Today sees the eighteenth anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Stephen was murdered in a racially motivated attack in which his friend Duwayne Brooks was also injured.
Stephen’s death came at a time when a number of young people had met their death on the streets of the UK in areas that were notorious for their racism.
Eighteen years on, the level of racially motivated violence is still increasing despite the advances made following the inquiry into the murder of Stephen which was conducted by Sir William Macpherson.
Since Stephen’s murder at least ninety people have been killed in attacks with a racial connotation, with an average of five lethal attacks every year. Young people are over-represented as victims of such deaths since over half the victims are under 30 years of age.
The IRR has recently been funded to carry out a three-year research project into the levels of racially motivated violence across the UK, and we are collating information on the issue. If you would like to know more please email: jon@irr.org.uk.
Read more about the work of the IRR on racially motivated violence:
- Read the IRR’s Factfile on the Racially Motivated Murders (Known or Suspected) 2000 onwards
- Read the IRR’s Factfile on the Racially Motivated Murders (Known or Suspected) 1991-1999
- Read the IRR’s Briefing Paper 6: Racial Violence: The buried issue, research on deaths with a racial motivation since the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and an analysis of racially motivated violence in 2009, here (pdf file, 304kb)
- IRR News story: ‘Linking racial violence to media coverage’
- IRR News story: ‘Racial violence and the night-time economy’