London: Discrimination against black people and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in a controversial suite of new laws is “objectively justified”, the government has claimed. Home Office documents published on Monday 13th September 2021, admitted that different groups would be disproportionately impacted by measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill. They include enhanced stop and search powers and the criminalisation of “residing on land without consent in a vehicle”. The Home Office admitted that proposed Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs), which would allow police to stop and search people based on their previous offending history without the “reasonable grounds” currently required, would disproportionately affect black people. But its equalities impact assessment added: “Any indirect difference on treatment on the grounds of race is anticipated to be potentially positive and objectively justified as a proportionate means of achieving our legitimate aim of reducing serious violence and preventing crime.”
Read more: Lizzie Dearden, Independent, https://is.gd/4sOa8v
