Information on Speakers and Event:

This session will focus on the way in which the criminal justice system deals with Black defendants. Barrister Dexter Dias has appeared in a number of high profile cases including inquests into deaths in custody and unlawful killings by the police. Dexter represented the family of Cherry Groce in a landmark inquest of national importance. Cherry was shot in the back by police in front of her children in her home. Her shooting led to the Brixton Riots. During the inquest Dexter challenged the police about their deficiencies in their operation and the jury, three decades after the shooting, returned a severely critical narrative verdict, confirming the serious police failures. Drawing on Dexter’s experience, we will examine how race affects, and infects, the criminal justice system.

Award-winning busybody, recovering academic and reforming social reformer, Dr Rob Berkeley is currently developing BlkOutUK.com, a community-owned media asset and collaborative leadership network for and by black queer men. He was Director of the racial justice think-tank Runnymede Trust 2009-14. Alongside his academic writing on education, social justice and community organizing, a recently appointed Simon Industrial Fellow at the University of Manchester, he has presented and co-produced short form documentaries, lectured across the UK and beyond, and written for The Guardian and The Independent on social justice and movement-building. Dr Berkeley was awarded an MBE in 2015 for services to equality.