They're young, bitter, and almost always black. And they have become seared into a new political consciousness spanning Bermuda's party divide.

You witness them most days at Plea Court, taking their place in a parade before Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis.

You hear about them filling up the cells at Bermuda's much-ballyhooed $40 million Westgate prison, many desperadoes of the drug trade.

And you saw them symbolised, perhaps, on The Royal Gazette front page -- through a picture of a man on his way to court making an obscene gesture at the cameraman.

Hold up a mirror to Bermuda 1995, look beyond the manicured beauty...and try not to blink at the reflection.

Maybe, it was staring into the looking-glass which prompted Premier David Saul last Friday to trumpet in Parliament: "People, people, people. That's what we're about.'' Ask magistrates, lawyers and politicians why a disproportionate number of black males get sucked into a remorseless, vortex of crime and prison, and the finger of blame points to well beyond the criminal justice system.

It reaches over the stark, eye-catching statistic: 90 percent of Bermuda's prison population is black, one of the highest known incarceration rates in the world.

The justice machine may have a few technical glitches, and require fine-tuning; the Police may need a crash course in sensitivity, and a more driven Bermudianisation policy; and the jury system in such a small Island may even need revising, and replaced by a panel of judges. But, by and large, the system is in working order. And cranks along pretty well.

So the argument goes.

"You only have to look at the bench, all the magistrates are black now apart from Acting Magistrate Ken Brown, and most of the judges are too,'' stresses Mr. Francis, 63.

"The situation was very different when I was young and entering law. Things have improved.'' Crown Counsel Mr. Khamisi Tokunbo presents a similar picture.

"I can't say I have directly seen or come across any discrimination,'' he said. "It's difficult to detect.'' And there are some who fear the pendulum has swung too much the other way. One Policeman, who did not wish to be named, said: "There are cases where we feel we have a pretty good case, and yet it gets thrown out. Obviously, it's difficult to pin down, and say that's a case of racism, but you wonder.'' The real problem, say many blacks and an expanding class of whites, is more deep-rooted: It lies Race and criminal justice in Bermuda's history, an unfair education system, and the traditional control whites have had on the levers of economic power.

Moreover, it lies within Bermudians' minds, attitudes and feelings. And there's the rub.

How can a black Bermudian expect to get a fair hearing in a society which Government accepts is riddled with racial prejudice? It is through this distorted prism, it seems, that so many blacks view the criminal justice system.

In much the same way as the OJ Simpson and Rodney King beating trials became a barometer of America's fissile race relations, so have several high-profile cases in Bermuda. Among them: Former Independent and United Bermuda Party MP, Harry Viera, who was fined $4,000 for possessing a .38 calibre six-shot Smith and Wesson revolver, an electric stun gun and two canisters of "pepper defence'' spray. Many complained he got off lightly because of his colour, even though the Magistrate the Wor. Cheryl Ann-Mapp was black and based his sentence on long-standing precedents; Randy Benjamin who was jailed four years for stabbing Michael Robson after a fight at the Ice Queen in Paget. The conviction and sentence were appealed last week; Businessman Allan Williams and Richard Graham Thomas -- the so-called "Harbour Road Two'' -- who were jailed for four years and four and a half years respectively. Williams was found guilty of allowing Thomas to use his basement to grow 75 mature cannabis plants; and Grant Forbes, son of retired Deputy Police Commissioner Alex Forbes, who was jailed for unlawful wounding.

The predominance of the racial theme in each became glaringly apparent from the outset. And just as the OJ trial, the question of fairness was answered by blacks and whites largely through the heart than the head.

"In the Ice Queen case you had a white victim who had a knife plunged into his head,'' says Mr. Tokunbo, who prosecuted in the case.

"It was a situation where you had black boys from the Clayhouse and white boys from the Robin Hood who converged at the Ice Queen, and all hell breaks loose. I know the jury were divided along racial lines.'' One black lawyer told The Royal Gazette he was convinced there was a conspiracy to drop the "Harbour Road'' case.

"Pressure had to be brought to push it to trial,'' he said.

Someone once said the longest journey is from the head to the heart. In Bermuda's case, maps and compasses for plotting a route to racial equality appear to be still in hand, and the walking boots not yet pulled on.

"I'm not very optimistic. There is a huge disparity between lip service and actual delivery and commitment to change,'' says Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown. "I don't believe the UBP Government see a need to change.'' Mr. Tokunbo is similarly less than upbeat.

"I'm a realist. It's only of late that these issues are being confronted head-on.

"But the question is by raising these issues are we trying to appease or achieve? Is there a genuine attempt to deal with the matter?'' For some, even speaking publicly about race is akin to stepping on a minefield.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you will get any expat lawyer talking to you.

They are just too scared about losing their jobs,'' one normally outspoken attorney told The Royal Gazette .

Even the no-nonsense Sir James Astwood, a former Chief Justice and now president of the Court of Appeal, was shy about joining a round-table discussion on racism.

As a politician, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness, had no such qualms.

"Is the criminal justice system racist? Does it treat white and black Bermudians differently? Why yes, of course it does,'' he declares.

"It's a major, complex thing, and racism affects people every day of their lives.

"You see young black men every day in court, you listen to their inarticulateness, and you see they are not represented.

"This system treats them differently. When you are white you are articulate because you are well educated, and you can afford to be represented.'' He added: "We have a problem where we find more blacks go into the criminal justice system than whites. That makes the system racist, but it's not the system's fault. "Blacks have been disadvantaged economically and educationally, and just do not have the firepower to get the same treatment.'' There is a similar thread running through Dr. Brown's thinking, although the rhetoric is more highly-charged.

"All over the world, non-white males are incarcerated vastly out of proportion to their percentage of the population,'' he argues.

"Therefore, I've concluded it's either due to genetic predisposition or to a system which ensures it.

"My personal belief is the latter. And so I believe, although we do many things to aggravate our own problem, the major cause for this disproportion rests in the system of white supremacy.

"The criminal justice system is just one part of the system. By the time blacks get to the criminal justice system they have been miseducated, misguided and misinformed and fall into the net which is the criminal justice system.

"That's the final screen which separates them from their society. When they pass that line they are then placed in a situation where they become wards of the state unable to produce offspring and likely to return to prison.

"The criminal justice system's incarceration of black men and women is a necessary party of the machinery. It's not an accident, nor is it simply due to the lack of discipline among black people.'' Black attorneys Mr. Tokunbo and Mr. Archie Warner agree racial slurs slung at Bermuda's criminal justice system reflect a much deeper malaise.

"There is a perception that the system is unfair, and this will continue to be perpetuated for any number of reasons,'' says Mr. Tokunbo.

"Perceptions are really just an outgrowth of what is happening in the wider community.

"We have a racially divided community, it's a fact of life. Go to any club, any church, and you can see how the community is divided. Blacks and whites tolerate each other as a courtesy.'' He adds: "By and large the criminal justice system works, but I don't venture to say by any means there isn't any bias in the administration of justice, because people, Police, judges and lawyers are human beings. They harbour their own prejudices.'' Mr. Warner, a defence lawyer, sees no way of steering around the "90 percent'' statistic on the prison population.

"There is going to be a perception of racism in the criminal justice system because the numbers are just so skewed in a Country where the black hite ratio is 60:40.

"The perception is based on the fact blacks, historically, have been treated differently from whites. I would say, though the perception is not as real as feared.'' The true culprit is the political system.

"There is something inherently wrong with the system. Perhaps the main thing which causes problems is that whites have greater opportunities in Bermuda to improve their economic position.

"And hence they have fewer reasons to get involved in criminal activity. The system has done very little to correct this economic imbalance.'' Mr. Warner adds: "Historically, there has always been blatant racism, and there is still racism touching every aspect of life in Bermuda. That has not changed.

"It has just changed its form. It has become more insidious, and more subtle.'' Government backbencher and lawyer Mr. Trevor Moniz stressed the high number of blacks in prison was not unique to Bermuda; American jails were likewise full.

"There is obviously a problem of alienation, of single parent families, of blacks without self-esteem and discipline, and a lack of commitment to education. The people who should be guiding the children aren't there, and this happens in the white population as well.

"Part of the problem is historical, and relates to the break-up or non-existence of the nuclear black family "In too many cases, you have extended families with aunties and uncles raising a family who don't have the necessary commitment.'' In his 1992 report on Bermuda's criminal justice system, Judge Stephen Tumim, Chief Inspector of Prisons in England and Wales, repeatedly spotlighted the deep racial tensions bedevilling Bermuda.

"In eliminating segregation, removing the legal basis is not enough. A society must have the fortitude to undertake the task of removing social attitudes that prevent people from treating each other with the respect and dignity all human beings deserve.'' Judge Tumim said the problem of race relations had been dealt with piecemeal.

"To date, there has been little concerted effort expanded to cause the `institutions' in the community to change their outdated systemic patterns of behaviour.'' He added: "Bermuda still has a long way to go to reach the goal of racial justice, economic equity and the establishment of a criminal justice system that is accepted as fair by all residents.'' Judge Tumim singled out education as the key.

"Many of those in Bermuda's prison facilities are either school dropouts and r those who did not have a positive school experience.'' He said most black secondary students were in non-academic schools considered low down the educational pecking order, resulting in low self esteem and disrespect for authority.

Judge Tumim stated more than 50 percent of those in custody were aged 30 and under.

It was, therefore, to be expected that a significant proportion of young Bermudians were "inappropriately'' placed behind bars.

Dr. Brown agrees, but goes further.

"In this society it's very easy to devote all one's attention to the punitive aspects of the system.

"But in a small jurisdiction we should be aggressively seeking rehabilitation. However, it is not in the interests of some people to do anything beyond warehousing these young men and women. And the amount of money spent doing this is mindboggling.'' Mr. Dill, the Deputy Premier, is more optimistic. The Island, he says, has come a long way since the days of segregation in the '60s.

But as Bermuda blinks into the daylight of recognition of its racial problems, the future is uncertain.

Some, like Mr. Warner and Dr. Brown, believe the potential for a racial conflagration is great, unless the pace of change picks up.

"One thing that terrifies me in dealing with young clients is that with so much materialism there is a sense of hopelessness. They don't care, and that is dangerous,'' says Mr. Warner.

Mr. Warner fears a drift towards the right, bringing stiffer penalties in its wake, will push Bermuda's youth to breaking point.

"The fuse will blow.'' One week before the bench Last week, Royal Gazette reporters kept track of the racial backgrounds of people who appeared in Plea Court -- where people accused of crimes first appear before a Magistrate to be charged.

It is not intended to be a scientific survey but it provides a snapshot of the Island's criminal justice system and its racial context.

Between Monday, November 20, and Friday, November 24, 53 people appeared to answer charges. Of the total, 43 defendants, or more than 80 percent, were black and ten were white.

All but one of the white defendants were charged with some form of traffic offence. The other alleged offender was charged with theft.

In addition to traffic offences, the black defendants were accused of sexual assault, stealing, fraud, possessing a prohibited weapon, unlawful assault and shoplifting.

INEQUITIES -- Among Bermudians, white-headed households have higher incomes than families headed by blacks.