Rethinking Knife Crime: Policing, Violence and Moral Panic?

ISBN-13: 9783030837419 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 400 str.

Elaine Williams; Peter Squires

Spis treści

Chapter 1:   ‘There is no Home Office definition of knife crime.’

When it bleeds, it leads

‘Knife crime’:  recent history, data and trends

More Recent Trends

Still Policing the Crisis

Deeper Background; longer history

Towards a different understanding

Chapter 2:  Knives and violence in history and culture:  A global history of stabbing.

Knives in history and culture

Knife fighting cultures

Knives and the military

A global criminology of knife violence?

Chapter 3:  A Prelude to ‘Knife Crime’ :  Gangs, weapons and the ‘MacPherson Effect’ 

Introduction

The two sides of New Labour: Youth offending and Racialisation in the Third Way

Institutionalisation of Youth Deviance 

Gangs, Guns and ‘Total Policing’

“Institutionally Racist”: Questioning police legitimacy

Criticism of the report: The ‘Macpherson Effect’. 

A Knife Code for a New Millennium 

Conclusion

Chapter 4:   A Public Definition:  The Making of the ‘Knife Crime’ label

Introduction

When ‘Knife Crime’ was a Scottish problem.

The Case of Luke Walmsley

Violence and Children: The Gold Standard of Newsworthiness

Reporting the Knife Crime Report 

Making ‘knife crime’ news

Making Knife Crime a ‘Black Crime’

Stop and Search – “For Their Own Good”

Conclusion.

Chapter 5:  A Moral Panic and the ‘War on Knife Crime’ 

Introduction

A Spike in ‘Knife Crime’? 

‘Knife Crime’ as Culture:  Slippery Racism 

The War on ‘Knife Crime’ 

From the Crisis of the banks to the Crisis on the Streets

Political Response and Public Resistance. 

The End Game? ‘Knife Crime’ normalisation

Chapter 6:  The ‘Knife Crime Industry’:  Knife Fetish and the Commodification of Violence Prevention 

 Introduction

The shape of the industry

Selling Knife Crime Work

Campaigning for Individual Change    

The Commodification of ‘Knife Crime’ 

Police Twitter and the Fetishised Knife. 

‘Knife Crime’ the Floating Signifier 

Conclusion

Chapter 7:  The Realities of Knife Crime: Life Beneath the Label

Introduction

Violent Sociological Shifts of 2007 -2008

The destabilising impact of proactive policing

Generational shifts 

Community Fragmentation 

Lucrative business and Pyramid schemes 

Confrontation and Hostility; Experiencing Exceptional Policing

Institutionalised anti-racism and depoliticising ‘knife crime’

Specialisation in Youth Justice; ‘Knife Crime Work’

Resilience and Retribution:  Focus Group Analysis.

Conclusion

Chapter 8:    A Joined-Up Approach to Sustainable Violence Prevention ?

Knife crime as a public health issue

Sustainable Violence Reduction strategy: Prioritising without stigmatising?

Chapter 9:   Conclusion:  still policing the crisis ?

Index

O autorze

Elaine is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Greenwich, UK. She specialises in the politics of knife crime with extensive experience in youth work practice and crime prevention in southeast London. 

Peter Squires is Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Public Policy at the University of Brighton, UK. He is the author/editor of eleven books and has been involved in a number of research projects and commissions exploring knives and street weapons, gangs and youth violence prevention.

Blurb

This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the “second wave” of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the “voices” of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generation that are a product of British history and its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.