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A Narrative Based Model of Differentiating Rioters
Author(s) -
WILLMOTT DOMINIC,
IOANNOU MARIA
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the howard journal of crime and justice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 2059-1101
pISSN - 2059-1098
DOI - 10.1111/hojo.12194
Subject(s) - narrative , adventure , narrative inquiry , set (abstract data type) , metric (unit) , multidimensional scaling , content analysis , phenomenon , psychology , sociology , computer science , epistemology , literature , social science , artificial intelligence , art , philosophy , machine learning , economics , programming language , operations management
Abstract The present study applied a narrative analysis upon rioter accounts of their motivations during the August 2011 England riots. To the authors’ knowledge, this piece of research was the first to utilise narrative theory to explore the phenomenon of rioting. Narrative accounts of 20 rioters were compiled from media, online, and published sources. Content analysis of the cases produced a set of 47 variables relating to offenders’ motivations given when describing their criminality. Data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), a non‐metric multidimensional scaling procedure, and results revealed four distinct themes: the Professional Rioter; the Revenger Rioter; the Victim Rioter; and the Adventurer Rioter, in line with previous research conducted on differing crime types (Canter, Kaouri and Ioannou 2003; Youngs and Canter 2011b). The four narrative themes are consistent with motivations identified in previous theories.