Drawing on unique longitudinal community-level data in Brisbane, this book entwines current ecological theories of crime with key debates on the relevance of ‘community’ in contemporary urban life to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between community structure, community social capital, informal social control and the occurrence of crime and disorder. Crime and Disorder in Community Context extends what is known about the concentration of crime in particular types of places, presenting a broad reaching explication of how community structural characteristics, community regulatory processes and crime influence each other over time. It looks at how growing levels of ethnic diversity, income inequality and increasing immigrant concentrations at the community level influence processes necessary for the regulation of crime; the crime control processes for various crime problems in different types of communities; the extent that exogenous shocks, like the 2011 Brisbane flood disaster and the global financial crisis impact on crime, crime prevention and crime control; and engages readers with the methodological complexities associated with the longitudinal study of crime and disorder in contemporary urban communities. An accessible and compelling read, this will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, geography, cultural studies and all those interested in the relationship between crime and community.

In a contemporary setting of increasing social division and marginalisation, Policing Hate Crime interrogates the complexities of prejudice motivated crime and effective policing practices. Hate crime has become a barometer for contemporary police relations with vulnerable and marginalised communities. But how do police effectively lead conversations with such communities about problems arising from prejudice? Contemporary police are expected to be active agents in the pursuit of social justice and human rights by stamping out prejudice and group-based animosity. At the same time, police have been criticised in over-policing targeted communities as potential perpetrators, as well as under-policing these same communities as victims of crime. Despite this history, the demand for impartial law enforcement requires police to change their engagement with targeted communities and kindle trust as priorities in strengthening their response to hate crime. Drawing upon a research partnership between police and academics, this book entwines current law enforcement responses with key debates on the meaning of hate crime to explore the potential for misunderstandings of hate crime between police and communities, and illuminates ways to overcome communication difficulties. This book will be important reading for students taking courses in hate crime, as well as victimology, policing, and crime and community.

In a contemporary setting of increasing social division and marginalisation, Policing Hate Crime interrogates the complexities of prejudice motivated crime and effective policing practices. Hate crime has become a barometer for contemporary police relations with vulnerable and marginalised communities. But how do police effectively lead conversations with such communities about problems arising from prejudice? Contemporary police are expected to be active agents in the pursuit of social justice and human rights by stamping out prejudice and group-based animosity. At the same time, police have been criticised in over-policing targeted communities as potential perpetrators, as well as under-policing these same communities as victims of crime. Despite this history, the demand for impartial law enforcement requires police to change their engagement with targeted communities and kindle trust as priorities in strengthening their response to hate crime. Drawing upon a research partnership between police and academics, this book entwines current law enforcement responses with key debates on the meaning of hate crime to explore the potential for misunderstandings of hate crime between police and communities, and illuminates ways to overcome communication difficulties. This book will be important reading for students taking courses in hate crime, as well as victimology, policing, and crime and community.

Drawing on unique longitudinal community-level data in Brisbane, this book entwines current ecological theories of crime with key debates on the relevance of 'community' in contemporary urban life to examine the spatial and temporal relationships between community structure, community social capital, informal social control and the occurrence of crime and disorder. Crime and Disorder in Community Context extends what is known about the concentration of crime in particular types of places, presenting a broad reaching explication of how community structural characteristics, community regulatory processes and crime influence each other over time. It looks at how growing levels of ethnic diversity, income inequality and increasing immigrant concentrations at the community level influence processes necessary for the regulation of crime; the crime control processes for various crime problems in different types of communities; the extent that exogenous shocks, like the 2011 Brisbane flood disaster and the global financial crisis impact on crime, crime prevention and crime control; and engages readers with the methodological complexities associated with the longitudinal study of crime and disorder in contemporary urban communities. An accessible and compelling read, this will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, geography, cultural studies and all those interested in the relationship between crime and community.

Place, Race and Politics presents an integrated analysis of the social and political processes that combined to construct a media-driven 'crisis' concerning African youth crime in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Combining original research and analysis alongside published sources, the authors carefully dissect the anatomy of a racialized and politicized public discourse and delve into the profound impact of this on African-Australian communities in Melbourne. Drawing on political and media analysis and community-based research, the authors investigate how South Sudanese Australians in Melbourne came to be identified, supposedly, as a unique threat to community safety, the role played by the media, state and federal politics, the policing and perceptions of race in this process, and the physical and emotional impacts on affected communities of the law and order crisis concerning 'African crime'. While deeply rooted in local conditions, the book resonates with similar examples of the criminalization and othering of racialized communities, the surveillance and exclusion of 'crimmigrants', and with popular punitivism and the rise of far-right politics globally in response to deeply felt anxieties about rapid social, economic and cultural change.