Community Participation and Regional Crime

Disclaimer: This research paper does not necessarily reflect the policy position of the Commonwealth Government. Adam Graycar Director While it may appear intuitive that participation in community-oriented activities corresponds to lower rates of violent and property crime, this paper seeks to test the proposition with hard data. Local data on community participation are not available in Australia in any systematic format, so this paper worked from local membership in Scouts Australia and in some State Emergency Services activities to examine crime rates against community participation levels. Using data for local government areas in the mainland eastern states, the study shows that: • crime rates are lower in local areas with high levels of participation in community-oriented activities; and • a doubling in the rate of membership in community organisations has the potential to reduce violent crime by between one-fifth and one-third, and property crime by between one-twentieth and one-tenth. Increased participation in community organisations may prove distinctively beneficial in rural Australia. Out-migration has been identified as a major problem in rural centres. The findings from this study suggest that participation has the potential to overcome some of the negative impact that high population mobility has on local levels of crime.