Crime

The Stephen Lawrence Case

Stephen Lawrence was a young black British man murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993. The police’s subsequent investigation into Stephen’s murder was wholly inadequate as the case was affected by racial prejudices throughout. A timeline of events surrounding the case can be found here:

The Undercover Policeman is a 2003 documentary from investigative journalist Mark Daly. He went undercover with Manchester Police to see if racism existed in their ranks. Students could watch the following documentary and, linking to research methods, identify the difficulties with covert observation that Daly encountered. They can additionally identify the strategies Daly used throughout his covert observation, see above video. A Guardian feature on the documentary can be found here:

Discover More Stephen Lawrence: Murder that shook UK's racial dynamics

Discover More The Guardian Newspaper Undercover Cop

Discussions could take place after watching the documentary about the individuals seen in the programme and the extent to which their behaviour is considered racist. Another discussion point is the strategies that could be used to try and identify individuals with racist views in a recruitment process.