University of Wollongong
Browse

Public intoxication in NSW: the contours of criminalisation

Download (429.71 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-16, 01:40 authored by Luke McNamaraLuke McNamara, Julia QuilterJulia Quilter
This article traces the history of the regulation of public intoxication in New South Wales (NSW) from the early 1800s to the present. We argue that although the formal legal status of public drunkenness and drinking has changed over time, and although different approaches have been prominent at different points in the history of NSW, public intoxication has been consistently and continuously criminalised for almost two centuries, despite official ‘decriminalisation’ in 1979. Shifts in regulatory modalities — including offence definitions, police powers, the involvement of local councils and enforcement practices — have been associated with significant changes in how the nature of the problem of public intoxication is conceived and how the persona of the ‘public drunk’ is constructed. Perceived at different times as immoral, annoying and pitiable, most recently, individuals who are intoxicated in public are increasingly seen as ‘dangerous’ and as posing a risk to other members of the community. The threat to public safety and the fear that innocent members of the public might be subjected to random violence have become major drivers of policymaking and law reform in this area, and have produced a less forgiving and more punitive approach to public intoxication.

History

Citation

McNamara, L. J. and Quilter, J. (2015). Public intoxication in NSW: the contours of criminalisation. The Sydney Law Review, 37 (1), 1-35.

Journal title

Sydney Law Review

Volume

37

Issue

1

Pagination

1-35

Language

English

Notes

With permission from 'The Sydney Law Review'

RIS ID

99775

Usage metrics

    Categories

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC