University:
University College London
Course:
LAWS0035 | Criminology
Academic year:

2024
Views:

394

Pages:

3
Author:

Nam B.

Towards a Normative Theory of Just Riots Presented by: Mrs. Havercroft Date: November 19, 2022 Current Context - - Recent high profile clashes between Police and protestors in the UK • Clapham Common vigil • Bristol anti-Policing Bill Public Debate about limitations on protest in the Emergency Powers of the Coronavirus Act + proposed new limitations of protest in the policing bill - Surge in protests and riots in the last 18 months tied to BLM, climate activism, antilockdown protests, and pro-Trump insurrection Riots As Taboo - My project interrogates that taboo by exploring the shifting normative assessment of riots over time - Mainstream political discourse condemns riots as violent, and hence illegitimate protests - Yet many famous riots generated significant social and political change • Peterloo Massacre → 19th century voting reform • Stonewall → LGBT riots movement • BLM riots in Ferguson, Baltimore, Minneapolis → shift in attitudes to policing and mass incarceration A Genealogy Of The Riot in UK Law - A reversal in moral interpretation of rioting - Riot law as a means of criminalizing political protest - Violence only becomes criteria in 1986, before that issue was unlawful assembly and crowd size - As middle-class modes of expressing dissent (debate, pamphlets, media access) became legally protected, working-class modes of dissent (assembly, striking, and protest) became criminalized Pre-1714 In the Pre-1714, Riot was used as Plebian defense of common law Riot Act 1714 - Introduced to suppress rebellion against King George I - Four key components: • 1. Dispersal order • 2. Indemnification of authorities • 3. Criminalization of presence • 4. Discretion of sheriff/justice of peace to invoke riot act 1815-1830 - Criminalization of Unlawful Assembly 1986 Public Order Act - Riot act fell into disuse and was repealed in 1973 - Response to inner city anti-police riots in 1981 and coal miner strikes - First time violence is used as criteria to delegitimize assembly - Directed to be interpreted in conjunction with ECHR right of assembly and freedom of association Main Conclusions - Riot law demarcates legitimate from illegitimate protest - Major shifts in riot law grew out of efforts to suppress political dissent - Current Policing Bill criminalizes "static protests", noise, statue vandalism • i.e. targets tactics non-violent tactics used by BLM and environmental groups