I Can’t Breathe: Race, death & British policing (from INQUEST)

4WardEverUK • 26 February 2023

source: INQUEST

first published: 20 February 2023

Image Credit: 4WardEverUK


In ‘I can’t breathe’: Race, death and British Policing, INQUEST investigated the processes, procedures and evidence base of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the coronial system to examine how accountability for racism is delivered.


INQUEST found a system which works against delivering accountability, that appeared blind to the evidence and where racial discrimination was not addressed meaningfully.

INQUEST report cover

The detailed report makes the following issues clear for the first time:

  • Official data never before made public shows that Black people are seven times more likely to die than White people following the use of restraint by police.
  • No death of a Black person following police custody or contact has led to officers being disciplined for racism, at a conduct or criminal level.
  • Despite the stark racial disproportionality evidenced in data, none of the accountability processes effectively or substantially consider the potential role of racism in deaths.
  • Britain’s leading human rights lawyers told INQUEST that the role of racism is not adequately scrutinised by post-death investigation system.

The report features new data and analysis. It includes powerful interviews with expert human rights lawyers who are members of the INQUEST Lawyers Group, and five bereaved family members who have been through the legal processes.


See executive summary here >

Read original article >

share this article on social media

A Monkey Trial: The Passion of Pauline Campbell

A Monkey Trial: The Gameshow or the true and tragic passion of Pauline Campbell

by 4WardEverUK • 13 July 2025
A Monkey Trial by St John Mckay is a reenactment of the criminal trial of a real-life feminist activist martyr, Pauline Campbell.. but presented as a television game show. With talking monkeys.
Police riot sheild

El Salvador: Police officers speak to Human Rights Watch on abuses

by 4WardEverUK • 13 July 2025
Interviews with police officers and internal police documents reveal abusive practices that have led to arbitrary detention and abuse of power in El Salvador, Human Rights Watch said today.
Wooden gavel rests on a book

'Who bombed Birmingham' - Passionate demand for public inquiry into terrorist pub murders

by 4WardEverUK • 13 July 2025
A public inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings that killed 21 people must be held as a 'national act of conscience' and to ensure those responsible were held to account, an MP has demanded.
The White House

California's Death Row: Call for universal clemency from civil rights leaders

by 4WardEverUK • 28 June 2025
California’s death row, the largest in the country and one of the largest in the world, has long been a symbol of what advocates described as systemic injustice, racial bias, and irreparable harm.
Eric Garner

Remembrance & Memorials : Eric Garner chokehold killing

by 4WardEverUK • 21 June 2025
On Thursday 17 July 2014, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six of Staten Island, went into cardiac arrest after officers attempted to take him into custody on charges of selling illegal cigarettes.
Woman using a laptop

INQUEST Survey: Remembering with Care Memorialisation

by 4WardEverUK • 21 June 2025
As part of Unjust Deaths, INQUEST have brought together a group of bereaved people, engaged artists, campaigners, journalists and others to form a Memorialisation Working Group.
More Articles