What was the Macpherson Report aka the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry?
THE MacPherson Report, published in 1999, was a bombshell dossier on institutional racism within Britain’s police forces – in particular the Metropolitan Police. It was written by Sir William MacPherson as part of an inquiry into the Met‘s botched Stephen Lawrence investigation after his murder in 1993. What was the MacPherson report? The MacPherson inquiry […]
THE MacPherson Report, published in 1999, was a bombshell dossier on institutional racism within Britain’s police forces – in particular the Metropolitan Police.
It was written by Sir William MacPherson as part of an inquiry into the Met‘s botched Stephen Lawrence investigation after his murder in 1993.
What was the MacPherson report?
The MacPherson inquiry was ordered by then-Home Secretary Jack Straw, and was officially titled “The Inquiry Into The Matters Arising From The Death of Stephen Lawrence”.
Straw said the aim of the report was to “inquire into the matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence on 22 April 1993 to date, in order particularly to identify the lessons to be learned for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes”.
Sir William and his team’s investigation pored through over 100,000 pages of reports and witness statements to conclude that the Met’s original investigation was incompetent.
Their final report came to 350 pages.
It concluded that the investigation was “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership”.
Blamed was laid at the police force as a whole and at certain individuals.
During the inquiry Detective Superintendent Brian Weeden admitted mistakes had been made during the Met’s investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s death.
What were the report’s recommendations?
The report made 70 recommendations about reforming the criminal justice system.
Here are the most important:
The MacPherson report's key recommendations
- The inquiry team said the Home Secretary should declare that improving relations between police and ethnic minorities was a major priority.
- And there must be an immediate review of racism awareness training throughout the police service.
- The entire justice system and local government also need to examine their race training.
- The report called for checks on the Metropolitan Police by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to restore public confidence.
- And the structure of the Met should be changed to give it the same accountability with its police authority as other forces.
- All cops should also be subject to race relations laws and senior officers must be liable for the acts of subordinates.
- Cops should treat witnesses better
- Any police officer caught being racist should be sacked.
- Members of the force should be liable for disciplinary action for up to five years after retiring.
- Racial elements in all relevant cases should be referred to at every stage by cops and prosecutors.
- Victims and witnesses must be treated better by cops, particularly in connection with racist incidents.
- Investigations into complaints against cops should be carried out independently, not by another force or other officers.
- People who complain against the police should have access to reports by officers who investigate the allegations.
67 of the 70 recommendations made led to changes within the Met in the two years after the report’s publication.
They included aiming to diversify those working within the force and to promote black and Asian officers.
Speaking to the BBC in 2019, MacPherson says he still stands by his report and findings that the Met was “institutionally racist”.
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“I couldn’t work miracles about making the police behave better or improving the relationships between black and white people.
“But I hoped that the inquiry might assist,” he said.
He also stressed, “There’s obviously a great deal more to be done.”