ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses risk-based policies and practices within the context of a wider societal shift towards the 'risk society' in neoliberal and social democratic states. Although the contours of criminal justice policy have been shaped by a political preoccupation with risk, there are important differences in policy approaches to crime, personal and collective security. It will be argued that 'problem, policy and political streams' drive ever-changing and frequently contradictory master risk narratives. Risk discourses are modified and re-created by politicians in an attempt to read and respond to public 'mood'. Many criminal justice systems now routinely classify offenders into levels of dangerousness using various actuarial risk prediction tools. Criminal justice policies in Australia have been rooted in the need to acknowledge cultural heritage and individuals who have been made vulnerable to crime through circumstances located within structural inequalities and a history of colonialism.
