Articles


The Community Governance of Crime, Justice and Safety: Challenges and Lesson-Drawing

Published 17/03/2004
Type Article
Author(s) Gordon Hughes
Corresponding Authors Gordon Hughes, International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research, The Open University
DOA
DOI

This paper offers some critical reflections on and lesson-drawing from the current modernising project in the local governance of crime, justice and safety in the UK and Australia. It begins with a sociological account of the growing salience of appeals to community in crime prevention and community safety. The seductions and dangers of the discourse of ‘community in the singular are examined before a ‘defence’ of radical articulations of the ‘communal’ is made. Finally five major challenges facing proponents of community-based prevention, safety and justice are highlighted.