Dr Alistair Harkness
Associate Professor in Criminology , Criminology - School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Biography
Alistair Harkness is an associate professor in criminology at the University of New England, where he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students. He serves as Head of the Department of Social and Philosophical Inquiry and is the Criminology Discipline Convenor. He is co-director of the Centre for Rural Criminology at the University, Treasurer of the International Society for the Study of Rural Crime, co-editor of the Bristol University Press Research in Rural Crime series, and a co-editor of the International Journal of Rural Criminology. His primary research interests are in acquisitive crime, with a particular emphasis on crime prevention, policing responses and community partnerships.
Qualifications
- Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice - Monash University – 2013
- Doctor of Philosophy - Monash University – 2005
- Bachelor of Arts (Hons) / Bachelor of Business (Mgmt) - Monash University - 1997
Teaching Areas
Program
Bachelor of Criminology
Courses
CRIM244 Criminological Perspectives
CRIM107 Victimology
CRIM314 Policing and Social Control
Research Interests
Rural criminology
Rural policing
Farm and rural-based crime, and criminal justice system responses
Rural crime prevention
The politics of policing and justice
Police leadership
Contemporary theories of criminal justice
Victorian state politics and legislative behaviour
Service to Rural Criminology
Treasurer and Public Officer, The International Society for the Study of Rural Crime Inc.
Co-Director and Board Member, Centre for Rural Criminology
Co-editor of leading rural criminology journal, The International Journal of Rural Criminology
Co-editor of Bristol University Press series, ‘Research in Rural Crime’
Publications
Edited collections
Camilleri, M. and Harkness, A. (Eds.). (2023). Australian courts: Challenges, controversies and change. London, UK: Palgrave.
Harkness, A., Peterson, J.R., Bowden, M., Pedersen, C. and Donnermeyer, J.F. (Eds.). (2023). The Encyclopedia of rural crime. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press.
Hale, R. and Harkness, A. (Eds.). (2023). Rural victims of crime: Conceptualisations, realities and responses. London, UK: Routledge.
Bowden, M. and Harkness, A. (Eds.). (2022). Rural transformations and rural crime: International Critical perspectives in rural criminology. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press.
Harkness, A. and White, R. (Eds.). (2021). Crossroads of Rural Crime: Representations and Realities of Transgression in the Australian Countryside. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Harkness, A. (Ed.). (2020). Rural Crime Prevention: Theory, Tactics and Techniques. London, UK: Routledge.
Harkness, A., Harris, B. and Baker, D. (Eds.). (2016). Locating crime in context and place: Perspectives on regional, rural and remote Australia. Sydney: The Federation Press.
External Profiles
Further Information
Areas of expertise
Alistair established and leads the International Farm Crime Research Project, an ongoing endeavour to examine types, extent and location of farm crime around the globe; consider attitudes of farmers and farming communities to criminal justice responses to farm crime; assess existing policing practices and analyse alternatives; and determine a suite of strategies for prevention and control of crime against farms and for improvement of service delivery by criminal justice systems.
The project includes the following aspects:
- Theft from farms (including machinery, vehicles, stock, guns, water and other farm inputs)
- Situational crime prevention on farms
- Policing responses to farm crime
- Attitudes and perceptions of farmers to the criminal justice system
- Issues associated with trespass on farms
- Access to Courts in regional, rural and remote locations.
