Publisher Description

Heavily featured in the media when it first appeared, Trevor Hercules has now updated and added to a work that led to his involvement advising Government ministers and MPs on youth and black crime. Part biography, part critique of the system, part innovative proposals, this book is essential reading at a time of gun, knife and gang crime. Heavily influenced by the author's thoughts on how a mindset is created in deprived communities in which ambition, employment, opportunity and advancement are thought impossible - something bound up with the advantages of the few (and where black people are concerned the shadow of the UK's colonial past) - he guides readers along the pathways he discovered "the hard way" as a dangerous young offender. With a new Introduction, Foreword by Duncan Campbell, extended chapters and a whole new part on the Hercules Programme the book challenges entrenched ways of thinking and examines the Social Deprivation Mindset (SDM) that unless something is done to change it holds back countless young people to the detriment of society as a whole.

Author Biography

Trevor Hercules is a reformed armed robber who served time in Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs, Parkhurst and other prisons. He has since spent 25 years working with young people and developing the "Hercules Programme", aka the SDM. An adviser to the Ministry of Justice and MPs his other works include The Rage Within (2006). His wider interests include black history and culture, and playing the guitar.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Duncan Campbell; Original Preface; The Mirror; Introduction to this Edition; PART 1 - LABELLED A BLACK VILLAIN; My Journey Begins; Prison Life; The Madhouse; Respect But at What Cost?; Reflection; Consciousness; Relationships; Rebellion; Still Alienated; SDM; PART 2 - UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL DEPRIVATION MINDSET; Introduction; The SDM Explained; The SDM and 'The Hardcore'; The SDM and 'The Periphery'; The Attributes of the SDM; Justification; Self-Preservation; Shutdown; I Don't Care; Doing Something: Changing the SDM; Working in Schools; Working in Prisons; Changing Individuals is Not Enough; Conclusion; What Now; ... Others' Problem Not Mine; The Changing World; Index.

Review

'Trevor's book offers rich insights into prison life, police practice and black lives when that really matters... If the slogan Black Lives Matter means anything it means that white people need to read books like this about lives not like theirs.'-- Dr Rod Earle, crimetalk.org.uk; 'Magnificent ... a must read'- The Voice; `Hercules is on a mission to help young black men avoid prison ... to divert [them] from crime by challenging the way they see the world'- Duncan Campbell; `Thank you for the Social Deprivation Mind-set Mr Hercules'- Black Youth of Communities; `Trevor knows the streets and Labelled a Black Villain - the first British prison memoir by a Black man - is to be commended to anyone interested in confronting the current challenges of gang crime, knife crime and disaffected youth - black or white'- Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, Centre for Law, Crime and Justice, University of Strathclyde.

Long Description

Heavily featured in the media when it first appeared, Trevor Hercules has now updated and added to a work that led to his involvement challenging Government ministers and MPs on youth and black crime. Part biography, part critique of the system, part innovative proposals, this book is essential reading at a time of gun, knife and gang crime. Heavily influenced by the author's thoughts on how a mindset is created in all deprived communities in which ambition, employment, opportunity and advancement are thought impossible -- something bound up with the advantages of the few (and where black people are concerned the shadow of the UK's colonial past) -- he guides readers along the pathways he discovered 'the hard way' as a dangerous young offender. With a new Introduction, Foreword by Duncan Campbell, extended chapters and a whole new part on the Hercules Programme the book challenges entrenched ways of thinking and examines the Social Deprivation Mindset (SDM) that unless something is done to change it holds back countless young people to the detriment of society as a whole.

Review Quote

'Magnificent ... a must read'-- The Voice. 'Hercules is on a mission to help young black men avoid prison ... to divert [them] from crime by challenging the way they see the world'-- Duncan Campbell. 'Thank you for the Social Deprivation Mindset Mr Hercules'-- Black Youth of Communities. 'Trevor knows the streets and Labelled a Black Villain -- the first British prison memoir by a Black man -- is still to be commended to anyone interested in confronting the current challenges of gang crime, knife crime and disaffected youth -- black or white'-- Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, Centre for Law, Crime and Justice, University of Strathclyde.

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