Crime : Hall - Policing the Crisis

• Hall identified a time When the British government was very unpopular and was being challenged by protest movements, e.g. students, strikes, demonstrations and conflict in Norther Ireland. This was a class conflict and a crisis of hegemony - if the public could not be united against a common enemy, they might be successful in unity against the government.
• Street robberies were not increasing in comparison to other years, but in 1972 the media directed its attention to muggings, particularly by young, black men. The media highlighted that the British way of life' was under threat and being undermined by uncontrolled youth and immigrants. This was to divert attention away from government failures.
• Then three Handsworth youths of mixed ethnicity robbed an Irish labourer of cigarettes and 30 pence (equivalent to about £6.00 in 2018). The media demanded a harsh sentence to stem the tide of evil.
• The 16-year-old 'ringleader' was sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite appeals regarding his broken home and life of poverty and his plea of guilty. The boy's father was West Indian and, although he had never known his father, a negative stereotype was presented in the media which made this case an issue of race as well as youth.
• At this time of heightened fear, harsher policing was welcomed but the police overreaction then led to an amplification of crime. When they responded to a stabbing of a white youth in a scuffle at a firework display, they felt 'outnumbered by a hostile, black crowd' and ended up fighting with the onlookers who were then arrested and charged with public order offences and assaulting a police officer.