CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: Riots are, thankfully, relatively rare in the UK. This is in large part thanks to the deterrent effect of the British justice system’s quick and harsh sentencing for rioters. Before last August, the last widespread social disorder we had in this country was in 2011. Then, disturbances took root across the UK, sparked by the killing of Mark Duggan, a young black man who was shot by police. The state response to this unrest through the courts was punitive. Over 2,000 people were convicted. No comparable insurrection happened for another 13 years.