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The problem of order

  • The human 'state of nature' is one of war of all against all a life that is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short' 
  • An orderly and civilised society can be achieved through establishment of a sovereign power or state 

Hobbes 1651 

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The modern state

  • Modern states claim sovereign authority over a defined territory and rule using centralised system of administration 
  • The state is a 'human community that successfully claims the monopoly of legitimate use of physical force within a given territory)

Weber 1991 

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Public Disorder

Civil unrest 

  • Breakdown of law and order
  • non-functioning emergency services 
  • Unavailable public utilities infrastructures and transport 
  • Disruption to work and recreation 
  • Suspension of usual modes of governance 
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Public Order Act 1986

s.1 Riot (12+ people)

s.2 Violent disorder (3+people 

s.3 Affray (1 person or more) 

s.4 Using threating, abusive or insulting words or behaviour causing fear of or provoking violence 

s.4A Using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour intended to and causing harassment, alarm or distress 

s.5 Using threatening, abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress 

Racial and religious aggravation is a factor in determining seriousness 

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Additional public order offences

  • Being drunk and disorderly - s.91 Criminal Justice Act 1967 
  • Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 
  • Football related disorder (Football Banning Order) 
  • Protection from Harassment Act (1997) s.1 and 2 
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Rates of football-related offences 2014/15

  • 1,873 arrests for football related offences 
  • 16%- violent disorder 
  • 34% public disorder 
  • 22% alcohol offences 
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The psychology of crowds

  • Crowds are relatively disorganised forms of collective behaviour that can turn into forms of focused interaction 
  • A cultivated reasonable individual in a focused crowd becomes a 'barbarian ... a creature acting by instict' 

Le Bon (1895)

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Informalisation and crime

  • Theory of civilising processes- the internalisation of social constraints into self-restraints (pacification) creating more mannered behaviour subject to strict codes of conduct.

Elias 1939

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Informalisation and crime

  • The 'formalisation' of conduct gave way to more informal and relaxed codes of conduct in the 20th century and the 'controlled decontrolling of emotions' (and more flexible regimes of affect control) 

Wouter 1999

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Punishing disorderly conduct

  • Maximum penalty for serious public disorder is imprisonment (riots, violent disorder, affray and racially and religiously aggravated s4 and s4A public order offenses) 
  • Less serious offending is punished with court fines, penalty notices and disorders (s5, drunk and disorderly, obstructing emergency workers) and civil measures (football banning orders)
  • Bind overs keep the peace)
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Controlling civil unrest

  • Martial law 
  • Emergency powers - civil contingencies act 2004 \
  • COBRA 
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