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The factors associated with the policing of offensive language

A qualitative study of three Sydney Local Area Commands

Bibliographic Data

ID15310285
AuthorsHannah Trollip (UNSW Sydney), Luke Mcnamara (0000-0002-8479-6469, UNSW Sydney), Helen Gibbon (UNSW Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume31
Issue4
Pages493-512
Publication date2019-07-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Issues in Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1034-5329 • E-ISSN: 2206-9542
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10345329.2019.1639591
OpenAlexW2965909966
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited10

This article makes an original contribution to scholarship and the ongoing debate about the merits (or otherwise) of retaining the crime of offensive language in New South Wales – and equivalent offences around Australia. We present and discuss the findings of a qualitative study of how police utilised s 4A of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) in three Sydney Local Area Commands during 2016. We identify the factors most commonly associated with a police decision to characterise a person’s language as criminally offensive and take action, either by laying a criminal charge or issuing a penalty notice. Offensive language laws are typically justified as a necessary device for ensuring that members of the community are protected from being caused ‘offence’ as a result of the use of inappropriate language in public places. However, our research demonstrates that offensive language laws more commonly operate as a police power – to control persons exhibiting ‘undesirable’ or ‘nuisance’ behaviour in public places and to exercise power over persons who demonstrate a lack of deference to the authority of the police

Criminology · Deference · Notice · Offensive · Operations research · Political science · Power (physics · Project commissioning · Public relations · Publishing · Scholarship · Sociology · Engineering · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Law · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism

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Unique citing works4
Citations per year0,67
Citation span2020 - 2024 (5)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
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