Citation

Greer S. Br. J. Criminol. 2010; 50(6): 1171-1190.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/bjc/azq047

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In an article in a recent issue of this journal, Pantazis and Pemberton claim that anti-terrorist laws passed in the United Kingdom in the context of a post-9/11 official political discourse have turned Muslims into a 'suspect community' (Pantazis and Pemberton 2009). Regrettably, this thesis is built on a series of analytical, methodological, conceptual, logical, empirical, evidential and interpretive errors. There is no evidence to support it and a great deal that points in the opposite direction. This reply argues that the 'suspect community' thesis should, therefore, be rejected by social science, public policy and progressive politics in favour of a much more nuanced, multidimensional, accurate and productive account of the relationship between Muslims and the United Kingdom's anti-terrorist laws.