Originally published in 1993, this was the first systematic attempt to understand the criminalization of Black people without resorting to either crude state conspiracy theories or pathological portrayals of Black communities. Instead, the author places police/Black conflict in a geographical and historical context.

Preface and Acknowledgements. Abbreviations and Acronyms. Part 1 Lost Times, Forgotten Places 1. From Bad to Worse? Policing and British Black Communities 2. Contested Fictions: Local Histories and Glimpses of the Past Part 2 1981: That Summer in London 3. Shaggy Dog Riots and Copycat Rioters: The "Riots" in London as a Moral Panic 4. Blame, Guilt and "Causes" of "Riots" 5. The Reality of Insurrection? Empiricism and the Search for the "Average" Rioter Part 3 "Grief" 6. Front Line Policing in the 1980s 7. Building Stages for Confusion: Power Relations and Policing 8. Misunderstandings? The Resolution of Conflict by Consultation: Assumptions and Contradictions Part 4 Discipline and Punish? 9. Strategies of Control: the Local Reality of Racial Subordination 10. Policing Reconstructions of Reality 11. Constructing Characters: Racialization and Criminalization into the 1990s. Appendix. Bibliography. Index of Authors Cited. Subject Index.