Reading the Riot Act: The Magistracy, the Police, and the Army in Civil Disobedience (New Directions in Criminology Series)

This work develops a new perspective on the development of the State in England by examining its response to severe internal threat over an extended historical period. It considers in detail the vigorously contested relations between agencies of the state (the Magistracy, the Police and the Army) involved in the supression of riot. Based on original research into 10 major incidents of civil disorder from the Gordon Riots of 1780 to the Inner City Disorders of 1981 the book argues that the right to ultimate control of the repressive forces of the state in the crucial area of civil disorder has at various times been appropriated by each of these agencies. The continually changing balance of relations between them has profound implications not only for the structure of the state but also for the administration of criminal justice in general.