Stephen Lawrence case

Investigation and public inquiry into the official handling of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, an 18-year-old black student, who was murdered in Eltham, southeast London in April 1993. The attack was unprovoked and racially-motivated. A public inquiry into the murder and the police's subsequent investigations revealed that the police had not followed methods of inquiry which were open to them. This was a serious indictment to the UK's police and justice system, not to mention the fact that despite strenuous efforts made by the Lawrence family and their supporters, Stephen's killers were not convicted. The public inquiry into the case, published in 1999, was seen as a landmark in race relations in Britain; it found the police force to be ‘institutionally racist’, and prompted wide-ranging reforms, including the extension of race relations legislation to all public bodies.

The public inquiry found that the police's approach to the investigation was not dynamic, despite receiving numerous tip-offs within hours of the murder, as to those who might have been responsible for the attack. Charges against two white youths, who first appeared in court in June 1993, were dropped in July 1993, when the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution. Stephen's parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, launched a private prosecution in 1994 which collapsed in 1996. Evidence identifying three suspected youths was ruled inadmissible leading to acquittal. Meanwhile, an internal police inquiry had found that the police investigation had been satisfactory.

In February 1997 the coroner's court concluded that Lawrence's death was an unlawful killing, and soon after, the Daily Mail published front page pictures of the five suspects, calling them murderers. A second internal inquiry into the case carried out by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) criticized the detectives for seriously mishandling the initial investigation, but cleared them of any charges of racism.

Home Secretary Jack Straw announced a public inquiry into Lawrence's death in July 1997, chaired by Sir William Macpherson, with a view to looking at both the Stephen Lawrence case and the wider implications for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes. The Macpherson report, published in February 1999, found London's police force to be racist at its roots, and condemned the errors of officers in the Stephen Lawrence case. The government endorsed the report's 70 recommendations to break down institutionalized racism. Prime Minister Tony Blair promised radical reform and the home secretary unveiled new measures to combat racism. Although Lawrence's murderers were still not convicted, the case shook Britain's police, judicial system, and government, putting the police and British justice as a whole on public trial.