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Black Community's Reactions to the 1992 Los Angeles Riot

NCJ Number
151495
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1994) Pages: 85- 104
Author(s)
K S Murty; J B Roebuck; G R Armstrong
Date Published
1994
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Field interviews were conducted with a sample of 227 black community members living and/or working in South Central Los Angeles at the time of the 1992 riot.
Abstract
The interview instrument contained 20 questions designed to ascertain reactions to and feelings of black community residents about the riot and to compare a sample of black riot participants with nonparticipants. The sample included 118 males and 109 females. Findings revealed that riot participants were more frequently younger males with less education and lower income and that they were more likely to have arrest records prior to the riot than nonparticipants. Although reactions and feelings were mixed and contradictory, both participant and nonparticipant groups reported an overall acceptance of the riot. Differentials in reactions were in degree rather than in kind. Most objected to the riot in principle but concluded that collective violence was necessary. Preriot structural facilitators (poverty, relative deprivation, unemployment, police brutality, racial discrimination, and negative police-community relations) were similar to those found in the riot literature. An appendix contains a chronological account of riot events. 58 references and 1 table

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