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Demystifying Deaths in Police Custody: Challenging State Talk

University of Bristol, UK

This article seeks to understand the processes which occur after a death in police custody in England and Wales. The analytical focus falls upon the identities which are attributed to the victim by state actors. It will be argued that these identities are part of a discursive formation `state talk' which seeks to inflate the dangers faced by state actors in order to legitimate their often oppressive interventions in the lives of marginalized groups. A death in police custody poses serious questions about these interventions. Consequently, considerable ideological attention is required to ensure hegemonic support for coercive state apparatus. This article seeks to challenge the discourses of danger and disorder that state talk preaches in order to maintain authoritarian populism's hold over the historical bloc. Drawing upon a number of empirical sources, the article interrogates these narratives and presents a series of alternative truths about deaths in police custody.

Key Words: authoritarianism • custody • neglect • police • populism • violence

Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2, 237-262 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0964663908089614


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