Contemporary Criminology Essay: Theories and the London Riots of 2011

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the 2011 London Riots from a contemporary criminology perspective. It examines the riots through the lens of anomie theory, exploring the societal factors such as poverty, unemployment, and discrimination that contributed to the unrest. The essay also discusses crime prevention strategies and their unintended consequences, including escalation, warning messages, and the reversal effect. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of labeling theory in criminal deviance and the importance of strict punishments in deterring future crimes. The essay references key criminological thinkers like Durkheim and Baggini, providing a well-rounded understanding of the riots' causes, implications, and the justice system's response. The analysis highlights the importance of social solidarity and the impact of societal structures on criminal behavior.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
Contemporary Criminology
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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The London Riots in 2011 was a one of a kind riot which surpassed violence inflicting on
the state irrespective of gender, caste and creed. Riots: In the own Words is a BBS documentary
that tells the tale of the horrific details of the riots as seen through the eyes of the police1. The 5
day rioting saw gruesome death, looting, death and people self immolating. The rioting can be
seen to be subscribing to criminal theories attaining to anomie and violence by gangs and youths.
The riots can be seen through the theory of anomie, that is, the individuals in a society are
constantly torn between normlessness and morality and in the long run, the individuals are
coming together under the garb of dissimilarity. The individuals are not cohesive in their
similarity and the dissimilarity among the youth is breeding contempt and further aggravating
isolation. The more the isolation the more chances of breaking the societal principles and
fundamentals of norms2. The competing interests in the light of the London riot can be
categorized into different segments, like hunger, poverty, unemployment, discrimination and so
on and so forth. The frustration arising out of these norms challenge then social norms and try to
break them. By following the principles of Emily Durkheim, it can also be concluded that in
cases of dissenting interests, the youth tend to break the shackles of societal norms3. Durkehim
called this riot“social glue” because in his perspective riots have a tendency to bring about social
cohesion and positive changes in the society4. Thorough investigation could not find any
probable cause for the riot and no single cause could be attached to the riots. There was
collective pessimism and people had lost hope in the government5. It was a collective outrage
1 Briggs, Daniel. "Violence, global unrest and advanced capitalism: the case for the English riots of 2011." (2015).
2 Moran, Matthew, and David Waddington. "Violence and Looting on the Streets of London: The English Riots of
2011." Riots. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016. 115-140.
3 Lightowlers, Carly L. "Let’s get real about the ‘riots’: Exploring the relationship between deprivation and the
English summer disturbances of 2011." Critical Social Policy 35.1 (2015): 89-109.
4 Wallace, Andrew. "The English riots of 2011: Summoning community, depoliticising the city." City 18.1 (2014):
10-24.
5 Aksenova, Marina. "Solidarity as a Moral and Legal Basis for Crimes Against Humanity: A Durkheimean
Perspective." Browser Download This Paper (2016).

2CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
and people had nowhere to go and having left with no option, they decided to take the law into
their own hands. The youth were in a state of anomie, that is, there was a sense of isolation that
prevailed among the youth. They were lacking social solidarity. With the advent of western
capitalism, there is a lack of employment and the frustration and tension had given rise to the
collective outrage. The youths felt socially outcast and marginalized with no one listening to
their demands. The anomie arose from frustration and depression. The society has lost the
capacity to instill law and order and restore the faith of these youth back in the syst5em. Affected
and marginalized, the riot was an outbreak of protest. In the words of Durkheim, there is a state
of normlessness and nihilism and the youth is losing hope6. The criminal background behind this
is anomie is a result of lack of regulation and can be explained as lack of opportunity giving rise
to violent tendencies. The lack of regulation can only give rise to a strain of anomie which has
been severely discussed at length by Durkheim. Rebellion has always been a way to showcase
protest because rebellion lacks accountability and that is the mindset of socially frustrated and
depressed youth. Therefore, the strain theory explains the riots because the social structure
sometimes forces citizens to commit crime and crime can be seen a direct consequence of social
injustice7.
2. Crime prevention is the process of implementing techniques to prevent crime and finds ways
that crimes do not occur in the society. There are a few negative unintended consequences of
crime prevention that state that in the process of preventing crime, there are chances that crime
will increase. This is an irony that goes ahead to state that in the process of eliminating crime, it
might so happen that the strategies adopted may further produce more crime.
6 Panagiotopoulos, Panagiotis, Alinaghi Ziaee Bigdeli, and Steven Sams. "Citizen–government collaboration on
social media: The case of Twitter in the 2011 riots in England." Government Information Quarterly 31.3 (2014):
349-357.
7 Durkheim, Emile. The division of labor in society. Simon and Schuster, 2014.

3CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
Escalation: It says that sometimes the programmes with the best intentions cause more harm
than good. Sometimes blocked criminal behavior leads to violent tendencies and they are driven
by more harmful means of goal attainment. The task is that of the police to ensure that their
behavior or attitude do not in any way bring about harsh feelings in the wrongdoers. It so
happens that police interactions lead to heightened aggression and the other party is insulted or
humiliated8. The aim of punishing or penalizing a wrongdoer is to ensure that they are deterred
from committing that crime again but in reality that does not happen and there is defiance.
Therefore though punishment is given to make sure the wrongdoer sees the difference between
right and wrong but that does not happen mostly and the wrongdoer gets an idea of breaking the
rules more as way of protest.
Producing warning messages: These are another way of enticing someone’s attention to a crime
and thought he person was initially oblivious to the crime, in cases where it is seen that he is
made to notice a certain information related to a crime, he will get excited to know more about
the crime. This is also known as the “forbidden fruit effect”. That is, if someone is prohibited
from consuming a certain fruit, he will mostly try to be rebel and consume that fruit. That logic
applies to wrongdoers too because if they are tempted, they will go ahead with the crime.
Reversal effect: this applies to crimes that can be committed in the long term. If someone is
deterred from committing a crime, it might cause a reverse effect9. After being prevented and
penalized for committing a crime, the wrongdoer might again do it in the later stage of his life.
8 Newman, Graeme, and Ronald V. Clarke. Rational choice and situational crime prevention: Theoretical
foundations. Routledge, 2016.
9 Welsh, Brandon C., David P. Farrington, and B. Raffan Gowar. "Benefit-cost analysis of crime prevention
programs." Crime and justice 44.1 (2015): 447-516.

4CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
Labeling: this is a very important theory in criminal deviance that, if society labels a person as a
criminal, it effects him internally and also his personality. This might lead to an alteration of
nature and personality and might lead to social anxiety and depression. Therefore, labeling does
not help the person whereas on the contrary, by labeling a person, chances are high that the
person will turn into a delinquent. These theories prove that thought he intention is to prevent
crime but there are certain steps taken by the police, authority or the society that alters a person’s
personality and also promotes criminal actions.
Julian Baggini in his article has strongly appreciated the Court’s decision in giving strict
punishments. In the words of Baggini, it is always appreciated when the Courts have the power
to give out harsh punishments and they do so keeping in mind the nature of the crime. Riots are
becoming commonplace and therefore there needs to be strong and stringent laws that put a stop
to such violence. Though there have been similar crimes which have not attracted similar
attention but in the case of the Summer Riots, the attention received by the Court has been
stupendous and beyond the reach of common people. The aim of the judgment was to put on
record that in cases of violence perpetrated in such horrendous nature, the outcome shall be
grave10. Applying the principles of justice and morality, it can be said that there shall be no
discrimination and crimes of the same nature should be treated similarly and the punishments
given out should be similar too. In the light of the further implications of the judgment, it acts as
precedence that anyone trying to inflict violence on innocent lives shall be treated with harsher
punishments and that no one will be spared. The importance of this judgment lies in the fact that
harsher punishments are the biggest deterrence that prevents crimes of such nature in the future.
The goal of the justice delivery system is to ensure that the lives of the innocent are given
10 Bell, Brian, Laura Jaitman, and Stephen Machin. "Crime deterrence: Evidence from the London 2011 riots." The
Economic Journal 124.576 (2014): 480-506.

5CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
primacy11. The youths who incited the mob were held accountable and the UK Appeals Court
had also upheld lengthy decisions saying that anyone trying to threaten the peace and stability of
the society should be dealt strictly according to the provisions of law. The courts need to gauge
the moral implications of the crimes that are perpetrated and it is within the powers of the
judiciary to ensure that proper justice is delivered12. The killing of Mark Duggan by police
shooting spiraled into rioting, looting and killing of lives. The internal reason behind the riot was
racial and ethnic tension fuelled by rumours on the social media. The reasoning behind lengthy
punishment as cited by the Courts is that in a health and harmonious society, there shall be no
place for discrimination, violence and hatred.
11 Tilley, Nick, and Aiden Sidebottom, eds. Handbook of crime prevention and community safety. Taylor & Francis,
2017
12 Kawalerowicz, Juta, and Michael Biggs. "Anarchy in the UK: Economic deprivation, social disorganization, and
political grievances in the London Riot of 2011." Social Forces 94.2 (2015): 673-698.

6CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
Reference
Aksenova, Marina. "Solidarity as a Moral and Legal Basis for Crimes Against Humanity: A
Durkheimean Perspective." Browser Download This Paper (2016).
Bell, Brian, Laura Jaitman, and Stephen Machin. "Crime deterrence: Evidence from the London
2011 riots." The Economic Journal 124.576 (2014): 480-506.
Briggs, Daniel. "Violence, global unrest and advanced capitalism: the case for the English riots
of 2011." (2015).
Durkheim, Emile. The division of labor in society. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
Kawalerowicz, Juta, and Michael Biggs. "Anarchy in the UK: Economic deprivation, social
disorganization, and political grievances in the London Riot of 2011." Social Forces 94.2 (2015):
673-698.
Lightowlers, Carly L. "Let’s get real about the ‘riots’: Exploring the relationship between
deprivation and the English summer disturbances of 2011." Critical Social Policy 35.1 (2015):
89-109.
Moran, Matthew, and David Waddington. "Violence and Looting on the Streets of London: The
English Riots of 2011." Riots. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016. 115-140.
Newman, Graeme, and Ronald V. Clarke. Rational choice and situational crime prevention:
Theoretical foundations. Routledge, 2016.

7CONTEMPORARY CRIMINOLOGY
Panagiotopoulos, Panagiotis, Alinaghi Ziaee Bigdeli, and Steven Sams. "Citizen–government
collaboration on social media: The case of Twitter in the 2011 riots in England." Government
Information Quarterly 31.3 (2014): 349-357.
Tilley, Nick, and Aiden Sidebottom, eds. Handbook of crime prevention and community safety.
Taylor & Francis, 2017.
Wallace, Andrew. "The English riots of 2011: Summoning community, depoliticising the
city." City 18.1 (2014): 10-24.
Welsh, Brandon C., David P. Farrington, and B. Raffan Gowar. "Benefit-cost analysis of crime
prevention programs." Crime and justice 44.1 (2015): 447-516.