Risking Precaution in two South Australian Serious Offender Initiatives

Abstract

The serious offender is a crime management problem that involves multiple agencies in partnerships linked by common mandates and conventions regarding knowledge sources. Analysis of recent South Australian efforts to manage control of serious offenders for community protection finds common practices and principles at stake in these ‘worthy targets’. Comparing ‘anti-bikie’ controls and control over the State's most prolific and dangerous offenders reveals a straightforward interpretation that they sideline adversarial justice. A more surprising revelation is their divergence in directing targeted people toward social inclusion.