The Myth of Black Criminality

The last decade has witnessed 'law and order' moving steadily to the centre of the political stage. As the national crisis has deepened, the extension of police power and the recruitment of law into political conflicts have become commonplace. The rule of law and maintenance of public order have appeared ii forms which involve a racist appeal to the 'British at ion" and have become integral to maintaining popular support for the government in crisis conditions. Indeed the recent history of 'law and order' is scarcely separable from the growth of popular racism and nationalism in the period following Enoch powell's2 famous intervention. Powell's wide-grinning piccaninnies have grown up, and with the onset of their adulthood, potent imagery of youthful black criminals stalking derelict inner-city streets where the law-abiding are afraid to walk after sunset3 has been fundamental to the popularisation of increasingly repressive criminal justice and welfare state policies.