Discrimination and inequality in the criminal justice system has been one of our key priorities since our inception. Despite numerous reforms, the criminal justice system continues to fail Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups on a number of issues from disproportionality in stop and search statistics, sentencing, treatment of prisoners through to victimisations, under-reporting of offences and workforce representation.
In response to these inequalities, we have been engaging with policy developments in criminal and restorative justice via
- political engagement and influence on boards and advisory groups
- taking part in consultations
- providing policy briefings
- running research projects to produce evidence-based policy recommendations
We work in partnership with a number of criminal and restorative justice agencies to deliver our work, as well as service delivery organisations who support people affected by either crime or criminal justice systems.
ROTA currently runs the Transformative Justice Project, which provides a Forum linking stakeholders and agencies protecting highly victimised groups.
The findings of this research project, together with the Restoring Relationships and Building Bridges projects are also used to influence policy development across social areas, especially in health and education.
ROTA staff represent BAME issues at a variety of boards and advisory groups, including the Metropolitan Police Association (MPA) Hate Crime Forum, the London Resettlement Board and their Women's Reference Group and the NOMS Race Advisory Group.
We use our in-house expertise and evidence-based reports to respond to criminal justice consultations, produce policy briefings and write articles for internal and external publications – most recently on gang and serious youth violence, stop and search and restorative justice.