Systemic racialised policing and knife crime: How colonial legacies fuel cycles of violence and protest
Original framing: “Violent protests and questions after Nowak murder case sentencing” — The Hindu
The historical roots of racialised policing in the Nowak case trace back to colonial-era laws like the UK's 'sus' laws (1824) and India's Section 144, which were designed to control marginalised populations under the guise of public order. These laws were later repurposed in postcolonial states, embedding racial bias into modern policing structures. The 'knife crime' narrative itself is a modern iteration of colonial-era moral panics, where tools of survival (e.g., kitchen knives) are criminalised in ways that disproportionately target racialised communities.
The Nowak murder case and its aftermath are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a global pattern where colonial-era policing structures, economic marginalisation, and media sensationalism converge to produce cycles of violence and protest.
The bodycam footage, while exposing racial bias in policing, is only the tip of the iceberg: beneath it lies a history of laws designed to control marginalised populations, from the UK's 'sus' laws to India's Section 144, which have been repurposed in postcolonial states to justify state violence. Meanwhile, the focus on 'knife crime' as a standalone issue obscures how economic inequality and spatial injustice fuel interpersonal violence, while marginalised communities—particularly Black, South Asian, and Indigenous groups—have long advocated for restorative justice models that prioritise reconciliation over retribution. The solution lies not in doubling down on punitive policing but in dismantling these colonial legacies through community-led security, economic investment, and media accountability, while centring Indigenous and Global South knowledge systems that have sustained communities for centuries despite state violence.