Locating Crime in Context and Place Perspectives on Regional, Rural and Remote Australia

The urban focus of crime has dominated the attention of criminologists. Although images of idyllic, crime-free areas beyond the cityscape persist, there is scant academic consideration of the realities and variances of crime across regional, rural and remote Australia. Contributors to Locating Crime explore the nexus between crime and space, examining the complexities that exist in policing, prosecuting and punishing crime in different zones. The various authors draw upon original knowledge and insight and utilise innovative research and an interdisciplinary approach to their work. The broad theme of Locating Crime is centred on 'context, place and space', but several sub-themes emerge too. Contributors grapple with a number of issues: contextualisations of rurality; notions of 'access to justice'; the importance of building 'social capital'; the role of history; and of proactively addressing offending rates with crime prevention measures. This original research adds significantly to criminological understandings of crime in different spaces and offers novel insights of the impact upon victims and communities affected by crime in non-urban environments. Twelve scholarly chapters are grounded in criminological, legal and socio-legal frameworks and incorporate theoretical and practical knowledge from other fields such as history, sociology, cultural geography, media, cultural studies and Indigenous studies. The contributions from four professionals with expert knowledge of specific facets of criminal justice systems in Australia offer evaluations often absent from scholarly criminological literature. By melding both academic and practitioner discourse into the same work, this book allows a greater appreciation of the nexus between thought and practice.

Introduction. Locating Regional, Rural and Remote Crime in Theoretical and Contemporary Context, Bridget Harris and Alistair Harkness PART I: LOCATING CRIME 1. An Interpretive Approach to Understanding Crime in Rural Australia, John Scott and Dean Biron 2.Placing Crime: The Failings of Urban-Centric Environmental Criminology, Murray Lee and Garner Clancy 3.Development of Crime and the Criminal Justice System in Australia, Jenny Wise and David Andrew Roberts 4.Crime Patterns: Measurement and Evaluation of Crime and Deviance in Rural and Regional Australia, Frank Morgan PART II: CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES AND RESPONSES 5.The Place of Indigenous People: Locating Crime and Criminal Justice in a Colonising World , Chris Cunneen 6.Violent Landscapes: A Spatial Study of Family Violence, Bridget Harris 7.Policing of Protest in Rural and Regional Contexts, David Baker 8.Farm Crime: The Forgotten Frontier?, Alistair Harkness 9.Access to Justice in Rural and Regional Settings: Evolving Perspectives and Contexts, Richard Coverdale 10.Witness, Judge or Watchdog?: Journalism and Regional Courts, Kristy Hess and Lisa Waller 11.Penology from City to Country: Rurality and Penality in Australia, Russell Hogg 12.Crime Prevention in Varied Settings, Anthony Morgan PART III: PRACTITIONER PERSPECTIVES 13.Policing ‘The Country', Robert Haldane 14.Law and True Justice: A Practitioner’s Perspective from the Top End, Jonathon Hunyor 15.Bush Courts and Beyond, Jenny Blokland 16.Lawmaking or Making Justice?: Foundations for Criminal Justice Responses in Rural and Regional Communities, Rob Hulls Conclusion, David Baker

Alistair Harkness lectures and researches in Criminal Justice at Federation University. Between 2002 and 2010 he was a member of Victoria's Legislative Assembly representing Frankston in Melbourne's outer south-east. Before entering parliament, he taught Australian politics and police studies at Monash University. His primary research interests are in farm and rural crime, with a particular emphasis on farmer-victimisation, rural crime prevention and rural policing responses. He also has a secondary interest in parliamentary representation and Australian State politics. Bridget Harris lectures and researches in Criminology within the School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences at the University of New England. She recently completed her PhD at Monash University and was previously a Research Fellow at the Centre for Rural Regional Law and Justice at Deakin University. Her work is interdisciplinary and explores access to and spaces of justice, and includes issues of family violence, legal advocacy, lower courts and policing. David Baker is Program Leader of Criminal Justice at Federation University. Previously, he worked for two decades in Police Studies, Criminal Justice and Criminology at Monash University. He is the author of Batons and Blockades: Policing Industrial Disputes in Australasia and Police, Picket-lines and Fatalities: Lessons from the Past. His research interests include major event policing, policing of dissent, police histories, police unionism, comparative criminal justice, and labour history. He was a member of the International Consortium on the Police Use of Force and an associate investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security.