E-petition launch: Families unite for justice

The United Campaign Against Police Violence is proud to support this epetition launched by the United Families and Friends Campaign.

It was simultaneously launched by dozens of family campaigns and justice activists today. We need 100,000 signatures by next January to have the chance for it to be discussed in parliament.

You can read and sign the petition here. Please read the information below, and visit the UFFC website for more information.

The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) have launched an ambitious petition appeal that calls for an independent judicial inquiry into all suspicious deaths in custody.

The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) is a coalition of families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police and prison officers as well as those who died in psychiatric and immigration detention. It also has members and supporters from campaign groups and advocacy organisations from across the UK.

The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody report published in 2011 states: in total, there were 5,998 deaths recorded for the 11 years from 2000 to 2010. This is an average of 545 deaths per year. Despite the fact there have been 11 unlawful killing verdicts since 1990 there has never been a successful prosecution.

US civil rights veteran, Rev Jesse Jackson supports the inquiry campaign.
Campaign representatives have said; “Our joint efforts have yielded some results.

However, these have not addressed the lack of justice in the many outstanding cases.

“We believe that equitable dispensation justice in the UK must be done and be seen to be done if the general public are to enjoy high levels of trust and confidence in the fair administration of justice.

“The poor quality and speed of independent investigations conducted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and an Inquest process that is seriously under resourced, subject to delay and limited in remit and is not fit for purpose. Both critically fail to protect or support the rights of victims or their families”.

Amongst the demands of UFFC are the replacement of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to ensure a truly independent body. That deaths in psychiatric detention must be subject to a system of properly funded investigation that is completely independent of the Health Service and that officers and officials should never be allowed to collude over their evidence and statements of fact.

Families have also long argued the unequal allocation of legal resources in custody death cases and believe there should be an automatic right to non means tested legal aid for families. “There is a lack of funds for family legal representation at Inquests whilst officers and NHS staff get full legal representation from the public purse – this is unbalanced”.

The petition will run until January 2013.