Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager (born 13 September 1974) from Eltham, southeast London, was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993.
After the initial investigation, five suspects were arrested but never convicted.
It was suggested during the course of investigation that the murder had a racist motive and that Lawrence was killed because he was black, and that the handling of the case by the police and Crown Prosecution Service was affected by issues of race leading to an inquiry.
In 1999, an inquiry headed by Sir William Macpherson examined the original Metropolitan police investigation and concluded that the force was "institutionally racist" and has been called 'one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain'.
This led to the publication of the Macpherson Report 1999, which investigated institutional racism within the Metropolitan police.
On 18 May 2011, it was announced that one of the original suspects, and another man, are to stand trial for the murder.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE WAY THAT THIS CASE WAS HANDLED? AND THE FACT THAT THE MURDER WAS RACIALLY MOTIVATED?
1 comment:
I think it was typical for the police to handle the case in that way as in those times racism was accepted if not promoted. for this reason i am happy to hear that the case was revisited, corrections being put into place and attitudes of the police force changed for the better.
murder is unjustified in any case and for it to be racially motivated is horrifying. People need to wake up and smell the fire; we live and always will live in a multicultural society that should be equal. no one should be discriminated against, especially because of their race, to such an extent that a life is lost.
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