Overview
First published in 1999 to universal acclaim, Hillsborough has been established as the definitive, unique account of the disaster in which 96 men, women, and children died; hundreds were injured; and thousands were traumatized. Detailing the appalling treatment endured by the bereaved and survivors in the immediate aftermath and the inhumanity of the identification process, this book reveals the inadequacies of the police investigations, official inquiries, and inquests, and uncovers the systematic review and alteration of South Yorkshire police statements conducted with the approval of police investigators and Lord Justice Taylor’s inquiry. It also examines the subsequent private prosecution and trial of two senior police officers in 2000. Using verbatim accounts, Scraton's analysis demonstrates the inadequacy of legal processes and the remarkable breadth of judicial discretion undermining and inhibiting such cases. Powerful, disturbing, and harrowing, Hillsborough: The Truth exposes the institutional complacency that made a tragedy on this scale inevitable. It shows the law’s failure to provide appropriate means of access, disclosure, and redress for those facing the consequences of institutional neglect and personal negligence, and it tells how ordinary people suffer when those in authority sacrifice truth and accountability to protect their reputations. In this new edition, Scraton reflects critically on two decades of legal and policy reform, on the long-term consequences of media-hyped, untruthful allegations made against Liverpool fans, and on the continuing struggles of the bereaved and survivors who have campaigned relentlessly for truth, acknowledgement, and justice.