On 31st May 2021 a 14 year old black boy from Birmingham Dea-John Reid was stabbed to death following being chased by 2 adults and 3 minors who were all white males, having being subjected to severe racial abuse with words such a ni**a, B***k Bas***d being openly used and admitted in court. The incident occurred in Kingstanding Birmingham.

Following a six week trial at Birmingham Crown Court all 5 white males were found not guilty of murder and the 15 year old who was 14 at the time of the incident was convicted of manslaughter by a Jury consisting of 11 White members and 1 Asian member.

This Jury was not representative of Birmingham and does not reflect the diversity either. 

Clearly there needs to be reform when empanelling Juries for cases of this nature particularly when racial discrimination is an clear and undeniable issue.

Peremptory Jury challenges were abolished some time ago and yet again this decision highlights the importance of having reflective Jurys.

In the case of Dea-John Reid there was no mechanism to ensure that the Jury was reflective of Birmingham, neither was there any form of ethnic balance.

Our contention is that a mechanism could be adopted through a special application to a High Court Judge in cases with special circumstances such as this one, as clearly, this nation went down on one knee supporting Black Lives Matter.

The family placed their trust in the criminal justice system and have been severely let down demonstrating yet again that it is not fit for purpose.

As such this petition call for the UK Government to introduce legislation to reinstate peremptory jury challenges in cases of this nature in order to ensure a balanced and meaningful decision making body which a Jury should be and bringing an end to all white Jurys.