NCJ Number
84135
Date Published
1982
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Interviews with 532 males between 16 and 34 in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, Great Britain provide the basis for an analysis of the 1981 riots in that inner-city neighborhood and residents' attitudes toward these events.
Abstract
Disorders in Handsworth occurred in July 1981 shortly after riots in Liverpool and Southhall, resulting in considerable property damage, injuries to 40 police officers, and 121 arrests. Police records show that few females were involved and that 78 percent of the males arrested were between 16 and 24. The sample for this study represented 1 in 21 male residents aged 16-34 and was interviewed in October-November 1981. Handsworth has a mixed population of white, West Indian/African, and Asian residents. Most respondents were not unduly critical about the neighborhood as a place to live and did not cite racial tensions or police harassment as particular problems. Many said they knew there was going to be trouble and witnessed the disturbances, but only 4 percent reported active participation in the rioting. This group was younger and more often unemployed than the rest of the sample and included whites. The most common reason which respondents saw for the riots was unemployment, followed by boredom and imitation of events elsewhere. There was considerable disapproval of the riots in the sample as a whole, and few believed that they had stopped, searched, or arrested by police in the last year. Although some witnesses blamed agitators for the riots, the study did not discover any evidence that political activists played an organizing role. Tables and 10 references are included. For related materials, see NCJ 84133-4.