Patterns of Criminality in New South Wales, 1788–1973
| Date | 01 December 1974 |
| Author | Peter N. Grabosky |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587400700403 |
| Published date | 01 December 1974 |
AUST. &N.Z.
JOURNAL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY
(December,
1974): 7,4
Patterns
of
Criminality
in
New
South
Wales,
1788-1973
PETER
N. GRABOSKY*
215
ABSTRACT
This
study
presents the
initial
report
of
the
author's
research
on
the
history
of
the New South Wales criminal justice system. Following areview of availa,ble
crime
statistics
from
19th and 20th
century
New
South Wales, the
major
met-
hodological obstacles to the
longitudinal
study
of
criminality
are
discussed, and
corrective
measures
are
suggested
which
permit
use
of
existing
data
for
illustra-
tive
and
analytical
purposes. .
Long
term
trends
in
the
rate
of
serious offences
against
persons,
property,
and
sexual
morality
in
New
South Wales
reflect
patterns
typical
of
most
Western
industria~
societies;
gross
trends
over
the
history
of
New
South Wales have been
downward, with slight reversals occurring since World War II in the cases of
acquisitive
crime
and sexual offences.
Multiple
regression
analysis was
employed
in
an
effort
to
discern
with
greater
precision
the
determinants
of
the trends in
question;
the
over
representation
of
males in the
early
19th
century
and the
urban
growth
characteristic
of
20th cen-
tury
New
South Wales emerged.as the
most
significant
correlates
of
the
forms
of
criminality
under
investigation.
The study concludes
with
adiscussion
of
strategies
for
future
research
in
his-
torical
and
comparative
contexts.
1. Introduction I
Among
the
areas
of
inquiry
still
undeveloped
by-historians,
criminologists,
and
other
interested
members
of
the social science
community
is the study
of
long
term
trends
in
criminal
behaviour.
Aside
from
the
efforts
of
Cannon (1973),
Ward
and Woods (1972,
Chapter
2), those
of
Rawson (1968) focusing
specifically
on
political
violence,
and
works
by
Rowley
(1970) and Reynolds (1972),
dealing
with
violence
against
Aborig~nals,
hardly
any
attention
has been devoted to this
theme
in the
Australian
context.
Overseas
settings
have been
similarly
unexplored,
with
the exception
of
Tobias'
(1967)
work
on
England,
Lodhi
and
Tilly's
(1973)
work
on
France,
and studies
of
selected
urban
areas
in
the
Eastern
United
States
by
Phelps (1926),
Warner
(1966),
Ferdinand
(1967), and Lane (1969).
While
a
number
of
theoretical
and
methodological
explanations
for
this
relative
neglect
Will
be
suggested in the pages to
follow,
it
is
important
tooffer
at
the
outset
some
justifi-
cations
for
further
historical
inquiry.
Aside
from
contributing
to
general
historical
knowledge,
diachronic
studies
of
criminality
may
be
of
great
utility
to
individuals
involved
in
the
formulation
and
implementation
of
public
policy.
Should
it
appear,
for
example,
that
the in-
*
M.A.,
Ph.D. (Northwestern) Assistant Professor
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Vermont, Burlington. Vermont,
U.S.A.
1.
The
research
reported
here
is
part
of
a
larger
collective
un<.Iertaking. a
comparative
histor~'
of
crime
and
public
order
in London.
Stockholm,
Sydney, and
Calcutta.
The
project
has
bt'f'n
co-directed
by
Profe~sors
Ted
Robt'rt
Gurr
and
Louis
H.
Masotti
of
Northwestern
University,
and support{>d
bY'
the
Center
for
the Study
of
Crime
and
Dt'lin-
Quency
of
the National
Institute
of
Mental Health. U.S. Department
of
Health, Education, and Welfare
(NIMH
Research
Grant
Number
MH
21204-02).
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