Form.

Disclaimer

This work was undertaken in the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service using Data First linked administrative data. The use of the data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the ONS or data owners (e.g. MoJ and HM Courts and Tribunals Service) in relation to the interpretation or analyses of the statistical data. This work uses research datasets which may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates. National statistics follow consistent statistical conventions over time and cannot be compared to Data First linked datasets.

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