According to a new report, most of them took part in the July riots because they hate the police or ‘thought it looked fun’, not because they hold racist, anti-immigration or far-right views
According to a new report by the Children’s Commissioner for England, young people who took part in last year’s riots were motivated more by a distrust of the police than by anti-immigration or far-right views.
The riots spread across England last July, following the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. Online misinformation spread that the perpetrator was a Muslim asylum seeker who had recently arrived on a small boat, which – with the encouragement of organised far-right groups – led to widespread violence and vandalism, which was mostly targeted against migrants, Muslims and anyone who could be read as either category. According to police data, 286 children and young people were arrested, with the youngest being 11 years old. This led to understandable concern that so many young people had been swept up by racist, far-right sentiments.
But the report, which was based on interviews with children who have been charged with criminal offences over their involvement, found that their involvement was mostly spontaneous, unconsidered and based on a split-second decision. They took part because they thought it looked fun, wanted free stuff and were curious about what was happening, and it didn’t matter to them why the protests had been organised in the first place. “I don’t know, just the fact that there’s loads of people there and everyone’s on a team. Once you’re there, you don’t really think and if everyone else is doing it, it must be alright to do it too. If I was to go back now, I wouldn’t do it,” one of the children interviewed said
Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, says that the report does not support the prevailing narrative that online misinformation and racism were significant factors in why children joined in the aggression, although she acknowledges that these issues played a role. None of the children interviewed said that they were motivated by racist, anti-immigration or far-right beliefs, with several expressing dislike of these types of views. “I don’t know, just the fact that there’s loads of people there and everyone’s on a team. Once you’re there, you don’t really think and if everyone else is doing it, it must be alright to do it too. If I was to go back now, I wouldn’t do it,” one of the children interviewed said.
On the other hand, many of them expressed a hatred towards the police, based on general community mistrust and previous bad experiences where the police had been rude, condescending and physically aggressive towards them. One child interviewed said that “police will give you a couple of backhands when they arrest you”, while another accused the local police of being corrupt and ineffective. These children saw the riots as an opportunity to retaliate against the police.
The report argues that the custodial sentences handed out to these children – most of whom had no previous criminal record – have been “unusually severe and swift”. Many of the children who have received sentences were finally engaging in employment or education after years of struggling with attendance. Sending them to prison, writes de Souza, has “profoundly disrupted their lives at a crucial moment, rather than supporting them to make better decisions“, and “calls into question the greater purpose of our youth justice system, which should offer not just punishment but also rehabilitation.”