Rising crime in Australia
by Lucy Sullivan
Research Fellow
13 November 1997
Key Points
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crime represents a failure of internal and external constraints to deter socially harmful behaviour
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the family is a prime source of soialisation in the values that provide internal constraints against crime
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surveillance and punishment are external constraits and secondary methods of crime prevention
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crime declined in the first half of the century, before increasing in the second half, and rising massively from the 1970s
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homicide rates have been more stable, but still increased in the 1980s and 1990s
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rape, at very low levels for most of the century became a much larger problem from the 1970s
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robbery rates show the same pattern of rising significantly over the last 25 years
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assault rates more than doubled between the early 1980s and early 1990s
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the proportion of the population in prison dropped from late last century to the 1920s, before rising again grom the early 1980s
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however, rates of imprisonment have not kept pace with increases in the crime rate
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there is an increasing number of police per head of population, but fewer police for each crime
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rising crime cannot be attributed to the proportion of young people in the population, which declined during the period of escalating crime
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over the century, there is no close relationship between levels of unemployment and crime
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female employment, which subtracts from the time mothers can give to socialisation, shows a statistical association with crime
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male employment rates show no association with crime
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divorce, which dimishes the time parents give to socialisation, shows a statistical association with crime
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with a two decade time lapse, there is signifcant association between young motherhood and crime
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there is a strong relationship between ex-nuptial birth and crime
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there has been a parallel rise in sole parenting and crime
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there is no statistical relationship between marriage rates and crime rates
This book is available from the Centre for Independent Studies
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