Crime Prevention and the Lure of Relevance a Response to Adam Sutton
| DOI | 10.1177/000486589402700105 |
| Author | Janet Chan |
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Crime
Prevention
and
the
Lure
of
Relevance
A
Response
to
Adam
Sutton
Janet
Chan-
Which
criminologist
would
you
like
to
be
when
you
grow
up,
Dick
or
Jane?1
Dick
is
Dean
of
the
new
Law
School
in
Skase
University,
and
Director
of
Tracy
Risk
Management
Inc.
As
a
successful
criminologist,
Dick
practises
what
he
teaches.
He
drives
a
late
model
sports
car
which
is
fitted
with
a
state-of-the-art
alarm.
His
house
in
Vaucluse
has
been
designed
to
maximise
defensible
space
and
natural
sUlVeillance.
It
also
has
window
bars,
dead
locks
and
a
computerised
back-to-base
24-hour
monitoring
alarm
system.
His
valuables
have
been
property-marked
and
fully
insured.
His
wife
stays
at
home
to
ensure
the
appearance
of
occupancy
and
she
is a
member
of
the
Neighbourhood
Watch
citizen
patrol
volunteer
unit.
Dick
has
just
finalised
a
million-dollar
contract
to
devise
and
implement
a
crime-prevention
strategy
for
the
Club
Med
resort
beipg
built
in
Byron
Bay.
Next
year
he'll
apply
for
a
Criminology
Research
Council
grant
to
evaluate
the
strategy.
Jane
is a
junior
academic
at
Penrith
University
which
has
recently
been
targetted
for
closure
by
DEET
because
of
non-profitability.
Jane
is a
criminologist
who
is
also
active
in
community
work.
She
drives
a
1972
station
wagon
which
has
been
stolen
and
recovered
five
times.
Her
fibro
house
in
Fairfield
is a
drop-in
centre
for
street
kids
and
home
to
her
six
foster
children.
Jane
has
been
a
sllccessfullobbyist
for
increased
funding
for
daycare,
recreational
facilities,
migrant
resource
centres,
womens
refuges,
single
parent
support
and
youth
employment
programs
in
her
community.
She
has
also
been
an
outspoken
critic
of
deregulation,
privatisation,
corporatisation
and
other
economic
rationalist
government
policies.
Her
teaching
contract
is
ending
next
year;
maybe
she'll
have
time
to
finish
her
doctoral
dissertation
on
the
commodification
of
criminology
.
Behind
Adam
Sutton's
fine
essay
is
a
nagging
discomfort
that
many
criminologists
feel
about
the
whole
subject
of
crime
prevention:
Is
criminology
losing
its
critical
edge
or
have
we
fallen
victim
to
the
'lure
of
relevance'?
Obviously~
the
whole
area
of
crime
prevention,
especially
situational
crime
prevention,
is
fertile
ground
for
'criminology
for
cash'
enterprises.
Risk
analysis,
target
hardening,
security
sUlVey,
etc,
all
invoke
images
of
the
old
'fortress
mentality'
created
by
security
firms
less
interested
in
crime
prevention
than
selling
hardware.
The
fact
that
insurance
companies
give
financial
support
to
some
Neighbourhood
Watch
schemes
also
helps
deepen
our
suspicion.
The
discomfort
is
based
on
the
feeling
that
by
advocating
crime
prevention
strategies,
•
MA,
MSc(Tor),
PhD
(Syd),
Senior
Lecturer
in
Social
Science
and
Policy,
University
of
New
South
Wales.
25
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