Criminology Research Council grant ; (26/86)
This project established a database on public disorder in Australia between 1969 and 1984 from a content analysis of the Melbourne Age newspaper. This database was used to analyse the scale and typology of disorder as a basis for analysis of causes, and the impact of different types of policing policy.
Analysis of the data revealed no evidence that rates of public disorder were on the increase during the period under review. The most significant category of disorder involved political pro- test, followed by community disorder and industrial disorder.
There was no evidence that increasing rates of unemployment or multicultural immigration produced any significant increase in public disorder in the decade under observation.
The researcher recommended that police authorities take further steps to monitor rates of public disorder. No major shift in current policing policy was recommended.