Crime, governance and the colonial state: a study of the criminal tribes act 1871

Abstract

Today as in the nineteenth century governments struggle with the challenges posed by communities marginalised from mainstream social and economic life. In Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities have been subject to such marginalisation and to the problems this brings, including crime. Through an analysis of British responses to native crime in India, this study will develop an analysis of strategies of governance directed or developed in response to the effects of social and economic marginalisation. The study will thus help to inform national debate on the apparent intransigence of crime in indigenous communities as well as raising questions about what are ?appropriate? a..