Carole Duggan's appeal for a peaceful response to the perplexing jury decision that her nephew Mark Duggan was lawfully killed, even though he was unarmed, should be taken to heart.

Neither the Duggan family nor people in Tottenham and the many other areas convulsed by violent protests in August 2011 have anything to gain from a fresh outbreak of disorder.

The family intention to hold a peaceful vigil in Tottenham this weekend to express their dismay at the jury's conclusions should be respected.

Carole Duggan has indicated that her family will then confine themselves to legal processes and may seek to overturn a decision that they view as perverse.

No-one should underestimate the difficulty of this. The political, judicial and policing Establishment will do all it can to defend the result achieved by the jury.

Pamela Duggan, Mark's mother, has already voiced her concern over the advice given to police about conferring before giving their version of incidents such as the shooting dead of her son.

The role of the Independent Police Complaints Commission throughout this affair has also been problematic, failing to contact the Duggan family after Mark was shot and spreading the false story that there had been an exchange of fire between him and the police prior to his death.

Duggan family lawyer Marcia Willis Stewart drew the conclusion that, because Mark Duggan had been unarmed, his killing had to be unlawful.

But police legal representatives were able to persuade jury members that police conduct had been justifiable because they believed, albeit wrongly, that their victim was armed and that their lives were in acute danger.

This triumph of perception over reality will be a difficult hurdle to surpass in future legal proceedings.

Reverend Nims Obunge, who presided over Mark Duggan's funeral, reported that he and a number of prominent Tottenham representatives had held "an interesting meeting" with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to discuss policing arrangements and community relations.

However, as important as police-community relations are in Tottenham and several other areas, other issues are also of key importance.

Tottenham was once a quite prosperous area of north London, with very many small and medium-sized engineering and clothing factories offering work to local people.

It now has the highest rate of unemployment in London, with all the consequent social problems that spin off from a paucity of jobs.

It is inevitable that, in such circumstances, a sizeable proportion of the youth, especially young men, will find other ways to get their hands on the cash they see as necessary to meet their own needs and those of their family.

Politicians should not simply lecture communities on the need to remain within the law.

Nor should they wash their hands of areas where mass joblessness is the order of the day.

Providing employment and hope is an essential role for government, although the current coalition operates a job-cuts approach for the public sector and a sink-or-swim attitude towards the private sector.

The police and the Duggan family disagree over whether Mark was a gang member, but there is no doubt that many young men hook up with gangs as a substitute for more constructive activity.

Politicians ought to examine their own party policies and priorities and opt for state investment in employment to convince those forgotten by society that another more positive alternative exists.