This article examines the treatment of Irish Travellers in the criminal justice system. It provides a brief background to Irish Traveller ethnicity and then outlines the causes, extent and consequences of social marginalization, ethnic disqualification and criminalization in Britain’s Irish Traveller population. This leads to a discussion of criminal justice concerns through the examination of existing research on pre-sentence reports (PSRs) concerning Irish Travellers, and interviews with probation officers and others which helped to explore overt and embedded prejudice and racism in the language and construction of PSRs. The article finishes by assessing possible ways to ameliorate these injustices in the sentencing process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adams, B., Okely, J., Morgan, D. and Smith, D. (1975) Gypsies and Government Policies in England. A Study of the Travellers’ Way of Life in Relation to the Policies and Practices of Central and Local Government. London: Heinemann .
2.
Bhui, H.S. (1999) ‘Race, Racism and Risk Assessment: Linking Theory to Practice with Black Mentally Disordered Offenders’ , in Probation Journal46 (3), pp. 171–181 .
3.
BIAS (1997) Health Access Project. NHS Ethnic Health Unit .
4.
Clements, L. and Morris, R. (2001) Disability, Social Care, Health and Travelling People. Cardiff: University Press .
5.
Collins, M. (2003) ‘Untitled’ conference paper, presented at ‘Irish Travellers: Sited, Settled, Nomadic’ conference. Manchester: Irish World Heritage Centre.
6.
Commission for Racial Equality (2002) Ethnic Monitoring. A Guide for Public Authorities (non-statutory). London: CRE .
7.
Denney, D. (1992) Racism and Anti-racism in Probation. London: Routledge .
8.
Devereaux, D. (1999) Enforced Invisibility: The Irish Experience of the Criminal Justice System. Unpublished MA thesis submitted to the School of Law, Manchester Metropolitan University.
9.
Discrimination Law Association (2002) Briefings, February, Volume 15.
10.
Fenton, S. (1999) Ethnicity, Racism, Class and Culture. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Press .
11.
Fletcher, H., Hutton, S., McCarthy, B., McFlynn, J. and Mitchell, H. (1997) The Irish Community: Discrimination and the Criminal Justice System. London: National Association of Probation Officers, Federation of Irish Societies, Action Group for Irish Youth, Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas, and The Bourne Trust .
12.
Hickman, M. and Walter, B. (1997) Discrimination and the Irish Community in Britain. London: CRE .
13.
Macpherson, W. (1999) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Cm 4262. London: Stationery Office .
14.
McCann, M., Ó Síocháin, S. and Ruane, J. (eds) (1994) Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity. Belfast: Queen’s University .
15.
McCarthy, P. (1994) ‘The Sub-Culture of Poverty Reconsidered’, in M. McCann et al., Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity. Belfast: Queen’s University .
16.
Morris, R. and Clements, L. (eds) (1999). Gaining Ground: Law Reform for Gypsies and Travellers. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press .
17.
Murphy, P. (1994) ‘The Invisible Minority: Irish Offenders and the English Criminal Justice System’ , in Probation Journal41 (1), pp. 2–7 .
18.
NACRO/ACOP (1995) A Crisis in Custody–A Survey of Juveniles Remanded into Custody Awaiting Trial. London: Association of Chief Officers of Probation and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders .
19.
Niner, P. (2002) The Provision and Condition of Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England. A Report to Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on a Programme of Research . Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London.
Pizani Williams, L. (1998) Gypsies and Travellers in the Criminal Justice System: The Forgotten Minority? Cambridge: University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology .
23.
Power, C. (forthcoming 2003) Room to Roam: Britain’s Irish Travellers (provisional title). London: Community Fund .
24.
Sibley, D. (1995) Geographies of Exclusion–Societies and Difference in the West. London: Routledge .
25.
Stanton, A.K. (1994) An Impressionistic Account of the Discrimination Suffered by White Ethnic Minorities in Newark, unpublished paper, cited in H. Fletcher et al., 1997, The Irish Community: Discrimination and the Criminal Justice System. London: National Association of Probation Officers, Federation of Irish Societies, Action Group for Irish Youth, Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas, and The Bourne Trust.
