No to section 60, 30 years on

Thursday 24 October saw two events held over section 60 searches, as the power reaches the 30-year mark.

The Centre for Justice Reform at City St George’s, University of London hosted the presentation of findings from an upcoming report arguing for the repeal of section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 on the basis that it is outdated, ineffective, and fails to meet modern human rights standards.

The report critiques the Roberts ruling, which accepted the existence of the power, despite acknowledging that section 60 disproportionately targets young Black people.

This stands in stark contrast to the reality: only 40% of Black youth feel safe around the police, compared to 75% of their white counterparts, and further research has found that a lack of trust in law enforcement can lead to higher rates of weapon carrying among young people in high-crime areas.

The panel and audience also discussed data which displayed discrepancies between the initial aims of the legislation 30 years ago and its actual outcomes today. It was supposed to help tackle knife crime and violence, but the numbers tell a different story – only 0.6% of searches lead to arrests for offensive weapons. Plus, despite its original intention to tackle violence at football matches, section 60 was used just 11 times in the last seven years, while section 35 dispersal orders were deployed over 350 times, strongly implying that police forces have more relevant tactics at their disposal.

StopWatch also spoke at a panel organised by Bristol Cable, which focused on why section 60 stop and search powers must go. The discussion dug into the history and problems with Section 60, showing how ineffective it is – only 4% of searches lead to arrests, and just 1% of suspicionless searches result in arrest for offensive weapons – as well as the persistent racial disparity between Black people and white people. In the year to 31 March 2024, Black people were searched many times more often than white people under the power (x6 based on self-defined ethnicity; x9.2 based on officer-observed ethnicity), and many of those targeted are children as young as 10.

The Bristol panellists shared personal stories and debated whether scrapping section 60 is realistic, with the consensus being that the evidence against it is overwhelming. They also discussed non-punitive alternatives to section 60, including prevention strategies like diversionary activities and community resolution interventions instead of criminal prosecutions, investing in youth programs, and adopting harm-reduction approaches like Right Care Right Person, so long as the money saved from such programmes are actually redirected towards the social determinants of crime.

The panel agreed that police forces failing to meet standards should face sanctions and the suspension of suspicionless powers while they persistently use them in a disproportionate and inappropriate manner.

You can catch a clip of the discussion on Instagram.

* The StopWatch report 'Section 60 and human rights' will be published in November 2024.