The Acoustics of Crime: New Ways of Ensuring Young People Are Not Seen and Not Heard

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Author(s)
Bull, Melissa
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2012
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The topic of hooning has been a recent addition to the political agenda. Over the last 10 years states throughout Australia have engaged in law and order style auctions to see which jurisdiction can introduce the harshest penalties to prevent this behaviour. This paper explains that these legislative moves have not been inspired by the preservation of human life - which has tended to be the rationale behind the criminalisation of other traffic infringements like speeding. Instead it describes how the introduction of what safety experts describe as 'draconian penalties' has been linked to the acoustics and amenability of the ...
View more >The topic of hooning has been a recent addition to the political agenda. Over the last 10 years states throughout Australia have engaged in law and order style auctions to see which jurisdiction can introduce the harshest penalties to prevent this behaviour. This paper explains that these legislative moves have not been inspired by the preservation of human life - which has tended to be the rationale behind the criminalisation of other traffic infringements like speeding. Instead it describes how the introduction of what safety experts describe as 'draconian penalties' has been linked to the acoustics and amenability of the crime. This paper demonstrates how hooning laws and penalties that target the 'outlandish driver behaviour' of some young people provide an exemplar of the authoritarian dimensions of neo-liberal rule. These harsh laws are a governmental response to restoring neighbourhood peace that employ tactics beyond the traditional punitive approaches which seek to discipline offenders.
View less >
View more >The topic of hooning has been a recent addition to the political agenda. Over the last 10 years states throughout Australia have engaged in law and order style auctions to see which jurisdiction can introduce the harshest penalties to prevent this behaviour. This paper explains that these legislative moves have not been inspired by the preservation of human life - which has tended to be the rationale behind the criminalisation of other traffic infringements like speeding. Instead it describes how the introduction of what safety experts describe as 'draconian penalties' has been linked to the acoustics and amenability of the crime. This paper demonstrates how hooning laws and penalties that target the 'outlandish driver behaviour' of some young people provide an exemplar of the authoritarian dimensions of neo-liberal rule. These harsh laws are a governmental response to restoring neighbourhood peace that employ tactics beyond the traditional punitive approaches which seek to discipline offenders.
View less >
Journal Title
Cultrual Studies Review
Volume
18
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2012 Cultural Studies Review. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Criminology not elsewhere classified
Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Cultural Studies
Literary Studies