There were many social tensions surrounding the era of the Toxteth Riots and several have been identified in the research that led to this article. Crime rates were high, and offenders were not concerned with the consequences of their actions. The policing of these crimes did not provide the solution. Racial issues emerging from police brutality only invoked further tensions. Above all else, these issues were centered within the most dilapidated and impoverished living conditions in the country. Given the outbreaks of riots in surrounding areas with parallel issues, the Toxteth Riots may have been foreseen during the 1960s. Unfortunately, rather than addressing the real and underlying issues that existed, governmental practices only attempted to cover up the problems.

Authorities have more recently made efforts in the implementation of youth programs (Morris, 1996). It would even appear as though crime has decreased according to an audit of crime conducted by a Community Safety Partnership called Citysafe (Liverpool Crime & Disorder Audit, 2001 as cited by Bootle Group, 2001). However, violent crime has increased and only half of these victims report the assault to police (Bootle Group, 2001). As well, police targets on young men appear to remain present. A British crime survey conducted in 1998 reports that 32% of men aged sixteen to twenty-nine were stopped by police compared to only fourteen percent of older men (Yeo & Budd, 2000 as cited by Bootle Group, 2001).

Twenty years after the riots, many of the social problems prevalent then, still exist today (BBC News. Thursday, July 5, 2001). Lady Margaret Simey, chair of the police authority during the riots feels race is still at the root of the area's woes, "... It's that if you happen also to have a black face, there is no escape from the poverty"(BBC News. Thursday, July 5, 2001). The roots of the problems need attention in the Toxteth area. According to the applied theories, as long as these tensions endure, the likelihood exists that history may repeat itself.