An Analysis of Criminological

Documentary analysis

The documentary ‘The Hard Stop’ raises some important and pertinent questions that highlight not only race relations in the UK, but also the underlying tensions between the Black communities and the police. The purpose of the documentary is to shed some light on causes of the London riots of 2011; however, it does more than participate in the discourse around the Mark Duggan death that led to the riots, and highlights some of the important criminological issues that are briefly discussed in this analysis.

The documentary starts with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” This is an important statement as it underpins the key message of the documentary, which is that the riots in 2011 were the consequence of the repeated failure of the authorities to address the underlying tensions and mistrust between the police and the members of the Black communities. It is also important that the title of the documentary, ‘Hard Stop’ is a reference to the stop and search powers that are exercised by the police in England and Wales and which have been found to be used disproportionately against the members of the Black communities and Asian communities (Jefferson, 2012).

Although rioting is a criminal act, the documentary shows the cultural and social factors that form the background of the riots of 2011. The immediate cause of the riots was the death of Mark Duggan due to fatal police shooting at a stop and search operation. However, the cultural and social background of the riots can be linked back to repeated actions in which Black people have lost their lives and which have led to the development of the perception that the police is institutionally racist and conducts stop and search operations based on racial profiling.

The documentary uses the technique of observation to tell the story of Mark Duggan’s childhood friends by focusing on them; Marcus Knox-Hooke and Kurtis Henville become the subjects of the documentary, through whose stories, the documentary tells the story of the building mistrust between the local Black communities and the police. It is important that the site of the documentary is mostly the homes of Marcus Knox-Hooke and Kurtis Henville on Broadwater Farm, which is the scene of the 1985 riots which also were triggered by tensions between the police and Black communities. The documentary follows the two young black subjects over a period of 2 years. The documentary stops at the point where Duggan was found to have been "lawfully killed" and Marcus Knox-Hooke is held responsible for triggering the 2011 riots.

The message that the documentary seeks to give is that the riots were not the results of criminal intent on the part of the rioters, but due to the festering frustrations and tensions in the Black communities because repeatedly, there have been deaths of Black people when they come in contact with police, but no policeman has ever been convicted following an unlawful killing verdict.

From a criminological perspective, the documentary can be linked to social disorganisation theory, which is used to explain the effects of neighbourhood structural factors on the younger people in the neighbourhood and includes discussion on how such people can be led to criminal behaviour due to such disorganisation (Shaw & McKay, 1942; Vinson, Baldry, & Hargreaves, 1996). The causal links between poverty, neighbourhood and delinquency are reported in research in the UK, which shows that there is a link between the criminality of individuals and the neighbourhood that they live in (Vinson, Baldry, & Hargreaves, 1996). The documentary shows the background not just of Mark Duggan, who was involved in some possession offences in the past, but also the effects of the neighbourhood’s background on young people like Marcus Knox-Hooke who grew up amidst the festering mistrust with the police due to the events of 1985.

Another aspect that this documentary reveals is that of the perception of systematic oppression by the police forces against the members of the Black community, particularly young Black men, who face the majority of the stop and search orders. Oppressive policing of the Black and Ethnic Minorities can be related to such systematic oppression where young male members of the Black communities are often disproportionately ordered under stop and search powers (Belloni & Hodgson, 1999). It has been argued that oppressive policing includes arbitrary stop and search orders and that these orders generally stem from the police perception and even general perception that crime and Black people are connected (Belloni & Hodgson, 1999).

The documentary makes an important contribution to understanding the issue of frustration on the part of the members of the Black community with what they view as police oppression. The documentary raises the issues of mistrust and anger in the Black youth against the police. It raises the important issue of the social and cultural aspects that underpin the riots of 2011. The documentary raises the argument that the riots of 2011 were not started by Marcus Knox-Hooke because he had criminal intent, but because he was angry and frustrated with the absence of any actions against the police for the wrongful death of his childhood friend.

To conclude, the documentary can be useful for understanding the perspectives of the young members of the Black community regarding police. It raises the important issues of oppressive policing practices, wrongful death on contact with police, and the impact of these actions on the local Black communities. From a criminological perspective, the documentary can link to the social disorganisation theory which shows the impact of neighbourhood on the development of criminality of the young people in the neighbourhood. The events of 1985 are shown to have impacted the existing and continuing mistrust of the police among the residents of Broadwater Farm. Above all, the documentary leaves the viewer with the question as to whether the riots could have been avoided had the police addressed the protestors before they got violent.

Bibliography:

Belloni, F., & Hodgson, J. (1999). Criminal Injustice: An Evaluation of the Criminal Justice Process in Britain. London: Springer

Jefferson, T. (2012). Policing the riots: from Bristol and Brixton to Tottenham, via Toxteth, Handsworth, etc: Tony Jefferson tells the angry, ongoing story of rioting over the past 30 years. Criminal Justice Matters, 87(1), 8-9.

Shaw, C., & McKay, H. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Vinson, T., Baldry, E., & Hargreaves, J. (1996). Neighbourhoods, net- works, and child abuse. British Journal of Social Work, 26, 523-543.

What were the key causes of the London riots 2011?

The London riots of 2011 happened in the aftermath of the killing of a young person (Mark Duggan) by the police in August 2011 and what began as a peaceful protest outside the Tottenham Police station turned into violent protests that spread from Tottenham to other boroughs of London. The immediate cause of the London riots of 2011 was the death of Mark Duggan by police shooting, an event that was seen by local Black communities as a case of racial profiling and brutal murder (Benyon, 2012). However, these perceptions of the local Black populations are grounded in events that happened in 1981 and then again in 1985 when similar riots had taken place after the police action related deaths of members of Black community (Jefferson, 2012). Therefore, it can be said that there is an immediate cause of London riots of 2011, but there are also some historical causes that have impacted the relations between the police and the Black community, which manifested in the reactions of the Black community to the death of Mark Duggan. As this essay will discuss, the reactions of the Black community which ultimately led to riots lasting over four days, were the result of the long festering mutual mistrust between the police and the local Black communities.

The immediate cause of London riots of 2011 is the death of Mark Duggan on 4th August 2011 (Slater, 2011). Initially, there were some questions that were not answered or responded to adequately by the police as to the causes of Mark Duggan’s death (Slater, 2011; Jefferson, 2012). Protestors gathered outside the Tottenham Police station but no member of the police responded to their queries about Duggan’s death (Jefferson, 2012). Then, some elements in the protesting public outside the Tottenham police station became violent and burnt a police car (Jefferson, 2012). This was the beginning of the riots that quickly spread across London and then to other cities of England (Jefferson, 2012).

There are also historical events that added to the discontent of the Black community, and which need to be understood for assessing the causes of the London riots of 2011. One of the causes of the London riots of 2011 is grounded in history of riots in the Tottenham borough which have led to the festering of tensions between the police and the local Black population and the development of mutual mistrust between them. This can be traced back to the mistaken killing of Cynthia Garrett and Cherry Groce by the police and the murder of PC Keith Henry Blakelock by the rioting public. PC Blakelock who was a London Metropolitan police constable at the time of the Tottenham riots on the night of 6th October 1985 and who was killed during these riots with a stab wound to his neck (Jefferson, 2012). The murder of PC Blakelock led to tensions between the police force and citizenry of Tottenham which had not abated by 2011 and had an impact on police reaction to the protests outside the Tottenham Police station. It has been considered that there was mutual trust gap between the police and black communities in the UK after the murder of PC Blakelock (Jefferson, 2012). The mutual trust gap is also linked to the killing of Cynthia Jarrett, which was the starting point of the Tottenham riots in 1985; this was a case of rough handling by the police, and the mistaken shooting of Cherry Groce in 1985, which led to the Brixton riots (Jefferson, 2012).

The murder was also responsible for the subsequent reform of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which gave police new stop and search powers, which were to be exercised on ‘reasonable grounds’ (Jefferson, 2012). However, stop and search powers have been subject of intense debate on whether these powers are disproportionately applied against Black and minorities; Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which allows powers of stop and search at random, have been said to have been used mostly against black people and Asians (Jefferson, 2012). Thus, there is the issue of over-policing of Black communities by the police, which led to tensions between the police and the local communities.

It has been argued that the London riots of 2011 were caused due to the over-policing and disproportionate use of stop and search powers by the police as well as the remembrance of Cynthia Jarrett’s wrongful death due to the police action, which led the local communities to respond to Mark Duggan’s death with protests and subsequent riots. These are the factors that are in the background of the London riots of 2011 and although these are not the immediate causes of the riots, these did engender conditions that led to the development of mutual mistrust between the police and the local communities and can thus help explain the reasons for the local communities to go on a rampage and riot.

The immediate cause of the London riots of 2011 is the death of Mark Duggan. Mark Duggan was shot by the police on the 4th August 2011 after Mark Duggan’s cab was stopped. According to police eyewitnesses, Duggan was shot twice when he purportedly tried to shoot the police with a gun. However, in the absence of CCTV footage and the handprints on the sock that held the gun, there were questions that appeared unanswered to the Black communities of the area as well as Duggan’s family. It is important to note that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which was invoked to conduct an inquiry into the incident gave a clean sheet to the police officers on the assumption that Duggan pointed a gun at the police whereas the inquest jury concluded that he had thrown the gun (Slater, 2011). This also led to suspicions in the minds of the people that the police were trying to protect their own instead of doing justice to Duggan’s family (Slater, 2011). In the aftermath of Mark Duggan’s death, the protests outside the Tottenham police station has been seen as a reflection of the public discontent and perceptions of racial discrimination in the police forces which was perceived to be institutionally racist (Briggs, 2012).

To come back to the source of discontent for the Black and Ethnic Minority communities with the police forces, which is, the stop and search powers that are perceived to be disproportionately applied by the police forces against the members of these communities, even the Lammy Review has reported that these powers continue to be a source of mistrust between the police and the Black communities (Lammy, 2017). The Lammy Review was an independent review sanctioned by the government to comprehensively study the race relations within the criminal justice system (Lammy, 2017). The review reported that there is a “disproportionate representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals starts at the beginning of the CJS journey”, that is the first point of contact between the police and the members of the public (Lammy, 2017). It is important to note that the stop and search powers is generally the first point of contact with the police forces (Bowling & Marks, 2015). Research has consistently reported that the stop and search powers are the source of the largely negative experiences by the Black individuals in contact with the criminal justice system (Bowling & Marks, 2015). Therefore, the reasons why Black communities do not trust the police and are quick to adjudge police action leading to events like Mark Duggan’s death as racial profiling and police brutality, are grounded in historical events. Discover additional insights on Drug Crimes in Scotland by navigating to our other resources hub.

To conclude, the London riots of 2011 were caused by the mutual mistrust that exists between the police and the Black community. The history of rioting in 1981, 1985 and now 2011, all manifest the mistrust between the police and the Black communities. Incidentally, the 2011 riots, just like the earlier Tottenham and Brixton riots, were all sparked by deaths of Black individuals. One of the causes of London riots can therefore be related to the inability of the police to explain the cause of death of Black individuals when police action was somehow related to these events. The deeper cause is that the members of the Black communities perceive racial discrimination at the hands of the police especially in the perceived disproportionate application of stop and search powers. The first contact between the police and the Black communities is usually stop and search powers. Research has indicated that there are negative experiences reported by Black individuals with respect to police use of stop and search powers. This essay has demonstrated how festering mutual mistrust and negative feelings between the police and the Black communities can lead to sudden riots when certain events take place, such as, the death of Mark Duggan, which remind people of similar past events that manifest police brutality and racial profiling. Because of this mistrust, some members of the public may react violently to events like Mark Duggan’s death.

Bibliography

Benyon, J. (2012). England's urban disorder: The 2011 riots . Political Insight, 3(1), 12-17.

Bowling, B., & Marks, E. (2015). Stop and Search: towards a transnational and comparative approach. In R. Delsol, & M. Shiner, Stop and Search: The Anatomy of a Police Power. London: Springer.

Briggs, D. (2012). What we did when it happened: a timeline analysis of the social disorder in London. Safer communities , 11(1), 6-16.

Jefferson, T. (2012). Policing the riots: from Bristol and Brixton to Tottenham, via Toxteth, Handsworth, etc: Tony Jefferson tells the angry, ongoing story of rioting over the past 30 years. Criminal Justice Matters, 87(1), 8-9.

Lammy, D. (2017). The Lammy Review: An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System. London.

Slater, T. (2011). From ‘criminality’to marginality: rioting against a broken state. Human Geography, 4(3), 106-115.