Young city blacks hostile to courts

Young people of all ethnic backgrounds in inner cities show considerable hostility to the police and the judiciary, according to research published today.

Only a quarter of 17-year-olds in five big conurbations agreed that judges and courts gave fair and equal treatment to everyone. The proportion was even lower among black and Asian young people.

A report, Changing Lives, published by the Policy Studies Institute, showed that well over half of the 2,500 young people in the survey and 85 per cent of black youngsters agreed that the police harassed young black people more than their white contemporaries.The questionnaires were completed in Leeds, Manchester, Merseyside, Birmingham, east and south London.

Members of ethnic minorities of all ages have higher qualifications than their white counterparts, but are far more likely to be jobless, according to another survey published today.

In the first joint report issued by the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality, urgent action is demanded.

Ministers are urged to eliminate the "double discrimination" suffered.

The organisations call for the Government to eliminate discrimination in education and in the world of work, improve careers advice and target unemployment initiatives on ethnic minorities.