Stop and search used 'disproportionately' on black and Asian people in the UK

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Stop and search used 'disproportionately' on black and Asian people in the UK

12 November 2013

Black and Asian people are still far more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in England and Wales, a report has said.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in some areas black people were 29 times more likely to be stopped and searched.

Overall, black people were six times as likely as white people to be stopped.

The commission said the disproportion between different ethnic groups remained "stubbornly high".

The EHRC's report for 2011-12 did not include stops carried out under anti-terrorism laws.

The majority of stop-and-searches in England and Wales are conducted under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace).

The figure for these searches fell to 1,137,551 in 2011-12 from 1,222,378 the previous year.

Those from Asian or other ethnic minority groups were twice as likely to be stopped as white people.

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