A Tale of Two Towns: Social Structure, Integration and Crime in Rural New South Wales

Title
A Tale of Two Towns: Social Structure, Integration and Crime in Rural New South Wales
Publication Date
2005
Author(s)
Jobes, PC
Donnermeyer, JF
Barclay, E
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9523.2005.00302.x
UNE publication id
une:43
Abstract
This paper examines social factors that are associated with crime in two rural Australian communities with high proportions of Aboriginal people. It draws upon the theoretical contributions of Braithwaite (1989) to explain how levels of community integration and cohesion affect the presence of crime. Data for the case studies are derived from secondary statistics, surveys, observation and in-depth interviews. Existing literature on crime in Australia emphasises the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people within the criminal justice system. Yet, by comparing and contrasting the two communities, the analysis demonstrated that social structural and perceptual characteristics, rather than Indigenous status, account for high levels of crime in one community and low levels in the other. The analyses demonstrate that communities with high levels of social cohesion can ameliorate the affects of social disorganisation, division, and disadvantage in communities with high Aboriginal populations. It further demonstrates that rural crime is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon.
Link
Citation
Sociologia Ruralis, 45(3), p. 224-244
ISSN
1467-9523
0038-0199
Start page
224
End page
244

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink
administrative/PREMIS.xml 0.735 KB PREMIS.xml View document
closed/SOURCE01.pdf 61.086 KB application/pdf administrative View document
administrative/JHOVE.xml 47.927 KB JHOVE.xml View document
closed/SOURCE03.pdf 609.358 KB application/pdf Publisher version View document
administrative/MODS.xml 4.726 KB MODS.xml View document
open/SOURCE02.pdf 141.663 KB application/pdf Author final version View document