According to the government announcement, BAME individuals account for nearly 25 per cent of Crown court defendants in the UK, despite comprising only 14 per cent of the broader population of England and Wales. When convicted, around 61 per cent of BAME defendants are sentenced to custody, while only 56 per cent of white offenders are handed jail time. 'I don't care whether its overt, unconscious or institutional [discrimination], we've got to stamp it out,' Prime Minister David Cameron wrote in The Sunday Times. Rather than seeking to uncover 'overt racism' on the part of judges, the government's investigation will reportedly take a broader focus on 'procedural fairness' at every stage of the criminal justice process. According to research from the Centre for Justice Innovation, perceptions of procedural fairness can have a significant impact on people's willingness to engage with and participate in the criminal justice system, as well as more broadly upon public respect for the law. The government's cross-departmental probe will also investigate biases against BAME people in the police, the armed forces, and British universities. Sources: Law Society Gazette; Law Society Gazette (2); BBC