Race crime figures 'were wrong'

Black people are more likely to be stopped

The Home Office has published revised figures on race crime in England and Wales after admitting statistics published in March 2006 were wrong.

New figures show black people remain three times more likely to be arrested than white people.

The statistics for 2004-05 found black people were also six times more likely to be stopped and searched.

The Home Office apologised for errors, which it said had inflated racist incidents in some police force areas.

The latest figures on race and the criminal justice system in England and Wales come amid concern of an increase in racism since the 7 July attacks.

Figures for racist incidents since the bombings have proved contradictory, with some measures showing increases in racial tensions and others showing a more mixed picture.

According to the Home Office's revised report, the number of stops and searches rose by 14% over the year.

Under standard police powers, stops of black people rose by 9%, of Asian people by 11.5%, of white people by 15% and other ethnicities by a quarter.

Critically, the figures show that twice as many Asian people were stopped than white people.

Stops and searches under terrorism-related powers rose overall by 9% - although there were falls in stops of Asian and black people - 5% and 7% respectively.

Black people remain more likely to have made a complaint against the police compared with people from other ethnic backgrounds, the statistics show.

Crime figures

Examining the level of race-related crime, the report found that incidents recorded by the police increased by 7% between 2004 and 2005.

However, the British Crime Survey (BCS), a parallel but separate study, suggests the level of racially-motivated crime is falling - from 206,000 incidents at the end of 2004 to 179,000 in the following year.

The BCS figures are drawn from a continuing survey of actual experiences of crime, rather than incidents recorded by or reported to the police. Ministers suggest the increase in reported crime means people are increasingly likely to come forward after being attacked.

The wrong figures

The figures replace errors in statistics published in March which were then quickly withdrawn.

The incorrect report suggested that the number of racist incidents in some police areas had risen dramatically.

Dorset Police were reported to have recorded a 556% increase in racist incidents compared with an actual rise of 56%.

North Yorkshire's rise was put at 224% rather than the actual 33%. The overall change in racist incidents was originally put at 12% rather than the actual 7%.

A spokesman for the Home Office apologised and said officials had completely rechecked the data with police chiefs before having it approved by individual constabularies.

The report also noted however that the criminal justice system had increased the proportion of minorities in its ranks, albeit with mixed results.

Almost 11% of Probation Service staff are now from a minority background, along with 4.4% of prison officers. However, just 3.5% of police officers were from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Almost 8% of the British population were from an ethnic minority background, according to the 2001 census.