NCJ Number
176401
Editor(s)
D Philips,
S Davies
Date Published
1994
Length
244 pages
Annotation
This compilation of essays deals with the police and criminal law in Australia, with subjects including women under the convict system in New South Wales; the paradoxical relationship between race, justice, and criminal law in north Queensland; and the regulation of vagrants in late 19th century Melbourne.
Abstract
The book contains seven case studies, each of which uses historical materials and methods to examine themes relevant to criminal justice administration in Australia. The case studies stretch from 1810 to the end of the 19th century, and they share a common focus on the workings of the colonial criminal justice system. Case studies cover the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales in 1788, the structure and practice of policing and colonial demands, the Sydney police between 1841 and 1848, and the establishment of specialized and highly mobile law enforcement bodies such as the Native Police and the Border Police. Other case study themes concern the differential treatment of Aborigines and the gulf between theoretical legal equality and the situation in practice between 1882 and 1894, the differential treatment of men and women under the colonial criminal law of early New South Wales between 1810 and 1830, women and capital punishment in Victoria between 1842 and 1967, and the treatment of and criminal justice system response to vagrants in Melbourne during the late 19th century. The influence of British models and traditions on Australia's criminal justice system is discussed. References, notes, tables, and figures