Dr Penny Crofts

Crofts, P. 2011, Criminal Law Elements, Fourth, Lexis Nexis Butterworths, Sydney.
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Criminal law text book.

Crofts, P. & Prior, J.H. 2011, 'Oscillations in the regulation of the sex industry in New South Wales, Australia: Disorderly or pragmatic?' in Dalla, R.L., Baker, L.M., DeFrain, J. and Williamson, C. (eds), Global Perspectives on Prostitution and Sex Trafficking, Lexington Books, Plymouth, United Kingdom, pp. 257-275.
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This book is part of a two-volume set that examines prostitution and sex trafficking on a global scale, with each chapter devoted to a particular country in one of seven geo-cultural areas of the world. The 18 chapters in this volume (Volume I) are devoted to examination of the commercial sex industry (CSI) in countries within Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Oceania, while the 16 chapters that comprise Volume II focus exclusively on Europe, Latin America, and North America. Volume II also includes a "global" section, which includes chapters that are globally relevant -- rather than those devoted to a particular country or geographic location. The contributors are comprised of international scholars representing a variety of fields and disciplines, with distinct and varied frames of reference and theoretical underpinnings with regard to the commercial sex industry.

Prior, J.H. & Crofts, P. 2011, 'Queerying urban governance: the emergence of sex industry premises into the planned city' in Doan, P. (eds), Queerying Planning, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, New York, pp. 185-208.
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This chapter analyzes the emergence of sex industry premises, in particular gay bathhouses, into formal land-use processes in Sydney, Australia in the late twentieth century. The chapter traces a shift in regulatory mechanisms in the last decades of the twentieth century away from explicitly moral and criminal discourses to planning policies to regulate and organize sex industry premises. This chapter details the regulatory transition of gay bathhouses from a catch-all category of disorderly premises that included other businesses such as brothels, to an official definition that differentiated bathhouses from other sex industry premises.

Crofts, P., Haesler, A. & Miles, A. 2012, 'Criminal Law' in Anna Cody, Natalie Ross, Sue Waldon (eds), The Law Handbook, Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont, pp. 441-459.

Crofts, P., Prior, J.H. & Hubbard, P. 2013, 'Policing, planning and sex: governing bodies, spatially', The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 51-69.
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Analysis of intersection of planning and policing in the regulation of sex services premises in NSW. Argument that planning and policing have a complex relationship, and criminological analysis should be applied to planning powers.

Hubbard, P., Boydell, S., Crofts, P., Prior, J.H. & Searle, G.H. 2013, 'Noxious neighbours? Interrogating the impacts of sex premises in residential areas', Environment and Planning A, vol. 45, pp. 126-141.
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Premises associated with commercial sex+including brothels, striptease clubs, sex cinemas, and sex shops+have increasingly been accepted as legitimate land uses, albeit ones whose location needs to be controlled because of assumed `negative externalities+. However, the planning and licensing regulations excluding such premises from areas of residential land use are often predicated on assumptions of nuisance that have not been empirically substantiated. Accordingly, this paper reports on a survey of those living close to sex industry premises in New South Wales, Australia. The results suggest that although some residents have strong moral objections to sex premises, in general residents note few negative impacts on local amenity or quality of life, with distance from a premise being a poor predictor of residents+ experiences of nuisance. These i ndings are considered in relation to the literatures on sexuality and space given regulation which ultimately appears to reproduce heteronormative moralities rather than respond to genuine environmental nuisances.

Crofts, P. & van Rijswijk, H.M. 2012, '"What Kept You So Long?": Bullying's Gray Zone and The Vampire's Transgressive Justice in Let the Right One In', Law, Culture and the Humanities, vol. -, pp. 1-22.
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School bullying has been recognized only relatively recently by policy-makers, media and the courts as a serious and widespread social problem. But despite this recent notice, there has been no evidence that techniques adopted to stop bullying have led to anything more than modest success, implying that we need to do more work to unpack and theorize the nature of bullying. In this article, we consider a recent vampire narrative as a story about bullying. We offer an interpretation of this story via the theories of Claudia Card and Jacques Derrida, arguing that together this archive provides a more nuanced understanding of the kinds of damage inflicted by bullying than has been provided by realist or sociological accounts. In particular, it illuminates damage to the morality of the victim, to their soul, which is a kind of damage that has previously not been given great attention. It also highlights the ways in which practices of judgment can become very tangled when trying to resolve bullying situations, making these experiences resistant to the achievement of justice.

Crofts, P., Maher, J., Pickering, S. & Prior, J.H. 2012, 'Ambivalent Regulation: The Sexual Services Industries in NSW and Victoria - Sex Work as Work, or as Special Category?', Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 393-412.
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Despite continuing contests in Australian states over the validity of sex work as work, Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) have been part of a global trend for states to decriminalise and/or legalise the sex industry. This article argues that although Victoria and NSW are united by their ambivalence toward the legal validity of sex work as work for women, this ambivalence is expressed and organised in different ways in each state, with consequent differences in regulatory schemas, practices of enforcement and outcomes for workers and communities. In particular, this article focuses on the regulation of sex services premises as a key indicator of how the sex industry is regarded and embedded within broader business, social and regulatory contexts. The article examines some specific regulations that affect women's status as sex workers in each state. It concludes by arguing that the failure to fully recognise sex work as work impacts most sharply on the safety and inclusion of workers: those whom the legislative schemas of both states purportedly seek to protect

Crofts, P. & Prior, J.H. 2012, 'Home Occupation or Brothel? Selling Sex from Home in New South Wales', Urban Policy and Research, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 127-143.
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This article engages with the question of whether or not sex work in the home should be regulated in the same way as large commercial brothels or as home occupations. Underlying concerns about sex services premises generally are that they are criminogenic, disorderly and exploitative of women. This article draws upon original research of surveys of people living in the vicinity of sex services premises, interviews with sex workers and service providers, and council records of complaint to argue that, on the contrary, home occupations (sex services) can operate lawfully with minimal amenity impacts, and that this type of business can provide a positive work environment. We recommend that sex work in the home in New South Wales should be regulated in the same way as other home occupations.

Crofts, P. & Prior, J.H. 2012, 'Intersections of Planning and Morality in the Regulation and Regard of Brothels in New South Wales', Flinders Law Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 329-357.
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This article explores two questions through original primary research. First, can brothels be Ô++good neighboursÔ++ in planning terms? That is, what kind of amenity impacts, if any, do sex services premises have upon the people living nearby? Second, do the different approaches adopted by two councils in New South Wales, Australia, matter in terms of amenity impacts, but also in attitudes to sex services premises? It is argued that brothels appear to generate minimal or neutral amenity impacts regardless of the regulatory approach adopted by council. However, the legal approach adopted by the different councils has contributed to the organisation and expression of the moral attitudes of local residents to sex services premises.

Crofts, P. 2012, 'Monstrous Wickedness and the Judgment of Knight', Griffith Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 72-100.
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In February 2000, Katherine Mary Knight killed, then skinned, decapitated and cooked her lover in rural Australia. Knight pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence, against which she unsuccessfully appealed in Knight v R [2006] NSWCCA 292. I consider the way in which the majority judgments organised and expressed Knight's culpability in accordance with a model of monstrous wickedness, arguing that models of wickedness articulated and applied in criminal law should be evaluated critically. The judgment of the court constructed and responded to Knight as bad, a monster who is (and will always be) dangerous (especially to men) and ultimately irredeemable. Not only do monsters justify and require extreme measures, they also contaminate and undermine systems of orders - the judgments of Knight thus read more consistently with the genre of horror than that of law. The model of monstrous wickedness ostensibly works particularly well for women who kill, as it preserves the law's tendency to organise women as lacking agency. However, this model also generates a clash of binaries when applied to women. The monster/victim binary ascribes agency to the monster, generating difficulties for the law to reconcile the notion of a female monster with legal assumptions of the absence of female agency. This results in the problem of the female monster. The judicial creation of a horror movie monster that lacks basic humanity facilitates an abdication of the legal (and moral) task of judging a human being as human.

Crofts, P. 2012, 'The proposed licensing of brothels in New South Wales', Local Government Law Journal, vol. 17, pp. 3-10.
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The New South Wales Coalition government is proposing to introduce a licensing system for brothels in accordance with pre-election commitments. This article argues that there is no evidence that brothels are criminogenic or inherently corrupting, nor any evidence that a Brothel Licensing Authority would effectively reduce and/or prevent crime and corruption. It considers the current New South Wales planning-based model and compares this with the Queensland and Victorian licensing models. There are other regulatory concerns associated with the sex industry, such as amenity impacts and health and safety concerns; it is argued here that these are regulated effectively under the current planning regime. A licensing authority is unlikely to improve the regulation of brothels in New South Wales in terms of illegality, amenity, and health and safety,

Prior, J.H. & Crofts, P. 2012, 'Effects of sex premises on neighbourhoods: Residents, local planning and the geographies of a controversial land use', New Zealand Geographer, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 130-140.
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The paper examines 284 resident submissions to sex premises planning processes, and a survey of 401 residents living near sex premises in New South Wales, Australia, to investigate resident concerns about the effect of sex premises on local environs, and how these concerns inform resident views on the spatial ordering of sex premises. The investigation found that there was a discrepancy between the views of the broader residential population and the views of participants in planning processes. The investigation suggests that geographers need to consider more deeply the connections between residents, planning and the geographies of this controversial land use.

Crofts, P. 2010, 'Brothels: outlaws or citizens?', International Journal of Law in Context, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 151-166.
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Historically, sex services premises in New South Wales, Australia were regarded and regulated as illegal and disorderly entities; they were policed as outlaws. The Disorderly Houses Amendment Act 1995 [NSW] bestowed legal status, providing an opportunity to regulate sex services premises as legal subjects. Despite these reforms, in many areas brothels continue to be regulated more restrictively than other businesses. I argue that this is because, for many, brothels continue to be perceived as outlaws. They are regarded as inherently unlawful, disorderly, and hence warranting and requiring exclusion from the community. I argue that this conception of brothels as outlaws is constructed and reinforced through regulation. In contrast, some local councils and Land and Environment Court decisions have taken up the opportunity to regard and regulate sex services premises as legal subjects or citizens. The conception of sex services premises as citizen imports an existing legal framework, with associated accountabilities, rights and responsibilities. This shift in conception results in people viewing sex services premises differently, experiencing them differently and regulating them differently.

Crofts, P., Morris, T., Wells, K. & Powell, A. 2010, 'Illegal dumping and crime prevention: A case study of Ash Road, Liverpool Council', Public Space: The Journal of Law and Social Justice, vol. 5, pp. 1-23.
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Illegal waste disposal is an increasingly significant and costly problem. This paper considers a specific hot-spot for illegal dumping in Sydney, Australia from criminological perspectives. We contribute to the developing criminological literature that considers environmental harms as a crime. This draws upon the symbolic aspect of criminal law, contributing to the notion of environmental harms as wrongs worthy of sanction, and facilitates analysis through the prism of criminological literature. We apply theories of crime prevention to the site and argue that these techniques of crime prevention would be cheaper and more effective long-term than current council responses of simply reacting to dumping after it has occurred

Crofts, P., Amarasekara, S., Briffa, P.J., Makari, R. & Remedios, M. 2008, 'Design and Children's Courts', The Alternative Law Journal, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 229-234.
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Analysis of the design of children's courts in NSW.

Crofts, P. 2007, 'Brothels and Disorderly Acts', Public Space: The Journal of Law and Social Justice, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-39.
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Crofts, P. 2007, 'Sex in the Dark: The Brothels Legislation Amendment Act 2007 (NSW)', Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 183-196.
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The Brothels Legislation Amendment Act 2007 (NSW) was passed by the New South Wales Parliament to expedite the closure of disorderly and unlawful brothels . This article details the enforcement regime introduced by the Act and then considers the reasons for these reforms. The author argues that the reforms are not aimed at tangible, negative impacts, but instead at unlawfulness and disorderliness . The author concludes by suggesting that rather than the current approach of harsh expulsion and exclusion, the government could better achieve law and order through legalisation and regulation

Crofts, P. 2006, 'A decade of illicit sex in the city', Local Government Law Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 5-15.
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Crofts, P. 2003, 'Ambiguities in approaches to brothels', Environmental and Planning Law Journal, vol. 20, no. Dec, pp. 1-15.
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Crofts, P. 2003, 'Not in my Neighbourhood', Local Government Law Journal, vol. 1, no. 9, pp. 10-20.
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Crofts, P. 2003, 'Problem Gambling and Property Offences', International Gambling Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 185-199.
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Crofts, P. 2003, 'White Collar Punters: Stealing from the boss to Gamble', Current Issues in Criminal Justice, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 40-52.
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Gambling provides a significant motivation for employee theft. Recent research suggests that problem gambling provides a motivation for at least 15% of employee thefts in Nevv South vVa1es. Problem gamblers may steal from their places of employment either to finance their gambling or to repay gambling debts. The reasons why a person gambles excessively impact upon their offending pattems. Problem gamblers who believe that they will win, may initially 'bonow' money from work, in order to finance additional gambling to win back money they have lost. When they do not win, the continued irrational belief that they will win, provides the motivation to continue stealing in order to provide a big enough stake to win back the money they have lost and stolen. Additionally, if a person gambles to avoid stress or depression, and then steals from work to finance their gambling, this thieving can then become a major cause of stress in and of itself. This leads to sustained stealing from the workplace until the problem gambler is apprehended.

Searle, G.H., Boydell, S., Crofts, P., Hubbard, P. & Prior, J.H. 2011, 'The local impacts of sex industry premises: Imagination, reality and implications for planning', World Planning Schools Congress, Perth, Western Australia, July 2011 in Proceedings of the World Planning Schools Congress 2011, ed Maginn, P., Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN), University of Western Australia, Perth.
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This paper uses survey data to investigate the community impacts of relatively liberal planning regulation of sex industry premises that has been instituted in Sydney. In this, it explores the contested relationship between community attitudes to sex premises, planning controls over such premises, and real world impacts arising from the application of these controls. The paper first looks at how the range of planning impacts from sex industry premises that were perceived in the past have framed the construction of present planning controls to regulate the sex industry in two Sydney local government areas (one inner and one middle). Survey perceptions of a sample of current residents and commercial firms located close to sex industry premises about possible impacts, as well as perceptions of sex premises in general, are described. The scope of impacts and perceptions measured draws on a range of research from legal studies, property and planning studies, and sociology. The findings are set against the operative planning controls and the assumptions and desired outcomes inherent in them in order to evaluate the appropriateness of the controls. The paper concludes with suggestions for amendments to controls that more closely reflect community perceptions of actual sex industry impacts rather than perceptions of assumed impacts, and reflections on the nature of the intersection of community attitudes to sex premises, planning controls, and the ensuing level and type of actual community impacts.

Boydell, S., Crofts, P., Prior, J.H., Jakubowicz, A.H. & Searle, G.H. 2009, 'Sex in the city: regulations, rights and responsibilities in Sydney', State of Australian Cities Conference, Perth, Australia, November 2009 in State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conference, ed Maginn P. J., Jones R., Haslam-Mackenzie F., Boruff, B., Clifton, J., Giles-Corti, B., Khan, S., Martin, G., Paulin, S., Perkins, T., Shaw, B.J., Tonts, M. and Van Niel, K, Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd and DiskBank, Perth, Australia, pp. 1-24.
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The state regulates sex industry types in accordance with a range of complex, overlapping and often conflicting legal, policing, planning and administrative mechanisms. The sex industry in Sydney is currently regulated through all levels of Australian government. New South Wales (NSW) is seen as leading the charge within Australia for its neoliberal market model of occupational and premises regulation. Taking a transdisciplinary research design, this paper identifies positive steps towards citizenship and the sex industry in inner Sydney.

Crofts, P. 2006, 'Visual Contamination: Disgust and the regulation of brothels', Passages: Law, Aesthetics, Politics, Melbourne, Australia, July 2006 in Passages: Law, Aesthetics, Politics, ed Rush, P, University of Melbourne Law School, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-11.
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Brothels have been able to operate as legitimate commercial businesses in NSW for over a decade. Despite this, brothels continue to be treated differently from other commercial businesses with similar amenity impacts. The planning principles enunciated by the Land and Environment Court in Martyn v Hornsby Shire Council [2004] have been highly influential in the differential treatment of brothels. These planning principles are highly restrictive and go beyond traditional planning concerns. This paper argues that these principles are animated by an aesthetic of disgust. William Miller s text Anatomy of Disgust, provides insight into why brothels may trigger disgust, due to their association with sex and immorality. The planning principles reflect disgust reactions, particularly in terms of the desire to remove the polluting and contaminating objects from the visual field. Finally, this paper considers strategies for reform in light of the association of brothels with disgust.

van Rijswijk, H.M., Crofts, P. 2011, '"Negotiating the Relationship between Law and Violence: the vampire as a figure of ambivalent justice"', Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference 2011, Brighton, UK, April 2012 in Socio-Legal Studies Association (UK), ed Shute, S., Socio-Legal Studies Association (UK), Brighton.
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Publication of abstract for conference