Ministry of Justice V Judge D Peter Herbert

An attempt by the Ministry of Justice to silence the radical voices of black and ethnic minority judges who have spoken out against Judicial racism, reaches a crisis point this week.

Judge D Peter Herbert O.B.E., one of Britain's senior black judges is, this Thursday set to face a disciplinary panel convened by the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office (JCIO) for an alleged offence so minor that it defies belief.

Peter who is currently Chair of the Society of Black lawyers one of Britain's foremost leading human rights barrister is was the subject of an internal referral and then one complaint about a speech he gave on 30th April 2015. The public event was an open meeting to discuss recent decision to bar the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Luftar Rahman from public office for five years.

Peter has received supporting statements from three other Judges, the Labour Party Home Affairs spokes person Diane Abbott M.P., and the President of the National Bar Association (NBA), Kevin Judd. The NBA passed a resolution in July at the their annual conference, calling for the cessation of action against Judge Herbert.

During the meeting Peter condemned the British judicial system as being inherently racist. Peter told the meeting:

racism is alive and well and living in Tower Hamlets, in Westminster and, yes, sometimes in the judiciary"

and went on to say

… Don't let anybody tell you that just because you have a judgement in a court, it is somehow sacrosanct, it is not.”

On 18th June 2015, a few days before the matter was referred by the President of the South Eastern Circuit, Stuart-Smith J for investigation Peter had accompanied a fellow Immigration Judge to an investigative meeting with Langstaff J, where his colleague had made serious allegations of race and sex discrimination against three full time Immigration Judges, all white males, none of whom had been suspended.

On the contrary, on 7th November last year Peter was informed he would be faced with suspension if he did not “voluntarily” suspend himself. He objected and cited the comparative treatment of the three white Judges. In internal emails of the Ministry of Justice, disclosed under threat of a Court order, it was clear that the High Court Judges, the President of the South East Circuit, Employment Tribunals and Immigration Tribunal, were all fully aware that no report was to be submitted to the Lord Chief Justice.

Peter was informed he would be “turned away” from his own court room, if he attempted to sit at Harrow Crown Court that Monday morning.

Further the MoJ Panel has refused to hear key witnesses. Lord Herman Ouseley, one of eleven witnesses, relied upon by Peter, who the disciplinary panel do not wish to hear from, said:

“I have viewed the You Tube video, the allegations by the JCIO, the complaint lodged by Mr Greenhill and read the Judicial Codes of Conduct, the report by Justice Underhill and Judge Herbert’s responses. I am aware of political statements made by others in the judiciary, and criticism made by members of the Supreme Court which have not been the subject of disciplinary action. So why the differential treatment?

British justice is in crisis and is deeply racist. That is a view of an increasing number of British black people's experience of the administration of British justice is one that is completely overwhelmed by the awful and insidious reality of institutionalised racism that infects the British judicial system.

There are countless number of academic and government reports that highlights the growing disproportionate treatment of black people as either victims of crime, suspects, witnesses or indeed employees of the criminal justice system.

David Lammy MP, already briefed by Peter and two of his judicial colleagues, is currently conducting an enquiry to asses the extent of racial discrimination within British society generally. This area of criminal justice will need special attention focus if it is, to tackle a national scandal of the disproportionate arrest, charging and sentencing of black and minority British citizens.

There is a glaring underrepresentation of women and BME communities in the Judiciary that has been commented on by Lady Justice Hale of The Supreme Court in November 2015 when she effectively gave a public rebuke to her Supreme Court colleague Sumption J, who had said it would take women some 50 years to achieve equality on the bench.

Despite all the claims of government and the judiciary of strict impartiality, the reality, discrimination in courts, alongside institutionalised racism within the police services, and the disproportionate charging and sentencing of black people, has conspired to unjustly punish and criminalise, particularly Black, Muslim and in particular African Caribbean descent communities.

Lady Justice Hale, commenting on the lack of diversity stated in a recent speech:

I was sworn in as a Lord of Appeal in ordinary [a law lord] on 12 January 2004,” she said in her speech on updating the appointments procedure for the Supreme Court.

Fifteen people have been sworn in as law lords or Supreme Court justices since then, she said:

Even if we leave out the two [men] who were sworn in the day after me, the court has more than replaced itself since then.

One might have hoped that the opportunity would have been taken to achieve a more diverse collegium. It has not happened. All of those 13 appointments were men. All were white. All but two went to independent fee-paying schools. All but three went to boys’ boarding schools. All but two went to Oxford or Cambridge. All were successful QCs in private practice, although one was a solicitor rather than a barrister.”

At every stage of the criminal justice system, the ethnic penalty is imposed upon black people the culmination of which results in our mass criminalisation, for crimes or which white citizens are routinely cautioned or given a suspended jail sentence, even when they have more extensive criminal antecedents than their black counterparts. Hundreds of thousands of black people, over the last 40 years have been unfairly arrested, charged and then sentenced as a sole consequence of being black and living in Britain. This dynamic has to change.

Lee Jasper leading black rights advocate said:

The attack on Peter is an attempt to close down the debate about the implicit racism with the British judicial system and send a message to all Black and ethnic minority staff employed by the Ministry of Justice. That message is clear and unambiguous; don’t complain about racism or we will take you out.

I’ve heard lost of white Judges make political comments in public without consequence. It’s clear this is a racially motivated action designed to shut up and Black judge who abhors racism. If this attack succeeds we may have to consider calling a national boycott within the British Black community boycotting all further recruitment of Judges and Magistrates.”

Mr Viv Ahmun, social entrepreneur and a leading figure in the black community stated,

The racism faced by British black people within the criminal justice system is corroding the confidence we have in the rule of law. If we cannot say with confidence we are all equal before the law, the very basis of a good society begins to break down.”

OBV Staff Reporter