NOTE ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCES AND PRISON SERVICES

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Milton Ellis
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32 ANZJ Crim (979) 2 NOTE ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCES AND PRISON SERVICES Jh Braithwaite" ad Michael Cass] This research te presets the results f a crss-tabulati

1 32 ANZJ Crim (979) 2 NOTE ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION OF AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCES AND PRISON SERVICES Jh Braithwaite" ad Michael Cass] This research te presets the results f a crss-tabulati aalysis f 97 Cesus data the cmpsiti f Australia plice frces ad pris services by sex, age, cutry f birth, educatial qualificatis ad religi. Oe frequetly hears cfidet assertis beig made that a certai Departmet f Crrective Services is ru by "pms"; that certai plice frces have bee mre prgressive tha thers i emplyig large umbers f uiversity graduates r females; that e frce is ctrlled by the Mass, ather by Cathlics; ad the like. With the publicati f the fllwig tables, it is t be hped that i future such assertis might be made by referece t sme data. Plice Frces Table shws that at the time f the 97 Cesus all plice frces were at least 97 percet male. Suth Australia was the State with the highest percetage f female plice fficers (2.9). All plice frces have very similar age distributis, with the exceptis that the Suth Australia ad ACT frces have tably higher prprtis f yug fficers (Table 2). Frm Table 3 it is clear that the three easter States (Queeslad, New Suth Wales ad Victria) have the lwest prprtis f plice fficers br utside f Australia. This is because the remaiig States ad Territries emply substatially higher umbers f British br pliceme. If we add the Australia ad British categries tgether we fid that all frces are betwee 94 ad 98% Agl-Sax. N frce is remarkable i emplyig mre -Agl-Sax migrats tha thers. Data are t available hw may abrigies are emplyed as pliceme, but e des t strike may f them the street. There are great differeces amg frces i the educatial qualificatis held by fficers (Table 4). New Suth Wales is the State with mst uiversity graduates (O.3 f the frce). Table 5 cmpares the cmpsiti f plice frces by religi. Because there are csiderable iterstate differeces i the religius cmpsiti f the geeral ppulati, percetages f pliceme i a particular demiati are cmpared with the percetage f the ttal ppulati i that demiati fr the State ccered. Queeslad has clearly the mst Cathlic plice frce (36.), a iterestig situati i a State where 7 f the 8 cabiet miisters are Australia Istitute f Crimilgy, Caberra. t l liversity f Queeslad.

POLICE F()RCES ANI) P()LICE SERVICES 33 Prtestat. Suth Australia has the lwest prprti f Cathlic pliceme (7.8), but it must be kept i mid that ly 2.6 f the geeral ppulati f Suth Australia is Cathlic.

2 POLICE F()RCES ANI) P()LICE SERVICES 33 Prtestat. Suth Australia has the lwest prprti f Cathlic pliceme (7.8), but it must be kept i mid that ly 2.6 f the geeral ppulati f Suth Australia is Cathlic. Suth Australia als has a strikigly higher prprti f fficers i the " Christia" categry (6) - a categry dmiated by mre fudametalist Prtestat grups such as Baptists. Agai, hwever, this is merely a reflecti f the fact that there are mre " Christias" i the geeral Suth Australia ppulati (8.5). There are table verrepresetatis f the Church f Eglad i the ACT (4.7) ad New Suth Wales (44.3) frces. These differeces are mir cmpared t the mre fudametal reality that Australia plice frces are by ad large quite represetative f the religius cmpsiti f the ppulatis frm which they are draw. If Cathlic-Mas struggles t ctrl plice frces lmed large i the past, thse struggles are t evidet i the religius cmpsiti f Australia plice frces tday. Pris Officers As with the plice frces, priss services are verwhelmigly ad csistetly male (Table 6). Iterstate differeces i the age structure f priss services are als miimal (Table 7). While Suth Australia teded t have the yugest f the eight plice frces, the average age f its crrectial staff was lder tha i ay ther State r Territry, with ly e f the 245 Suth Australia pris fficers beig uder 25. Pris fficers were very differet frm plice fficers i cutry f birth (Table 8). I every State at least 3 f the pris fficers were br utside f Australia. I Suth Australia ly 35.9 f pris fficers were Australia br. Table 8 shws very clearly the irdiate umbers f British migrats wh are attracted it Australia Crrective Services Departmets, frm a miimum f 2. f the service i New Suth Wales t a maximum f 57. i Suth Australia. I all States, hwever, -British migrats cmprise ly small prprtis f the priss service persel. A cmparis f educatial qualificatis f pris fficers prduces remarkable differeces betwee States (Table 9). Oly t\\to f the States, New Suth Wales (O.5) ad Wester Australia (O.4) had ay uiversity graduates amg its pris fficers. With respect t religius demiati, pris fficers were typical f the geeral ppulatis f their States (Table ). Mir exceptis were a slight uderrepresetati f Cathlics i Queeslad ad Suth Australia, ad a verrepresetati f Cathlics i Tasmaia. Cclusi Wme ad peple with tertiary educatial qualificatis are grssly uderrepreseted i Australia plice frces ad priss services. I plice frces Australia br males are verrepreseted, while amg pris fficers it is British migrats wh are i umbers ut f prprti t their umbers i the geeral ppulati. With respect t religi bth plice ad pris fficers have demiatial affiliatis which are by ad large typical f the cmmuities frm which they are draw. There is evidece t supprt the existece f either Cathlic r

3 TABLE '" 3: :::; Sex f Australia Plice Officers s.c:::;.;e "'... (t V}... ='... () NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT ::5 (= S i,... V} g ;;:. e... sr... ::5.....,.V} ;. Males V}... Females :r S- S ::s... <... ::s O"'cr ::5 t:x:l :,r ==...J :C c, ::: f (),... TABLE 2 =-' fs...:l Age f Australia Plice Officers a Ej;.(). sq: ::r NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT 3: ",f :r Age ::;:Jg e; rs >... I"'D e e _. =_. a..,.::s.... =: '" f = -.,I _. () () s :::r.... I"t)..,.() I"t) V} g > ()Q S:s Z N f Ef _.:: ""'l ",() =t :;.:r. S ::s ('t) c f ::5 ("t) =-:r '" t- S" dq.

4 Cutry f Birth Australia UK ad Eire NW Eurpe Italy Greece Mediterraea Plad Yugslavia Cmmuist Eurpe Educatial Qualificatis N qualificati Trade Techicia N-degree tertiary Bach degree Pst-grad Dip Higher degree Nt classified by level TAHLE 3 Cutry f Birth f Australia Plice Officers NSW I VIC I QLD I SA I WA TAS j ACT I I I, : iclud i 4 medjerrabi iepe 2 _ icluded i icluded i Cmm Eurpe Cmm Eurpe - 2 I idued '!ther, categries L ' TABLE 4 Educatial Qualificatis f Australia Plice Officers NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT I NT I NT e l:'"'4 t% "'%j "... '" ::x::: ir: Z c l:'"'4 tr:l VJ t% :: < tr:l VJ W CJ

5 Cathlic Meth ad Presh Church f Eglad Christia Nt Stated Males Females NSW TABLE 5 Religi f Australia Plice Officers ad Religi f Ttal State Ppulatis r--.- VIC I QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT I I I +..._- I I., I.-..._-- tal Ttal lice - pll I Plice pp I I I I 368 I Plice 232 Ttal pp I I I I I s I "[' I' I i TABLE 6 Sex f Australia Pris Officers NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT w ::c :t :::: -l a:: e e Z N CJ S -;::; c -.l!e t- I I I

6 TABLE 7 Age f Australia Pris Officers Age NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT e t% ":r: '-" :: ';J: > Z v""c "-ti TABLE 8 r- Cutry f Birth f Australia Pris Officers t% e tr :: NS"V VIC QLD SA WA TAS NT < Cutry - f Birth tr e Australia UK ad Eire NW Eurpe Italy Mediterraea Plad Yugslavia Cmmuist Eurpe " W -

7 TABLE 9 Educatial Qualificatis f Australia Pris Officers NSW VIC Qill SA WA TAS NT Educatial Qualificatis t; 245 t; t; N qualificati Trade Techicia N degree tertiary (' Bach degree Pst grad Dip Nt classified by level Iadequately described (' TABLE Religi f Australia Pris Officers ad Religi f Ttal State Ppulatis Cathlic Meth ad Presb Church f Eglad Christia Nt stated NSW VIC QLD sa w_ TAS I Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Pris Ttal Officers pp Officers pp Officers pp Officers pp Officers pp Officers pp Officers pp lob lob NT W : ttl :: 2:...J =.., 3: CJj CJj Z N ""'t s -;:::::; '" -.l t-.::>

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