[The Representation of the Ethnic Minority Group in the English Legal System]

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Abstract

Although regulation schools have glimpsed increasing representation of varied racial and ethnic assemblies amidst scholars, minorities extend to comprise disproportionately little percentages of solicitors inside large business regulation firms. Prior study on the natu.re and determinants of' few underrepresentation in such companies has been sparse. In this paper, we use facts and numbers on a nationwide experiment of more than 1,300 regulation firm agencies to analyze variety over large British regulation companies in the representation of Ethnic Minorities. Overall minorities are better comprised in agencies established in Western states and in foremost metropolitan areas; agencies that are bigger and affiliated with bigger firms; agencies of companies with higher incomes and earnings per partner; agencies with larger associate--partner leverage; and agency agencies other than primary offices. They are identically circulated between agencies with single-tier and two-tier partnerships. Distinct patterns appear although, when the three assemblies are advised individually and when hierarchical grade inside companies is taken into account.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Walker (1998) divides his history of American criminal justice into three eras: the colonial era, which lasted roughly 150 years from the late 1600s until the 1820s prior to the establishment of a formal criminal justice system; an era from the 1820s to the 1920s in which all the main institutions of criminal justice were established; and the modern era, in which dual processes of consolidation and reform have shaped and reshaped the criminal justice system. Though the criminal justice systems of the US and the UK have been shaped by different historical pressures and circumstances, there is nevertheless considerable commonality between the two jurisdictions, especially over the past 200 years.

In the colonial era in the USA, and prior to the industrial revolution in the UK, crime control was relatively informal and community-based. Communities were small and enforcing moral codes was relatively straightforward. As one legal historian puts it, they 'had both the will and the ability to enforce laws against fornication, sins of the flesh, minor vices, and bad behaviour. They punished these offences the way autocratic fathers or mothers punish children; they made heavy use of shame and shaming' (Friedman, 1993: 37). Confession and repentance were key parts of the system, and public identification and humiliation through branding and letter-wearing ('A' for adulterer for example) were not uncommon. The stocks, the ducking stool and, for more serious offences, bodily mutilation or banishment, were also invoked. Then, finally, there was the death penalty, though, according to Friedman (1993: 41), 'on the whole, English law ...