Placing Crime: The Failings of Urban-Centric Environmental Criminology

In the closing quarter of the 20th century, high rates of offending came to be seen as something of a normal part of modern life in industrial states (Garland 2001; Young 1999). Recorded crime in such states had been increasing from around the late 1960s. Crime became politicised throughout the late 20th century and elections based on law and order became almost the norm. This polemic was particularly strong in parts of regional and rural Australia, and in New South Wales in particular where public meetings were held to discuss the problem of law and order (Carrington & Hogg 2006; Lee 2007a; Bull 2007). Indeed, by the mid-1990s some rural and regional towns became all but defined by their law and order problems - often racialised and constructed as an Aboriginal problem (Carrington & Hogg 2006) and accompanied by an intense discourse of fear of crime (Lee 2007b).