Admittedly, I had never heard of the Stephen Lawrence case until I came to Uni. Perhaps because I was under a month old when the murder took place, perhaps because evidence has taken so long to settle, hence the length of time taken to identify and prosecute the murderers – or maybe it was just that I’ve only become fully news conscious within the past two years.

Either way, the newspaper industry has had a powerful role in bringing the case to justice; the Daily Mail’s “MURDERERS” front page is the only one Editor Paul Dacre keeps in his office. The Mail is extremely proud of their efforts to bring the truth about Lawrence’s murder to light, whether a genuine compassion for the case, or the Mail’s desperation to prove that they are not in fact racist. Personal gain aside – their efforts were successful and Dobson and Norris have now been successfully prosecuted for their crimes.

The question is – what happens now? In a video released by the Guardian, residents of Eltham – the home of the late Stephen Lawrence – are seen commenting on the fact that they believe the area to still be predominantly racist.

In addition, a study by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the London School of Economics found that there is 41.6 stop-and-searches for every 1000 black people in London, compared with a measly 1.6 for every 100 white people. These figures strongly suggest the country’s ongoing racism and

The murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve is also similar to the Stephen Lawrence case. Anuj’s father, Subhash Bidve, has been critical of the way both the British and Indian authorities in the way they have approached his son’s murder, highly reminiscent of the outcry of Lawrence’s family in the years following his death.

 This brings about the question of change in the past 18 years; has there really been any? Race related hate crimes are ongoing, figures show that black people are still being targeted more than whites and sadly, attitudes still don’t seem to be changing.