Conference papers

Does punishment have a place in restorative justice?

Don Weatherburn
Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, New South Wales

Presented at:
The future and criminology : new solutions for old problems or old solutions for new problems? : 14th annual ANZSOC conference
University of Western Australia, Perth
28-30 September 1999

Abstract

One of the great puzzles of criminology is that it exerts far less influence on public policy than other social sciences, such as economics, which rest on less secure theoretical and empirical foundations. Criminologists, both inside and outside the academy, usually blame this on the susceptibility of the general public to moral panics and the willingness of the media and politicians to exploit this susceptibility for commercial or partypolitical ends. But this is only half the story. Criminologists cannot escape part of the blame for the limited influence which criminology has had on public. We are too dismissive of public concern about crime, we make too little effort to understand short term trends in crime, we skirt around the fact that some coecive options for dealing with crime are probably quite effective even if they do raise real and justified concerns about violations of civil liberty, we are too dismissive of 'administrative criminology' and we often communicate poorly with the media and Government.Once upon a time this was all a loss to public policy but no real skin of the nose of criminology. That is no longer true. Pressures are emerging which threaten criminological research with death by a thousand funding cuts unless criminologists make a determined effort to assert more influence on public policy. Criminologists can and should take up this challenge. They should rise above what John Braithwaite once called 'their entrenched niches of expertise', go after the 'fourth estate' and engage Government in a more constructive dialogue. There are signs that this is happening.

About the presenter

Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. He has previously held appointments as Foundation Research Director of the NSW Judicial Commission and lecturer in Justice Administration at Charles Sturt University. Dr. Weatherburn has published nearly 70 articles, book chapters and reports on a wide range of topics, including criminal justice administration, crime prevention, economic factors and crime, sentencing policy, drug law enforcement policy and trial court performance. He has just finished an evaluation of the effect of street-level drug law enforcement on entry into methadone treatment and is leading a team conducting a randomised trial evaluation of NSW Drug Court.

During his period at the Bureau Dr Weatherburn has held positions as chairman of the National Crime Statistics Advisory Group, member of the Board of the National Court Statistics Advisory Group, member of the NSW Crime Prevention Council, member of Safer Australia and member of the Capital City Lord Mayor's Advisory Group. He has also been retained by the United Nations to give advice to the Governments of China and Papua New Guinea on the establishment of crime and criminal justice databases. In 1998 Dr Weatherburn was awarded a Public Service Medal for his contribution to public policy development and evaluation.

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