title: A telling tale: a case of vigilantism and its aftermath in an English town.
abstract: This paper considers one 'vigilante' episode in an English town in 1993 and its subsequent appearances in the press and in local 'crime-talk'. In so doing it a) proposes as an alternative to most current constructions of 'fear of crime' an interpretive approach grounded in place; b) considers the intersections between the generic 'law and order' preoccupations of the national press and the salience in local knowledge of a particular sequence of events (and their consequences for their dramatis personae); c) raises conjecturally some preconditions favouring the adoption of the 'vigilante' option amongst available styles of security-seeking action. Theoretically, the paper demonstrates the relevance of locally-circulating stories of crime and low-level street disorder to the contemporary understanding of crime, place and community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, Keele University.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Girling
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Loader
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sparks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003256:Community Participation; D004739:England; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008399:Mass Behavior; D008402:Mass Media; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D011287:Prejudice; D014505:Urban Population