NCJ Number
98916
Journal
Race and Class Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: (1983) Pages: 13-30
Date Published
1983
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The British state as the representative of capitalist interests has disproportionately targeted black youth and black crime as a major social problem to justify the use of the criminal justice system to control this segment of the disgruntled working class.
Abstract
In an effort to use the criminal justice system to prevent blacks from challenging the capitalist socioeconomic order, the British state has alleged the disproportionate involvement of black youth in crime. This campaign to criminalize black communities is now entering its second decade. It has been based on the use of bogus crime statistics, developed from manipulation techniques first used by Sir Robert Mark in the mid-1960's. These techniques have contrived to make less than 1 percent of crime in London (crimes committed by black juveniles) more important than the other 99 percent. This suppression has resulted in black resistance of state aggression, which has in turn been used as an excuse for increasing the militarization of the police and the focus on blacks as a major criminal element. This will only increase the defensive resistance of the black working class, most likely in subtler and more deadly forms. Thirty-two footnotes are provided.