Exploring Social Issues: An Analysis of the Documentary 'The Hard Stop'

Introduction

The Hard Stop is a reflection of the killing of Mark Duggan at the hands of the Metropolitan Police of London. In 2011 early morning, a young black British man, Mark Dugan was pulled over by London’s metropolitan police just to be shot a few minutes later, an event that sparked the Tottenham riots and became global news for a while. The director, George Amposhah, in his documentary, picks the story from where the media left it and narrates the ordeal of the Duggan family and the progress of Kurtis Henville and Marcus Knox, Duggan’s childhood friends, as they fight for justice and look for meaning in a highly discriminatory society. Hard Stop follows the story of Kurtis Henville and Marcus Knox over 28 months as they strive to abandon criminal life while dealing with grief, unemployment, and imprisonment. In the background of the documentary, there is an ongoing debate about Mark Duggan and his true identity, including the judicial inquiry into his murder. The Hard Stop is filmed around Broadwater Farm, Duggan’s neighborhood. The documentary employs iconic cinematography, observational video, an enthralling music soundtrack, and creative utilization of a news archive.

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Criminology Issues

Hard Stop explores important criminological issues affecting society. For instance, the color of justice is a predominant issue in this documentary. Hard Stop exposes the racial discrimination that black people get under the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. The statistic at the end of the documentary reveals that since 1990, the UK has experienced more than 1500 deaths of civilians with Black twice as likely to be murdered following contact with police officers or when in police custody(Amanponsah & Walker 2015). The injustice is so clear in the Hand Stop documentary. Weir (2016) reveals that stereotypes of black young men being more confrontational and aggressive have clouded police officers' minds resulting in different policing forces and styles on black suspects. According to Jude Lanchin, the Blindman’s solicitor who represented Marcus and many others arrested and charged after the riots, young black men including the mentally ill, are criminalized through unreasonable arrest and court charges, stop and search arrests, discriminatory treatment, and higher sentences.

Furthermore, the injustice in the criminal justice system in the UK was also unveiled in the film when the court dropped the case on Duggan after the jury claimed that he had no gun, but the killing was lawful. After the jury confirmed that Duggan had no gun, it was just for the jury to have an open verdict because it was unlawful of the police officers to kill an unarmed man on a stop-and-search occasion. However, although life was lost unlawfully, the lack of an open verdict rendered the case closed, leaving no police officer charged for the misconduct. In the documentary, we also hear Marcus Knox-Hooke’s voice claiming that he hates the police who use their power to intimidate others just because they have that uniform. With Duggan as the center of police brutality, the Hard Stop documentary further unveils how metropolitan police officers use force against black people. Although the incident was initially presumed a shootout, investigations revealed that the shots were only fired by police officers. The use of undue force on the Duggan was an unlawful act and a civil rights violation.

Hard Stop explores the street culture in the UK that instigated the London Riots. Macro-structural patterns of racial inequality, limited economic opportunities, and disadvantage foster a road culture conducive to crime and violence (Briggs, 2012 p.193). According to the film’s footage of Duggan’s neighborhoods, young people engage in criminal activities for survival. The Guardian/LSE (2011) affirms that the people who were involved in the London riots were poorer than the nation at large. The documentary also reveals how a lack of employment opportunities for minority communities drives them into illicit economic activities (Gunter 2008, p. 26). As Merton’s theory ascertains, when a nation’s goals are not attained due to the unfair distribution of the means and resources needed to attain them, the unskilled individuals engage in a higher proportion of the grasping crimes in the country (Rosenfeld 1989, p. 455).

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Documentary

Hard Stop documentary has various strong factors that distinguish it from other visual motion picture compilations. This documentary provides a clear picture of the views and perceptions of the people involved in the 2011 violent demonstrations in London. According to the documentary, the people involved in the riots were seeking justice and an end to racial inequality in the criminal justice system. Hard Stop also comprehensively explores the lives and effects of the two friends Marcus Knox-Ville and Kurtis Henville in society and how they transformed their lives from the streets to responsible young men in society. Additionally, this documentary maximizes effort to sensitize the issue of police brutality against black young men by assessing the root cause of the whole incident and allows the viewers to make their conclusions on the consequences of the violence based on documented proof free of media biases. Nevertheless, the documentary also has some flaws. For instance, the stories and claims made in the document are not supported by sufficient statistical evidence or reports that are key in affirming the reliability of any argument. Also, the police’s version of the incident was not included in the documentary. Additionally, the documentary does not capture the life of Marcus after his redemption and conversion to Islam.

Documentary’s Contribution to Understanding Important Social Issues.

The documentary explores the London Riots not only as a reaction to the unlawful killing of Duggan but also as an expression of the deep-rooted social issues of inequality and discrimination in the UK. The documentary further shows the deep mistrust that exists between police officers and the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) in the UK. Hard Stop also helps viewers understand how the criminal history of gang members constantly pushes them into a vicious cycle as they struggle to adopt lawful economic lifestyles. As Marcus Knox-Ville and Kurtis Henville strived to leave their criminal life, their felonious history lured them to the streets. Moreover, this documentary gives the viewers a glimpse into the black community’s lives in the UK, which constitutes high rates of unemployment, guns, drugs, and pursuit of money and power, which is contrary to the lives of the white community.

References

Amanponsah, G., & Walker, D., 2015. Mark Duggan Documentary: The Hard Stop (2015) [Video] Available at: https://youtu.be/_yEqblIOXJQ [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Briggs, D. (ed.) (2012). The English Riots of 2011: a summer of discontent, Hook: Waterside Press.

Guardian/LSE., (2011). Reading the riots: investigating England’s summer of disorder. Guardian/LSE. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf [Accessed 11 December 2020]

Rosenfeld, R., 1989. Robert Merton’s contributions to the sociology of deviance. Sociological Inquiry, 59(4), pp.453-466. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1989.tb00120.x

Weir, K., 2016. Policing in Black and white: police departments are eager for ways to reduce racial disparities, and psychological research is beginning to find answers. American Psychology Association, 47(11). Available at: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/12/cover-policing.html [Accessed 11 December 2020]