NCJ Number
176224
Date Published
1997
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This paper critically examines debates surrounding the policing of the underclass in the context of modern British society by looking at several author's accounts of the social control of poor communities.
Abstract
In referring to a criminal underclass in the aftermath of various episodes of urban unrest, the work of Jefferson claims the disorderly behavior of a population excluded from the capitalist economy has led to changes in the direction of police policies and practices. More recently, zero-tolerance policing has focused on the involvement of the underclass in street crime and low-level disorder. Morgan has made the most explicit connection by asserting zero tolerance is all about eliminating crime in inner-city areas where tourists and professional commuters briefly encounter the dispossessed underclass. Research is just beginning on zero-tolerance policing and its impact on the underclass remains to be seen. Nonetheless, in one form or another, the underclass is a persistent theme in discourses on poverty and other kinds of social exclusion. In the 1980s, the behavioral perspective was absent from narratives on policing the underclass, while a structural perspective was dominant in the 1990s. The latter perspective is based on a structurally generated underclass that is surplus to requirements of the labor market and that is excluded from social citizenship. Although the concept of an underclass may be of some utility in evaluating the police response to racially motivated disorders and urban unrest, further research is needed to fill some of the gaps in knowledge about the underclass. 71 references