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American Youth Violence

NCJ Number
176368
Author(s)
F E Zimring
Date Published
1998
Length
222 pages
Annotation
This book examines adolescent violence in the United States, both as a social phenomenon and a policy problem.
Abstract
When confrontational government policies stimulate inner- city riots and violent protests, the state response is all too often to equip the police with enhanced legal powers and the paraphernalia of riot control. In Britain, such developments prompted anxieties about a drift into authoritarianism. This book examines how realistic these anxieties about police power have proven to be. This study examines the policing of political protests within the political and broader "public order" context; the text draws on extended and detailed observation of actual events. Protests in London that are analyzed include those against the poll tax, opposition to the Gulf War, trade union protests at coal mine closures, gay rights marches, and neofascist and antifascist demonstrations. Other events analyzed include Trooping the Colour, the Notting Hill Carnival, and the classical music concert "Pavarotti in the Park." The book's analysis of public order policing in Great Britain suggests that the policing of public order is more benign that its critics conclude. Confrontation and disorder are rare and arrest uncommon; however, important issues regarding the role of the police in contemporary society remain just beneath the surface of this analysis; they focus on the concept of police power. 270 references, a table of court cases, and a subject index