The legacy of Hillsborough
Liberating Truth, Challenging Power
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2357326 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Phil Scraton (0009-0006-9992-8520) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1-27 |
| Publication date | 2013-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Race & Class (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-3968 • E-ISSN: 1741-3125 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0306396813499488 |
| OpenAlex | W2081602098 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 6 |
In April 1989, ninety-six men, women and children, supporters of Liverpool Football Club, died in a severe crush at an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. Hundreds were injured and thousands traumatised. Within hours, the causes and circumstances of the disaster were contested. While a judicial inquiry found serious institutional failures in the policing and management of the capacity crowd, no criminal prosecutions resulted, and the inquests returned 'accidental death' verdicts. Immediately, the authorities claimed that drunken, violent fans had caused the fatal crush. Denied legitimacy, survivors' accounts revealed a different story criticising the parlous state of the stadium, inadequate stewarding, negligent policing, failures in the emergency response and flawed processes of inquiry and investigation. Reflecting on two decades of research and contemporaneous interviews with bereaved families and survivors, this article contrasts the official discourse with those alternative accounts - the 'view from below'. It demonstrates the influence of powerful institutional interests on the inquiries and investigations. It maps the breakthrough to full documentary disclosure following the appointment of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, its research and key findings published in September 2012. The campaigns by families and survivors were vindicated and the fans, including those who died, were exonerated.
Accidental · Acknowledgement · Club · Criminology · Economic Justice · Football · Legal process · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Stadium · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Medicine
‘I’m taking the monkey off my back’
Planning for Pluralism in Nordic Cities
Welfare Policing and the Safety-Security Nexus in Urban Governance
Surviving State-Led Disaster
Hearing from justice-involved, care experienced children
Introduction
Taboo news about Sweden
Britain’s ‘favoured response’ to crises
Police complaint cycles in Victoria
No ordinary crowd’
Racism, social media, and the coronial jurisdiction
Official truth, applied deconstruction and post-inquiry sensemaking in the Mull of Kintyre helicopter crash
Contestations over risk expertise, definitions and insecurities
| Citations per year | 1.3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |