Summary of the London Riots - Write Up

The London Riots began when a 29 year old man, Mark Duggan, was shot on 4th August 2011 by police who attempted to arrest him in Tottenham, North East London, England. He died from a gunshot wound to the chest after it was suspected that he was planning a revenge attack after his cousin was stabbed to death, he had a gun with him during the incident. At first the Riots began as a peaceful protest outside a police station in Tottenham, however, youths began to arrive later on and began to initiate violence as the peaceful protest escalated into a full blown violent riots. The youths that escalated the riots were not given a fair voice as the press began stereotyping youths which caused moral panic amongst the population, this ruined any chance of remorse towards them, no forgiveness or excuse. The youths involved in the riots represented all youths in a bad way although most youths do not behave in ways like this. This links with avid Gauntlet's theory of " identities are not given but constructed and negotiated" which goes with the riots as the media constructed fear and panic into the public that all youths are responsible for the events of the riots, without taking into account they youths side of the events.

Suggested Contributory Factors
- Poor relations with police
- Social exclusion
- Family breakdown
- Government cuts
- Unemployment
- Gang Culture
- Criminal Opportunism
- Moral decay at the top
- Failure of the penal system

Using the newspaper articles and videos from youtube I have gathered it is clear to see that youths are shown in a bad light. Newspaper headlines such as the Daily Telegraph's "Rule of the mob" the Independent's "Mob Rule" and the Time's "Mob rule as police surrender the streets", all three headlines mention the word "Mob" which is a stereotypical view on youths of Britain today. With the media portraying the youths as bad people the population are unable to see the good things that youths do, its not all bad, its just the youths don't have a voice in the media to stop all the moral panic and social deviance that the media create. There was only one video I found that showed a young man speaking to Boris Johnson, putting the youths side into perspective, which gives the youths a small voice within the media, although most videos I found make youths look like criminals as they show buildings being smashed up, bricks being thrown and cars being set a light.