Research Brief 22 In 1947 a leading psychiatrist, Dr John McGeorge, told the New South Wales Department of Justice that men who abused children were ‘the most dangerous sex offenders’. These men, he went on to assert, were ‘often in a position of trust, [such as] a schoolteacher or scoutmaster’ (State Records NSW, Report […]
Research Brief 21 For decades, if not longer, well-meaning parents (and perhaps less well-meaning authority figures in institutional settings) utilised the cane or the belt as an instrument of punishment. These methods are increasingly frowned upon. Corporal punishment has been criminalised in some countries for more than thirty years, and in recent years, Australian courts […]
Research Brief 18 Court records document more than policing patterns and criminalised behaviours of the past. While they are crucial to writing criminal justice histories, they can be used in other ways, read against the grain to provide a window into particular cultural practices and social behaviours. These narratives are not without their methodological […]
Research Brief 16 In January 1924, an article in Sydney Truth alerted its readers to a spate of crimes against children that had recently appeared before the courts. Sexual offences against three girls and one boy had been committed in various suburbs around the city within a matter of weeks. While the […]