NCJ Number
146949
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (December 1993) Pages: 207-218
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the policing of juveniles in Australia's urban public spaces.
Abstract
The discussion builds upon previous work that examined the ways in which general community space in the urban environment is socially constructed. This companion study examined the material basis for the conflict between juveniles and the police from the perspective of the definition and regulation of public space and "commercial space." That paper argues that "unconventional" uses of urban streets, malls, and shopping center -- that is, uses not oriented toward producing goods or services, consumption, or transportation -- lead to a certain type of surveillance and state intervention in these public spaces. Policing procedures result in the monitoring, restricting, or excluding of nonconsuming young people from the commercial spaces of central business districts. The author of the current paper argues that police practices focus on protecting private property, maintaining personal security, and regulating the moral character of street life. In the context of a significant shift in the position of young people as consumers, the economic and social marginalization of various groups of young people has fueled an increasingly negative relationship between the police and youth. The contest over community space and official state concerns about "crime" and "propriety" guarantee that social conflict will be heightened rather than reduced by current forms of police intervention in the lives of young people. 41 references