Riot control and laws

Riots are typically dealt with by the police, although methods differ from country to country. Tactics and weapons used can include attack dogs, water cannons, plastic bullets, rubber bullets, pepper spray, flexible baton rounds, and snatch squads. Many police forces have dedicated divisions to deal with public order situations. Some examples are the Territorial Support Group (London), Special Patrol Group (London), Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (France), Mobiele Eenheid (Netherlands), and Arrest units (Germany).

The policing of riots has been marred by incidents in which police have been accused of provoking rioting or crowd violence. While the weapons described above are officially designated as non-lethal, a number of people have died or been injured as a result of their use. For example, seventeen deaths were caused by rubber bullets in Northern Ireland over the thirty five years between 1970 and 2005.

Risk of arrestedit

A high risk of being arrested is even more effective against rioting than severe punishments.dubious – discuss As more and more people join the riot, the risk of being arrested goes down, which persuades still more people to join. This leads to a vicious cycle, which is typically ended only by sufficient police or military presence to increase the risk of being arrested.

National lawsedit

Indiaedit

In India, rioting is an offense under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

England and Walesedit

Riot is a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is created by section 1(1) of the Public Order Act 1986. Sections 1(1) to (5) of that Act read:

(1) Where 12 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence for a common purpose and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety, each of the persons using unlawful violence for the common purpose is guilty of riot.

A single person can be liable for an offence of riot when they use violence, provided that it is shown there were at least twelve present using or threatening unlawful violence.

The word "violence" is defined by section 8. The violence can be against the person or against property. The mens rea is defined by section 6(1).

Indictment

See R v Tyler and others, 96 Cr App R 332, Crim LR 60, CA.

Mode of trial and sentence

Riot is an indictable-only offence. A person convicted of riot is liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding ten years, or to a fine, or to both.

See the following cases:

• R v Luttman Crim LR 127, CA
• R v Pilgrim, 5 Cr App R (S) 140, CA
• R v Keys, 84 Cr App R 204, 8 Cr App R (S) 444, Crim LR 207, CA
• R v Cooke, 9 Cr App R (S) 116, CA

Association football matches

In the case of riot connected to football hooliganism, the offender may be banned from football grounds for a set or indeterminate period of time and may be required to surrender their passport to the police for a period of time in the event of a club or international match, or international tournament, connected with the offence. This prevents travelling to the match or tournament in question. (The measures were brought in by the Football (Disorder) Act 2000 after rioting of England fans at Euro 2000.)

Compensation for riot damage

See the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 and section 235 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995..

Construction of "riot" and cognate expressions in other instruments

Section 10 of the Public Order Act 1986 now provides:

(1) In the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 . . . (compensation for riot damage) "riotous" and "riotously" shall be construed in accordance with section 1 above.

(2) In Schedule 1 to the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (form and rules for the construction of certain insurance policies) "rioters" in rule 8 and "riot" in rule 10 shall, in the application of the rules to any policy taking effect on or after the coming into force of this section, be construed in accordance with section 1 above unless a different intention appears.

(3) "Riot" and cognate expressions in any enactment in force before the coming into force of this section (other than the enactments mentioned in subsections (1) and (2) above) shall be construed in accordance with section 1 above if they would have been construed in accordance with the common law offence of riot apart from this Part.

(4) Subject to subsections (1) to (3) above and unless a different intention appears, nothing in this Part affects the meaning of "riot" or any cognate expression in any enactment in force, or other instrument taking effect, before the coming into force of this section.

As to this provision, see pages 84 and 85 of the Law Commission's report.

Common law offence

The common law offence of riot was abolished for England and Wales on 1 April 1987.

History

In the past, the Riot Act had to be read by an official - with the wording exactly correct - before violent policing action could take place. If the group did not disperse after the Act was read, lethal force could legally be used against the crowd. See also the Black Act.

Section 515 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 formerly made provision for compensation for riot damage.

Northern Irelandedit

Riot is a serious offence for the purposes of Chapter 3 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008.

See paragraph 13 of Schedule 5 to the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962.

Scotlandedit

There is an offence under the law of Scotland which is known both as "mobbing" and "mobbing and rioting".

In July 1981, both Dundee and Edinburgh saw significant disorder as part of the events of that July, while in 1994 and in 2013, two years after the English riots of August 2011, Edinburgh saw rioting, albeit localised to one specific area and not part of any bigger 'riot wave'. Events in 1981 were very similar to those in England, although sources are severely limited. Both Niddrie and Craigmillar saw riots in the 1980s.

United Statesedit

Under United States federal law, a riot is defined as:

A public disturbance involving (1) an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act or acts shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual or (2) a threat or threats of the commission of an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons having, individually or collectively, the ability of immediate execution of such threat or threats, where the performance of the threatened act or acts of violence would constitute a clear and present danger of, or would result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual.18 U.S.C. § 2102.

Each state may have its own definition of a riot. In New York, the term riot is not defined explicitly, but under § 240.08 of the N.Y. Penal Law, "A person is guilty of inciting to riot when one urges ten or more persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct of a kind likely to create public alarm."