The riots and looting in British cities in 2011 provoked an immediate response from the British government. Ministers set out detailed plans for an anti-gangs programme.
This might seem quite sensible — except that most of those involved in the 2011 riots were clearly not gang members. Criminologists James Treadwell, Daniel Briggs, Simon Winlow and Steve Hall used qualitative methods to gather in-depth interviews with difficult-to-access participants in the riots. Their reading of the riots (2013) moves well beyond the politicians’ claims of gang culture, ‘sheer criminality’ (as stated by then Home Secretary Theresa May), faulty parenting and the failures of formal education.
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