24 Comparing Civil Rights Flashcards
(47 cards)
Evidence that concerns about civil rights are often comparable between the UK and the US?
BLM protests 2020 - started in Minneapolis and spread to the UK, with many protestors emphasising the fact that the UK has an institutionally racist Metropolitan Police (Casey Report, 2024, Macpherson Enquiry, 1999)
What is the UK’s equivalent of the US Bill of Rights?
Hard to say, but the 1998 Human Rights Act could be a good place to start
Why, structurally, are rights in the UK less well protected?
Not ENTRENCHED like they are in the USA
How could we evaluate the idea that the UK’s human rights are not as entrenched?
We have the ECHR, which actually increases entrenchment since the UK’s judiciary is also accountable to the European Court system. America does not have an equivalent
Evidence both UK and US legislatures have taken measures to protect civil rights and liberties?
- Equality Act 2010 in UK - 116 individual measures and merged many pre-existing equality statutes including EPA 1970
- Civil Rights Act 1964 - Banned racial discrimination in voting, including banning literacy tests
We could say that the both the UK and the US have the rule of law to uphold citizen’s rights and liberties. However, how could we evaluate this?
1999 Macpherson Enquiry - Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist, updated with 2024 Casey Report
And in America - obvious instances of institutional racism
Unequal experiences with the judicial system suggest that the rule of law is less sacrosanct than initially suggested
What key structural difference is there in how civil rights and liberties are upheld in the US vs the UK?
Role of the respective judiciaries - UKSC has far less of a central role than the SCOTUS
2 structural reasons for SCOTUS’ more central role in upholding civil rights and liberties in the US?
- Constitutional sovereignty - the SCOTUS can strike down Acts of Congress and Presidential actions it deems unconstitutional, whereas the UKSC’s power of judicial review are limited to mere declarations of incompatibility
- Power of “interpretative amendments” - SCOTUS can make informal amendments via LANDMARK RULINGS, whereas in the UK the authority to influence the constitution largely rests with Parliament
Which part of the US and British constitution deal explicitly with rights?
- US - Bill of Rights 1791
- UK - Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010
7 key areas we could compare civil rights and liberties between the US and the UK in?
GIRL WCR
- Civil liberties and national emergencies
- Women’s rights
- Race
- Immigrants’ rights
- LGBTQ rights
- Gun rights
- Religious groups
Evidence of similarity in how civil liberties can be restricted in the US and the UK during periods of national emergency and eval?
- PATRIOT Act 2001 - unwarranted searches (4th Amendment violated), surveillance
- 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act - control orders amongst other things
2011 - control orders were repealed and replaced with “TPIMs”. Arguably, American civil rights more effectively upheld by judiciary. 2006 Hamdan v Rumsfeld was binding - 2006 Appellate Committee rules that control orders are an “affront to justice” but nothing happens until ‘11.
Why is the civil liberties in a crisis debate somewhat nuanced?
Does not neatly follow ideological lines, with a centre-left Labour government in the UK responsible for the POTA and Bush responsible for the 2001 PATRIOT Act
Evidence that, in the US, it is not fair to characterise all Republicans as anti-civil liberties and all Democrats as pro?
2013 - Senator Rand Paul holds a 13 hour filibuster against the use of drone strikes
How is there a clear difference between the US and the UK when it comes to women’s rights?
- Much wider role for the judiciary in the US than in the UK
- No major party in the UK is anti-abortion
- Abortion legalised in 1967 with the Abortion Act in the UK, legalised 1973 RvW and subsequently deregulated with 2022 DvJ
How could we evaluate the idea that UK abortion is uncontroversial compared to the US?
In Northern Ireland this is certainly not the case. In 2019, abortion was finally legalised there
Evidence religiosity may be a key cause of the more polarised debate in abortion in the US?
56% of Americans consider themselves religious, versus just 30% of Brits, with more “evangelical” groups in US society
Key example of a difference between the British and the American attitudes to race?
Despite widespread racism in both countries, the US has had affirmative action since 1964 whereas the UK never has
Is it fair to say the UK “didn’t have a racial civil rights movement”?
That would be an oversimplification. Whilst the UK never had legalised, segregationist policies like the US did with its “Jim Crow” laws, there was a British civil rights movement, with the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott and the subsequent 1965 Race Relations Act, which banned racism
Is it fair to say the UK never had legally sanctioned racism?
Not really. Pre-1965, many companies operated, legally at the time, what were known as “colour bars”, the most famous example being the Bristol Omnibus Company’s.
Evidence police violence is less of a problem in the UK and key eval?
2019 - 3 people die in police custody, versus 1004 in US
But is it fair to characterise the British police as less racist than the Americans?
Not really
2x more likely to die in custody versus 2.5x in US
1999 Macpherson Enquiry and 2024 Casey - institutional racism in Met
What measure did the UK police take to reduce racism?
1980s - repealed “sus” laws where the police could arrest anyone for anything
Recent example of police brutality/racism in the Met?
Killing of Chris Kaba in 2022 - officers acquitted - unclear what happened
3 statistics showing institutional racism in policing and education in the UK?
- 9x more likely to be stopped and searched
- 3x more likely to be tasered
- Black Caribbean and mixed Caribbean/white children are 3x more likely to be permanently excluded from school than their white counterparts
