Abstract
In inter-war Britain, crime narratives were a key location for expressing social anxieties and views of the law-enforcement and justice systems. But given the breadth and diversity of the media landscape in this period, crime narratives were complex. Crime historiography has largely focused on negative depictions of criminals and positive depictions of the police, with both being seen as examples of ideological support for state power and the enforcement of conservative social norms. However, it is possible to identify alternative narratives: there were many sympathies towards criminals and critiques of the police, the latter centring on a series of scandals. Both kinds of counter-narrative emphasise the need for a far more nuanced understanding of the relationship between crime, media, and state power.
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Notes
- 1.
See also the introduction to this volume.
- 2.
“Thomas—Emotional lover. Shattered by mine disaster and war,” World’s Pictorial News, 7 March 1926, p. 7. Note: the newspaper articles I cite were published without named authors. For clarity I will cite newspaper articles (and archival sources) with full titles in footnotes.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
“Lok Ah Tam’s plea of madness. Chord that snapped at a birthday celebration,” World’s Pictorial News, 7 March 1926, p. 7.
- 5.
“Truth about my friend, Lock Ah Tam,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 13 February 1926, p. 1.
- 6.
“Cell talk with Sidney Harle. Accused Englishman not monster but victim of war,” World’s Pictorial News, 27 July 1929, p. 1.
- 7.
Ibid. Similar themes appeared in “Englishman’s plight in France,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 27 July 1929, p. 12.
- 8.
E.g., “My fight to save ‘John’ Lincoln. Pathos of his letters to me from the condemned cell,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 6 February 1926, p. 3.
- 9.
“My prison visit with Mrs. Lincoln. Poignant reunion of my boy ‘John’ and his mother,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 13 February 1926, p. 3.
- 10.
“My last visit to ‘John’. What upset my sweetheart most at our farewell interview,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 6 March 1926, p. 1.
- 11.
“Condemned Welsh miner’s pathetic request,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 6 March 1926, p. 1.
- 12.
“Louie Calvert petition,” World’s Pictorial News, 20 June 1926, p. 3.
- 13.
See, e.g., “Strangled widow sensation. My interview with wife in condemned cell,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 12 June 1926, p. 1.
- 14.
“My wife’s one thought in the condemned cell,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 19 June 1926, p. 11; “My farewell visit to my wife,” Thomson’s Weekly News, 26 June 1926, p. 10.
- 15.
“On the rack of third degree,” The People, 18 March 1928, p. 2.
- 16.
“Questioned till I could have screamed,” The People, 25 March 1928, p. 1.
- 17.
HC Deb., vol. 217, 23 May 1928, c. 1890–1892.
- 18.
“Police and Miss Savidge: Judicial inquiry,” Daily Herald, 18 May 1928, p. 1.
- 19.
Report of the Tribunal…in regard to the interrogation of Miss Savidge by the police, July 1928 (Cmd. 3147).
- 20.
E. C. Buley, “The third degree,” World’s Pictorial News, 22 July 1928, 6, 12, p. 14.
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Wood, J.C. (2020). Sympathies and Scandals: (Counter-)Narratives of Criminality and Policing in Inter-war Britain. In: Althoff, M., Dollinger, B., Schmidt, H. (eds) Conflicting Narratives of Crime and Punishment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47236-8_8
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