Urban Riots

Common Characteristics

Common to urban riots is a breakdown of civil society. The ties that encourage people to act civilly to one another and respect property and public authority break down. Residents shoot deadly weapons at other residents, the police, and firefighters. Stores are broken into, looted, and firebombed. Police attack demonstrators, snipers fire at the police. Large sections of the city are destroyed, and many are arrested and killed. Riots are precisely the opposite of good government.

Riots do not occur in all cities, and years go by without significant urban riots in the United States. From 1965 to 1967, major riots rocked large cities and many smaller ones, but few such disturbances were recorded until Miami in 1980. Years passed again until the Los Angeles riots of 1992, which followed the acquittal of police officers accused of beating African American Rodney King, an incident that was captured on video and widely circulated. That disturbance was the largest, bloodiest, and most costly of all riots in the United States up to that time, resulting in 58 deaths, over 3,200 injuries, and over three-quarters of a million dollars in property damage over a 5-day period. It spread across many neighborhoods and required the mobilization of numerous law enforcement agencies.

Riots are often precipitated by a police-civilian encounter resulting in a dramatic arrest witnessed by many bystanders. Especially if the incident occurs on a warm night, it is more likely that many civilians will be out on the street and may witness it or shortly learn of its occurrence. The incident triggers frustration on the part of bystanders who may relate the incident to longer-term grievances against the police or the city or recent police or legal events. News of the event and more violent incidents may quickly spread, even to distant parts of the city.

Urban riots end with a restoration of order through increased police activity that often requires reinforcements from other police and fire departments and even the National Guard or elements of the armed forces. The events are followed by significant soul-searching by city, state, and federal officials, generally through investigative commissions whose members represent broad sectors of the greater community.

Explanations of Urban Riots

Because of their infrequent and sporadic occurrence, urban riots are difficult to analyze. At the same time, riots have triggered intense interest on the part of analysts and government agencies and frequently spawned major efforts to study possible causes and explanations. Since the middle of the 20th century, analysis by social scientists can be grouped into three major kinds of explanations.

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