'A nuisance to the community': policing the vagrant woman

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/91659

Title: 'A nuisance to the community': policing the vagrant woman
Author(s): Kimber, Julie
Abstract: The charge of vagrancy dates back to medieval England. Its subjective application and minimal evidentiary requirements provided an appealing mechanism to punish recalcitrant behaviour. This article examines methods of exclusion via the application of vagrancy provisions in a small locality in New South Wales. It does so with a particular focus on one individual. By closely interrogating a wide range of public sources, the article illuminates the process of marginalisation and highlights the injustice embedded in commonplace abuses of power. In doing so, it alerts us to the disjunction between national mythology and the lived experience of its subjects.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 34, no. 3 (Sep 2010), pp. 275-293
Publication year: 2010
FOR Code(s): 1606 Political Science; 160699 Political Science not elsewhere classified; 2103 Historical Studies
Keyword(s): Case study; Homelessness; Larkins, Annie; Marginalisation; Prostitution; Social exclusion; Vagrancy
Publisher: Routledge
ISSN: 1444-3058
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2010.498092
Peer reviewed