Spatiality and Justice

 

Convenors
Dr Michael Chataway,
A/Prof Bridget Harris, Monash University
Dr Chloe Keel, Griffith University
Dr Kyle Mulrooney, University of New England

Description

Spatial Criminology is a burgeoning field, incorporating spatial processes, relationships, and locational and socio-cultural context in understanding and interpreting crime patterns and behaviour. The aim of this Thematic Group is to delve into these issues, exploring how spatiality impacts crime and responses and contributes to the broader field of criminology.

We propose to adopt a spatial-contextual thinking approach, accounting for spatial processes, such as movement, boundaries, including those which are physical and socio-cultural, crime-attracting or reducing factors, including that of distance, proximity, exposure, and access, while situating these within a broader social context.

With the precision of spatial data and methodologies advancing rapidly, there is a growing demand for a focused discussion on spatial criminology, including the importance of developing and integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and disciplines. There is also an emerging body of digital methods to better explore understandings of crime in the context of place. Our Thematic Group will provide a dedicated space for criminologists with an interest in spatiality and crime to collaborate, share ideas, explore novel methodological approaches and develop new theories. 

Notably, in the broader context of criminology, the concepts of temporality, place and space are inseparable. They are intimately connected to the study and understanding and perceptions of deviance, crime and victimisation, with  physical, geographic and ideological elements  determining experiences of and responses to criminality. As such, this proposed group will be of interest to criminologists with a wide range of research interests and expertise, including environmental crime, rural crime, neighbourhood effects and micro-place research, and ‘spaceless’ (technology-facilitated) crimes and responses , ghost criminology and dark tourism, among others. 

However, spatial criminology sets itself apart by going beyond acknowledging this connection. It seeks to explicitly measure and construct theories around spatial processes and relationships and in ways that considers space more holistically than simply physicality and geography. The crux of spatial criminology lies in examining the inherent, detailed intricacies of space — its composition, its influence, and its relationships — and how these spatial elements interact with experiences and perceptions of crime, justice and places/spaces.

Aims and Objectives

Proposed areas of focus include:

• Interaction between spatial dimensions, which are physical, socio-cultural and ideological and are crime attracting or reducing factors.
• Place-based studies that consider the characteristics of places and social processes that occur within spatially bounded areas as it relates to experiences and perceptions of crime, for example, neighbourhoods, street segments, workplaces, entertainment venues.
• ‘Spaceless’ forms of crime (such as cyber or technology-facilitated crime) and prevention of and responses to crime (such as used by police, courts, victim-survivors and communities), as well as their relationship to geographic places and ideological spaces.
• The interconnectedness between temporality and spatiality; how people, spaces and times can be ‘haunted’, and how spaces and social moments are and experienced in the past, future, present, and in-between.

This Thematic Group on Spatiality and Justice would contribute to ANZSOC’s mission of advancing the understanding and response to crime by creating a focused platform for exploring spatial criminology. We believe that fostering a space for this specialised area of criminology will lead to innovative research and collaborations that will benefit ANZSOC and the broader criminological community.

We propose to organise regular meetings, online seminars, workshops and invite guest speakers who are experts in the field of spatial criminology. Furthermore, we plan to organise and submit proposals for panels on spatial criminology for the annual ANZSOC conference.

Members
Flo Apan, Queensland University of Technology
Kathryn Benier, Monash University
Anna Eriksson, Monash University
Bianca Fileborn, University of Melbourne
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University
Tarah Hodgkinson, Wilfred Laurier University
Carolyn McKay, University of Sydney
Jacques Melberg, Queensland University of Technology
Emily Moir, University of the Sunshine Coast
Michelle Sydes, Griffith University
Zarina Vakhitova, Monash University
Rebecca Wickes, Griffith University
Renee Zahnow, University of Queensland
Justin Ellis, University of Newcastle
Ruth Liston, Victoria University
Andi Brown, Deakin University

Contact: anzsoc.spatialityjustice@gmail.com