{{Short description|Report commissioned by the UK Government following the 1981 Brixton riots}} {{Use British English|date=January 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}} The '''Scarman report''' was commissioned by the UK Government following the [[Brixton riots (1981)|1981 Brixton riots]]. [[Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman|Lord Scarman]] was appointed by then Home Secretary [[William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw|William Whitelaw]] on 14 April 1981 (two days after the rioting ended) to hold the enquiry into the riots.<ref name="bbc.3631579">{{Cite news| title = Q&A: The Scarman Report| work = [[BBC News]]| date = 27 April 2004| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3631579.stm| accessdate = 28 December 2009 }}</ref> The Scarman report was published on 25 November 1981.<ref name="BBC.2546233">{{cite news |date= 25 November 2010|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25/newsid_2546000/2546233.stm|title =1981: Brixton riots report blames racial tension|work = [[BBC News]]| accessdate = 6 January 2010}}</ref>
The terms of reference for the enquiry were "to inquire urgently into the serious disorder in Brixton on 10–12 April 1981 and to report, with the power to make recommendations".<ref name="bbc.3631579"/>
==1981 Brixton riot== {{main|1981 Brixton riot}} The [[riot]] took place in [[Brixton]], [[London]] on 11 April 1981. At the time when Brixton underwent deep social and economic problems — high [[unemployment]], high [[crime]], poor housing, no [[amenities]] — in a predominantly [[British African-Caribbean community|African-Caribbean community]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Uprising! The Police, the People and the Riots in Britain's Cities|publisher=[[Pan Books]]|year=1982|isbn=978-0-330-26845-5|first1=Martin|last1=Kettle|first2=Lucy|last2=Hodges|pages=100–102}}</ref> The [[Metropolitan Police]] began ''Operation Swamp 81'' at the beginning of April, aimed at reducing [[street crime]], mainly through the heavy use of the so-called [[sus law]], which allowed police to stop and search (and ultimately jail) individuals on the basis of a mere 'suspicion' of wrongdoing. Plain clothes police officers were dispatched into Brixton, and in five days almost 1,000 people were stopped and searched.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCjZEZt3QKc YouTube Battle for Brixton], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6kY6HfAqk&NR=1 YouTube Battle for Brixton]</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=|date=January 2016}} The riot resulted in 299 injuries to police and 65 injuries to members of the public;<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|date=April 22, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqDLg6GEfGg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/fqDLg6GEfGg |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Battle 4 Brixton pt6 of 6 |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=2009-05-29}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=|date=January 2016}} over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles; and almost 150 buildings were damaged, with 28 burned. There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved in the riot.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1981/apr/13/fromthearchive|title=How smouldering tension erupted to set Brixton aflame|date=13 April 1981|accessdate=15 January 2016}}</ref>
== Evidence == As part of the inquiry the following individuals and groups gave evidence: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Counsel - Mr J Hazan QC and Mr L Marshall Concern), the Council for Community Relations of Lambeth, [[London Borough of Lambeth]], Brixton local community groups and clubs, the [[Brixton Legal Defence Group]], and the [[Commission for Racial Equality]].<ref name="bbc.3631579"/>
== Findings and recommendations == According to the Scarman report, the riots were a spontaneous outburst of built-up resentment sparked by particular incidents. Lord Scarman stated that "complex political, social and economic factors" created a "disposition towards violent protest". The Scarman report highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and [[inner city]] decline, warning that "urgent action" was needed to prevent racial disadvantage becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society".<ref name="bbc.3631579"/>
Scarman rejected the widespread public notion that the conduct of the police forces were inherently prejudicial. He traced racial prejudice back to single officers below the rank of senior officers and argued for the general integrity and respectability of the police forces. <ref name="untold">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/scarmanreportrep0000scar/page/105/mode/2up |title=The Scarman report : Report of an inquiry |publisher=Penguin |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-14-022744-4 |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |archive-date=}}</ref> The report details the use of arbitrary roadblocks, stopping and searching of pedestrians and mass detention (943 stops, 118 arrests and 75 charges). ''Operation Swamp 81'' was conducted by the police without any consultation with the community or the home-beat officers.<ref>{{Cite book| last1 = Brake| first1 = Mike| first2 = Chris| last2 = Hale| title = Public Order and Private Lives: The Politics of Law and Order| publisher = [[Routledge]]| year = 1991| page = [https://archive.org/details/publicorderpriva0000brak/page/49 49]| isbn = 978-0-415-02567-6| url = https://archive.org/details/publicorderpriva0000brak/page/49}}</ref> Liaison arrangements between police, community and local authority had collapsed before the riots and according to the Scarman report, the local community mistrusted the police and their methods of policing. Scarman recommended changes in training and law enforcement, and the recruitment of more ethnic minorities into the police force. According to the report "[[institutional racism]]" did not exist, but [[positive discrimination]] to tackle racial disadvantage was "a price worth paying".<ref name="bbc.3631579"/>
== Reception == The theme of the Scarman Report was broadly welcomed, accepted and endorsed by politicians, police commissioners, the press and community relations officials. Some of the report's recommendations were implemented. "Hard policing" continued and new measures were taken to create greater public trust and confidence in official institutions. Multi-agency and "soft" policing emerged through community consultation, youth and "race relations" services.<ref name="Shukra.1998">{{Cite book| last = Shukra| first = Kalbir| title = The Changing Pattern of Black Politics in Britain | publisher = Pluto Press| year = 1998| page =54| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vccqIjs0GfAC&q=scarman+report| isbn =978-0-7453-1460-0 }}</ref> However, in 1999, the Macpherson Report stated that many of the Scarman Report recommendations had been ignored and that, in fact, the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist".<ref>{{cite web |title=Q&A: Stephen Lawrence murder |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3685733.stm |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC |accessdate=30 May 2019 |date=5 May 2004}}</ref>
The Scarman Report pushed the issue of law and order, and specifically policing, onto the mainstream agenda. The debate in the House of Parliament to mark the publication of the Scarman Report on the 26 November 1981 had as its theme "law and order" and the then leader of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], [[David Steel]], argued that "urgent action" to prevent a drift into lawlessness was necessary. A subsequent debate in March 1982 referenced the events of 1981 and focused on the impact of street violence, crime, [[urban decay|decaying urban conditions]], and the danger of "more violence to come" if changes in both police tactics and social policy were not swiftly introduced. While both the Conservative and Labour speakers in the parliamentary debate on the riots accepted the need to support the police, substantial disagreement centred on the issue of what role social deprivation and unemployment had in bringing young people to protest violently on the streets.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Cashmore| first = Ernest|author2=Eugene McLaughlin | title = Out of order?: policing black people| publisher = Routledge| year = 1991| page =51| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EfINAAAAQAAJ&q=scarman+report| isbn =978-0-415-03726-6 }}</ref>
As a consequence of the Scarman Report a new code for police behaviour was put forward in the ''[[Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984]]''; and the act also created an independent [[Police Complaints Authority (United Kingdom)|Police Complaints Authority]], established in 1985, to attempt to restore public confidence in the police.<ref name="ipcc.gov.uk">{{cite web|year = 2010|url = http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/cy/index/about_ipcc/came_from.htm|title = IPCC - History|publisher = [[Independent Police Complaints Commission]]|accessdate = January 6, 2010|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080609022635/http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/cy/index/about_ipcc/came_from.htm|archive-date = 9 June 2008|df = dmy-all}}</ref>
=="Community relations" and "institutional racism"== Scarman reported a shift from a concern about "[[race relations]]" to "[[community]] relations". According to Paul Rich,{{Who|date=November 2024}} Lord Scarman's views expressed in the Scarman Report most closely resembled that of the mid-[[Victorian era]]. Scarman was concerned with the "plight" of the ethnic communities in UK inner cities and their relationship with the rest of the national "community". He concluded that it was essential that "people are encouraged to secure a stake in, feel a pride in, and have a sense of responsibility for their own area". While the importance of community involvement in policing was recognised, the Scarman report pointed to "community redevelopment and planning" as the main area of concern. Scarman called for a policy of "direct coordinated attack on racial disadvantage".<ref>{{Cite book| last = Rich| first = Paul B.| title = race and empire in British politics| publisher = CUP Archive| year = 1990| pages =212–213| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G144AAAAIAAJ&q=scarman+report| isbn =978-0-521-38958-7 }}</ref>
The Scarman Report sought to locate the riots in the social, economic and political context of the acute deprivation in [[Brixton]] at the time. Lord Scarman identified the causes of the riots in the pathology of the Caribbean family, in the question of bilingualism amongst Asian children and in the undefined problem of policing a multi-racial society.<ref name="Shukra.1998"/> In doing so Scarman highlighted what Robert Beckford has termed a "pathological image of Black youth".<ref name="Beckford.2006">{{Cite book| last = Beckford| first = Robert| title = Jesus dub: theology, music and social change | publisher = Routledge| year = 2006| pages =46–47| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cBIeK5iGCJMC&q=scarman+report| isbn =978-0-415-31019-2 }}</ref> According to the report: <blockquote> "Without close parental support, with no job to go to, and with few recreational facilities available the young Black person makes his life the streets and the seedy, commercially-run clubs of Brixton. There he meets criminals, who appear to have no difficulty obtaining the benefits of a materialist society."<ref name="Beckford.2006"/> </blockquote>
The Scarman Report does not apportion blame to the police. While the report acknowledges that "ill considered, immature and racially prejudiced actions of some officers" contributed to the riots Lord Scarman only acknowledges "unwitting discrimination against Black people". The report concludes that "The allegation that the police are the oppressive arm of a racist state not only display a complete ignorance of the constitutional arrangements of controlling the police, it is an injustice to the senior officers of the force."<ref name="Beckford.2006"/> In his recommendations Scarman accepts that "hard" policing, such as stop and search operations, would be necessary in the future in areas characterised by severe social problems. Hence the Scarman Report seeks to establish how policing could be enforced without provoking further outbreaks of disorder.<ref name="Shukra.1998"/>
== Inquiry staff == * [[Lord Scarman]] * [[Philip Mawer]] (Secretary) * Nicholas Montgomery Pott (Assistant Secretary) * Ted McCormick and Melissa Grant ([[UK Home Office]]) * [[Robin Auld (judge)|Robin Auld QC]], Mr JGM Laws and Mr L Crawford (Counsel for the Inquiry)<ref name="bbc.3631579"/>
== See also == * [[1980 St. Pauls riot]] * [[1981 Handsworth riots]] * [[Chapeltown riots (1981)]] * [[Toxteth riots]] * [[Brixton riot (1985)]] * [[Brixton riot (1995)]]
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading== *Hall, Stuart, "From Scarman to Stephen Lawrence", in ''History Workshop Journal'', issue 48 (1999). * [https://books.google.com/books?id=inKwAAAAIAAJ&q=scarman+report ''The Scarman Report''.] *[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj2/1983/no2-018/barker-beezer.html Martin Barker and Anne Beezer] 'The Language of Racism - An examination of Lord Scarman's Report on the Brixton riots', ''International Socialism'' 18 (1983)
{{Riots in England}}
[[Category:Reports of the United Kingdom government]] [[Category:Brixton]] [[Category:History of the Metropolitan Police]]