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"A History of Crime in Australia: Australian Underworlds" by Nancy Cushing is an introductory text for students of crime history and criminology. The book explores the impact of English law on transported convicts and First Nations peoples in Australia, and how their own systems of law were disregarded by colonists. It is organized into twelve chapters, each focusing on a specific aspect of crime history in Australia. The book includes essays by historians in each chapter, providing examples of scholarly writing. While the book primarily focuses on the legal history of New South Wales and Victoria, it offers thought-provoking case studies and is accessible to both students and general readers interested in crime history. [Extracted from the article]

In Australia, one significant cause of the imprisonment and disadvantage of First Nations people relates to transport injustice. First Nations people face obstacles in becoming lawful road users, particularly in relation to acquiring driver licences, with driving unlicensed a common pathway into the criminal justice system. This paper identifies that while some programs focus on increasing driver licensing for First Nations people, there are significant limitations in terms of coverage and access. Further, very few diversionary or support programs proactively address the intersection between First Nations people’s driver licensing and the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, it is argued that scope does exist within some state and territory criminal justice programs to enhance transport justice by assisting First Nations people to secure driver licensing. This paper highlights the need for accessible, available and culturally safe driver licencing support programs in First Nations communities led by First Nations people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper communicates findings from a doctoral research project which used dance/movement therapy (DMT) to engage two women navigating the criminal justice system in Australia. A feminist-informed participatory research design was applied to learn about each woman's experience and to explore the possible health promoting benefits of community-based DMT. Women serving time on community correctional orders were invited to attend drop-in DMT workshops which were held in a drug and alcohol recovery centre. Participants were invited to offer feedback which was analyzed using reflexive and interpretative methods of ethnographic data generation. Three themes emerged through the data which were understood to reflect simple notions of fun, fitness, and relaxation in DMT. Although limited to a small number of participants, this study undertook a close reading of each woman's feedback and considered themes in light of trauma theory. Drawing from the women's responses, the study articulates the beginnings of an 'exercisePLUS' perspective: a theoretical rationale which validates the role of exercise in DMT and discusses its potential therapeutic significance. Neurobiological trauma frameworks are used to articulate the findings, however, the research seeks to challenge assumptions within the medical model, such as the 'expert' positioning of the therapist. In doing so, this research aims to contribute toward the further development of community-based perspectives in DMT practice, and, offers a theoretical rationale for the use of DMT within a forensic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This qualitative research aims to explore staff perspectives on working effectively with people with intellectual disability who are in contact with the criminal justice system. Design/methodology/approach: Taking a case study approach, staff working for a third sector community organisation were interviewed about the components of effective work with their customers. The staff supported people engaged in the Community Justice Program. Findings: Staff consistently described relationship building as the most important part of their work. There were three components to relationship building: the process of relationship building, the elements of a high-quality staff–customer relationship and the staff skills needed to develop a good relationship. Originality/value: This paper makes two contributions to the literature. First, it focuses our attention on a third sector organisation supporting people in contact with the justice system as opposed to a formal criminal justice agency. Second, the paper seeks to understand the processes and skills staff deploy to build a high-quality relationship with criminal justice-involved people with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Individuals with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are at greater risk of contact with the criminal justice system. Diagnosis and appropriate treatment of SLCN reduces these risks, leading to better life outcomes for the individual as well as broader social and economic benefits. These youth represent a particularly high‐priority group for research into language deficits, as the juvenile justice system involves situations with a high risk or serious consequences that rely upon the application of effective language skills. Whilst some studies have established some gains in speech and communication from speech pathology (SP) interventions during custody, there is limited evidence on the long‐term impact of these gains following release from custody. Similarly, few studies have directly measured the cost savings associated with early SP on subsequent youth antisocial behaviour and crime. Aims: To estimate the youth antisocial behaviours, youth justice (YJ) contacts and associated costs (from a justice perspective) of childhood SLCN. Methods & Procedures: Using 12 years of data from a longitudinal study of Australian children and young people, we employ a panel fixed‐effects model to explore the relationship between SLCN and youth antisocial behaviour and youth offending between 12 and 17 years of age. Using these results, we estimate the cost of SLCN and subsequent cost savings associated with identification of SLCN. Outcomes & Results: The results showed that the annual cost of SLCN to the YJ system (exchange rate as at 9 December 2020) is A$875 (95% confidence interval (CI) = A$195, A$1916) (US$$649, €536, £485) per person who participates in youth crime, which is due to higher rates of youth antisocial behaviour and youth offending. Identification of SLCN (defined by SP treatment) appears to have a positive impact on youth antisocial behaviour and crime, mediated through improved language and communication. On average, young people with a history of 'identified' SLCN incur A$188 (95% CI = A$42, A$412) lower YJ costs (US$$140, €105, £115), compared with the same individual, before identification. Over the lifetime of the individual, this equates to A$9.2 million (95% CI = A$2.05 million, A$20.2 million) (US$$6.8 million, €5.6 million, £5.1 million) cost savings to the YJ system (A$3389 per person with SLCN) (2020 Australian dollars) (US$2513, €2074, £1880). Conclusions & Implications: Overall, the findings revealed that young people with SLCN have an elevated risk of youth antisocial behaviour and crime. However, the identification of SLCN (and subsequent treatment) leads to changes in the offending risk trajectory for these individuals, resulting in lower rates of youth antisocial behaviour and consequently lower rates of crime and its associated justice costs. What this paper adds: What is already known on the subject: It is well documented in the literature that young people in contact with the justice system have much higher rates of previously undiagnosed SLCN than those of the general population. There is less known about whether the identification of SLCN (and subsequent treatment) leads to changes in the offending risk trajectory for these individuals, leading to lower rates of youth antisocial behaviours and crime. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This study uses a longitudinal survey of 5000 children and young people to track the antisocial behaviour and crime‐risk trajectory of children and young people with SLCN. The study finds evidence that young people with 'identified' SLCN report less juvenile antisocial behaviour and lower YJ contacts after intervention. The potential lifetime cost savings associated with intervention is A$9.2 million (95% CI = A$2.05 million, A$20.1 million) (US$$6.8 million, €5.6 million, £5.1 million). What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The findings of this study can quantify the effects (in terms of cost savings to the justice system) of the early identification and subsequent intervention for young people with SLCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a substantial policy reform aiming to radically transform the design and delivery of disability services. Choice and control are key tenets of the scheme, however challenges and limitations exist with respect to inequities and difficulties posed by boundaries between the NDIS and mainstream services. People with disability who have been incarcerated are particularly at risk of experiencing these limitations. However there has been little academic exploration of these issues for this group. This paper explores whether NDIS services are readily accessible for people with disability who were formerly incarcerated, outlining some of the challenges this group encounters. The research is based on interviews with 28 stakeholders from government and non-government organisations that interact with and provide support or services to people with disability within the criminal justice system. Our findings confirm the importance of a functioning NDIS plan to help prevent some individuals encountering the criminal justice system, outlining several challenges that formerly incarcerated people with disability experience with the scheme. We conclude that ideas of choice and control are inhibited for some formerly incarcerated people with disability and highlight actions that can be taken regarding specialist support coordination, advocacy services and market stewardship to address these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: News media is one of the major sources of publicly available information on animal welfare law enforcement. It has previously been established that the media are strong influences of public perceptions. Therefore, it is possible that news reports on animal cruelty offences are shaping public understanding of penalties for animal cruelty. To understand how penalties are portrayed in the media, we collected 71 Australian news articles which reported on penalties for animal cruelty over a 6-month period from 1 June 2019 to 1 December 2019. Using thematic analysis, three themes were identified: (1) laws are not good enough; (2) laws are improving; and (3) reforms are unnecessary. A connection between public perceptions, media reporting and statutory reform efforts to increase maximum penalties is proposed, which potentially could explain why the Australian public appear displeased with the penalties handed down by courts for animal cruelty offences. Further sociological research is required to confirm this theory. Media portrayals of animal cruelty can shape public understanding and perception of animal welfare law. Given that animal welfare law in Australia is guided partially by 'community expectations', the media might indirectly be influencing recent reform efforts to amend maximum penalties in Australia, through guiding and shaping public opinion. This paper reports on Australian news articles which refer to penalties for animal cruelty published between 1 June 2019 and 1 December 2019. Using the electronic database Newsbank, a total of 71 news articles were included for thematic analysis. Three contrasting themes were identified: (1) laws are not good enough; (2) laws are improving; and (3) reforms are unnecessary. We propose a penalty reform cycle to represent the relationship between themes one and two, and 'community expectations'. The cycle is as follows: media reports on recent amendments imply that 'laws are improving' (theme two). Due to a range of inherent factors in the criminal justice system, harsher sentences are not handed down by the courts, resulting in media report of 'lenient sentencing' (theme one). Hence, the public become displeased with the penal system, forming the 'community expectations', which then fuel future reform efforts. Thus, the cycle continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has witnessed an increase in human trafficking cases in recent years, most of which have involved women trafficked for sexual exploitation. In response, and within the framework of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent and Suppress Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Australia has introduced legislation to combat human trafficking and punish traffickers. However, the number of prosecutions of human trafficking offences in Australia has, to date, been low. Drawing on the available literature, this article sets out to explore the reasons for this, which the paper argues have largely centered on Australia’s previously restrictive visa framework for trafficking victims. The paper also explores other obstacles and barriers to successful prosecutions, such as issues associated with discrediting and attacking vulnerable witnesses, and lengthy and complex trials. The paper argues that Australia needs to increase its efforts to meet the obligations set out by the United Nations Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, and to balance its priorities regarding prosecution and victim protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care, commonly called care leavers, are known to be a vulnerable group. Many experience poor outcomes leading them to become homeless or involved in the criminal justice system. Yet compared to most other Anglophone democracies, Australia lacks mandatory assistance for care leavers beyond 18 years of age. There are also major legislative, policy, and program differences between care leaver entitlements in the individual states and territories. This paper argues that the Commonwealth Government should introduce a nationally consistent extended care system that would require all jurisdictions to provide a minimum standard of support until at least 21 years of age. A uniform set of extended care standards is even more vital in the context of COVID-19. IMPLICATIONS Many Australian care leavers have poor life chances despite recent advances in the support programs provided by the states and territories. A nationally consistent extended care program is likely to progress improved opportunities and outcomes for care leavers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to report on the findings of a qualitative study that explored the views of 53 service providers assisting Indigenous young people (known in Australia as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth) transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was adopted involving semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 53 representatives of state and territory government departments, non-government organisation service providers and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) across Australia. The project was designed to gain the perspectives of those working within the system and their views on how it interacts with Indigenous care leavers. Interview questions aimed to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the leaving care support systems available to this cohort, as well as the key challenges facing service providers in supporting them. Finally, the study aimed to make recommendations for policy development in this area and identify potential best practice service responses. Findings: The study found that the OOHC service systems continue to fail Indigenous care leavers, their families and communities. Study findings revealed that Indigenous care-leavers face substantial challenges and that the support systems for those leaving OOHC are often culturally insensitive and ineffective. Many Indigenous OOHC leavers lacked the supports they needed to develop safe and ongoing relationships with their traditional Country, family and communities. To promote more positive transitions and outcomes, effective practice responses were identified, including culturally safe programmes and proportional funding for ACCOs to advance greater self-determination. Originality/value: This research is the first national study in Australia to examine the specific transition from care pathways and experiences of Indigenous young people. The findings add to the limited existing knowledge on Indigenous care leavers globally and should inform practice and policy innovations with this cohort in Australia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulation of the private investigator profession is complex, especially in the context of financial crime in which practitioners undertake commercially sensitive inquiries, provide dispute resolution and forensically analyze collected evidence for a wide range of industries affected by fraud. Private investigators come from a range of backgrounds, including law enforcement, government regulation and other professions, which has implications for the criminal and civil justice system. This paper examines the complexity and challenges of the private investigator industry arising from the overlap of occupations and how this influences the professionalization of the industry in the context of financial crime in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, in Australia and Canada, two Aboriginal women – Lynette Daley and Cindy Gladue – died in suspicious circumstances suggestive of sexual homicide. At the time of their deaths, little media attention was given to their cases. However, several years later, as their cases progressed through the criminal justice system, the media would become intensely interested and numerous reports were subsequently published. These news stories, however, demonstrated that when colonialism, racism and sexism intersect they result in victims being to apportioned blame for their subsequent deaths. This paper reports on findings from a research project that examined print and online news media from 2011 to 2018, as these cases traversed the criminal court system. It illustrates that, when taken together the colonialism, racism and sexism prevalent in the news reporting served to characterise the victims as unworthy of the public's sympathy. This paper also provides a reflection on what it might take to reform the media's engagement in cases such as these, to achieve a reimagined justice where Aboriginal women's lives are valued and respected as victims of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA evidence continues to make a significant contribution to the Australian criminal justice system. The techniques used by forensic scientists, and the legal principles governing the collection of DNA evidence and its use in court by law enforcement, have developed considerably since they were first introduced. DNA evidence is continually evolving as new scientific techniques are applied to investigations and presented in court, and new database infrastructure is introduced by government agencies. This paper examines the development of DNA evidence in Australia over the last 30 years. It proposes that this development can be understood as a three-stage process: the first stage, from 1989 to 2000; the second, from 2001 to 2014; and the third, from 2015 to the present. In delineating the development of DNA evidence into three stages, a holistic approach has been taken to describe the scientific development of DNA evidence throughout this period, as well as the associated legal and regulatory framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption have prompted a range of legislative, regulatory and operational responses. One provision empowers licensees, in Australian jurisdictions such as Victoria and South Australia, to formally exclude patrons from their venues and the surrounding public area. The imposition of a licensee-barring order requires no demonstrable offence to be committed. No proof needs to be documented and the ban takes effect immediately. Non-compliance is subject to police enforcement and possible criminal breach proceedings. The process through which a barring order may be challenged can be ambiguous and time consuming, and the punishment is typically served regardless of the review outcome. However, limited data are available to enable assessment of the way in which barring orders are used. As such, this paper examines how licensee-barring orders extend to non-judicial and non-law enforcement officers an on-the-spot and pre-emptive power to punish. Yet, with no formal training, monitoring or meaningful oversight of their use, barring orders are open to abuse and constitute a summary power to punish that is opaque to scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the rise of administrative accountability of police discretionary decisions in Australia. The expansion of review has been the result of new institutions such as police integrity units and police complaints bodies, as well as through administrative law remedies. In particular the paper shows that judicial review in the Australian federal system has increased surveillance over operational decision-making and the limits to that review. The paper concludes that the nature of police decision-making at the command level may be subject to scrutiny, but that street level operations remain mostly out of the reach of the courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaders and experts from the forensic science community of Australia and New Zealand recently congregated to hold the 2016 Australasian Forensic Science Summit. The summit was a rare opportunity to critically evaluate the current state of forensic science against the drivers of change in our external influencing environment. This paper summarises the contextual information provided by representatives of the criminal justice, law enforcement, forensic science and science and technology sectors. It summarises this content and begins to explore at a high level possible implications for our field. It makes the case for change and establishes some of the external factors that as a field we will be required to confront. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we endeavour to isolate the top ten innovations and developments that have occurred in policing in the last thirty years. We consider that each of them brought about a new mindset, pattern or trend into contemporary police practice. We have focused our attention on the last thirty years because it is during this time that we have both maintained a keen academic interest in the field. While we have focused our attention on the way in which each has affected Australian policing, we are cognisant of the fact that many of them had their roots in other settings long before Australian policy-makers adopted or adapted them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cannabis was legalised for medical purposes in 2016. Uptake was initially slow, but since 2019 there has been a large increase in the number of Australians who have been prescribed cannabis for medical reasons. Yet a significant number of consumers continue to treat their medical conditions via illicitly-sourced cannabis. Little is known about how these two groups of medical cannabis consumers differ. Methods: The anonymous Cannabis-As-Medicine Survey 2022–2023 (CAMS-22) was available for completion online from December 2022 to April 2023 to adult Australians who had used cannabis to treat a medical condition in the previous year. Recruitment occurred through social media, consumer forums, and medical practices. Questions included demographic characteristics, patterns of cannabis use, conditions treated, and self-rated effectiveness. Results: Of the 3323 respondents included in these analyses, 2352 (73%) mainly used prescribed medical cannabis, 871 (27%) mainly used illicit. Prescribed users were significantly more likely than illicit users to have had their health condition diagnosed (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.3, 2.2), to consume their cannabis via oral (OR = 1.9; CI 1.5, 2.4) or vaporised (OR = 5.2; CI 4.0, 6.8) routes, and to be sure of the composition of their medical cannabis (OR = 25.0; CI 16.7, 50.0). Prescribed users were significantly less likely to have used cannabis non-medically before medical use (OR = 0.6, CI 0.5, 0.7), consume cannabis via smoked routes (OR = 0.2, CI 0.1, 0.2), and to report any side effects (OR = 0.1; CI 0.1, 0.2). The most common conditions among both prescribed and illicit users were pain (37%), mental health (36%), and sleep (15%) conditions. Prescribed users were significantly more likely to use cannabis to mainly treat a pain (OR = 1.3; CI 1.1, 1.5) or sleep condition (OR = 1.4; CI 1.1, 1.7) and less likely to treat a mental health condition (OR = 0.8; CI 0.7, 0.9). There were no between-group differences in effectiveness with 97% saying medical cannabis had improved their symptoms. Conclusions: From a harm-reduction perspective there is much to recommend prescribed medical cannabis; it has fewer side-effects than illicit, is used more safely (oral or vaporised versus smoked routes), gives consumers greater certainty regarding the composition and quality of their medicine, and does not risk exposure to the criminal justice system. Of concern, however, is the apparent willingness of prescribers to prescribe for indications for which there is limited evidence of efficacy, such as mental health and sleep conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-release period is associated with a range of adverse outcomes for prisoners, especially those with a mental illness. There is limited research into programmes developed to address the needs of this population upon release from custody. This paper describes the demographic, mental health and criminal justice characteristics of a cohort of 63 mentally ill prisoners referred to the Queensland Prison Mental Health Transition Coordination Program in 2010 and 2011, who received time-limited transitional support. Established criminological predictors such as age and substance abuse history were related to first re-incarceration. When a multi-event analysis was performed, a broader range of factors were associated with the time before re-incarceration, including duration of social and recovery support and a diagnosis of psychosis. This study found that among those receiving post-release social and recovery support, longer duration of support is associated with a lower risk of re-incarceration. Other findings of interest include the significant proportion of re-incarcerations for parole breaches. No deaths occurred during the follow-up period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Movements for racial and Indigenous justice are targeting rapidly expanding budget allocations for prisons and police. In Australia, Indigenous Communities are seeking to redirect public money from the criminal justice system to Indigenous-controlled services and infrastructure through 'justice reinvestment'. This article explores the possibilities and tensions of justice reinvestment as a strategy for exercising Indigenous self-determination in a marketised policy landscape. Focusing on the case of Just Reinvest NSW and the Maranguka initiative in Bourke, we compare justice reinvestment to neoliberal ideas of social investment, exemplified by social impact bonds (SIBs). We identify three tools of marketisation in SIBs – liability budgeting, pricing evidence, and devolution to non-state providers – and analyse how these are being engaged, and contested, by Indigenous Communities through justice reinvestment. While incomplete, we discuss how Indigenous-run justice reinvestment initiatives are creatively using these tools against the settler-colonial, carceral state to claim fiscal resources, develop bureaucratic capacity, and institute territorial governance. We argue that justice reinvestment demonstrates the potential to repurpose the tools of marketisation to create alternative 'hybrid' spaces of governance that contest both the state and the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desire for consistency in sentencing has been the catalyst for major sentencing reform in numerous jurisdictions, including those in the UK and the US. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature which examines and evaluates the actual extent of consistency in sentencing decisions. This article attempts to at least partially fill this void by reporting the findings of a wide-ranging study into sentencing outcomes for assault offences in four courts in Victoria, Australia. The study is significant because it relates to more than 4,500 sentencing determinations over a four-year period and compares sentencing outcomes in a single jurisdiction--where identical legal principles and rules operate. The findings reveal a considerable degree of inconsistency regarding sentencing outcomes between the courts, thereby calling into question the consistency and fairness of the current sentencing methodology. The methodology in this paper provides a basis upon which the consistency of sentencing in other sentencing systems, including England and Wales, can be explored and evaluated and has implications for whether narrative directives can effectively enhance the current guideline system to more effectively achieve sentencing consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fallible nature of the criminal justice system continues to see judicial errors—that is, wrongful convictions and erroneous acquittals—undermine its integrity, efficacy, and legitimacy. Public perceptions of judicial errors are important contributors to criminal justice policy and reforms. The current study utilizes the 2016 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) dataset to examine public attitudes toward judicial errors. It applies Herbert Packer's crime control and due process models to understand how concerns around procedural safeguards and public safety are associated with public perceptions toward judicial errors. Packer's model has been challenged by studies, which theorize that the models are not mutually exclusive. Yet, they have not been empirically tested in this context, which is a gap this study seeks to fill. Findings show that due process and crime control concerns shape public attitudes toward wrongful convictions and challenge the notion that Packer's models be applied on a continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coroners' inquests in Australia and New Zealand are no longer formally part of the criminal justice process. However, they can take place after the resolution of criminal charges and, although coroners' findings cannot be expressed in terms of persons' criminality, inquests can also result in referrals to prosecuting authorities. In addition, referrals to professionals' disciplinary regulators can be made by coroners. The potential for such adverse outcomes for the individuals affected makes it essential for those representing parties or witnesses at coronial hearings to consider carefully the forensic strategies that they deploy and, in particular, the advice that they provide, including in relation to claims to the privilege against self-incrimination. By reason of the partial abolition of the doctrine of autrefois acquit in a number of Australian jurisdictions, the potential for new and compelling evidence to emerge during an inquest takes on additional significance for persons who have been found not guilty of offences such as a murder at a previous trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychiatric illness is a well-established risk factor for criminal justice system involvement, but less is known about the relationships between specific psychiatric illnesses and reoffending. Research typically examines reoffending as a single discrete event. We examined the relationship between different psychiatric disorders and types of reoffending while accounting for multiple reoffending events over time. Methods: Data were drawn from a population cohort of 83,039 individuals born in Queensland, Australia, in 1983 and 1984 and followed to age 29–31 years. Psychiatric diagnoses were drawn from inpatient health records and offending information was drawn from court records. Descriptive and recurrent event survival analyses were conducted to examine the association between psychiatric disorders and reoffending. Results: The cohort included 26,651 individuals with at least one proven offence, with 3,580 (13.4%) of these individuals also having a psychiatric disorder. Individuals with any psychiatric disorder were more likely to reoffend compared to those without a disorder (73.1% vs. 56.0%). Associations between psychiatric disorders and reoffending varied across age. Individuals with a psychiatric disorder only started to accumulate more reoffending events from ~ 27 years, which accelerated up to age 31 years. There were both specificity and common effects in the associations between different psychiatric disorders and types of reoffending. Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the complexity and temporal dependency of the relationship between psychiatric illness and reoffending. These results reveal the heterogeneity present among individuals who experience psychiatric illness and contact with the justice system, with implications for intervention delivery, particularly for those with substance use disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children placed in residential care are significantly over‐represented in youth justice systems. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with service providers, this exploratory study examines practice factors that impact on the criminalization of this group of children across multiple services and systems, including in the residential care environment, police, lawyers, courts and youth justice systems, as well as multi‐systems practice with this group in one Australian state. Positive outcomes were observed for children in residential care where well‐functioning care teams existed, as well as for children in therapeutic residential care settings. However, clear limitations were identified across all phases of children's youth justice system involvement, including placement with offending peers, the criminalization of behaviours of concern, greater use of remand and detention, limited support to navigate legal and youth justice processes, challenges to service collaboration, and limited applicability of sentencing considerations. The findings indicate a pervasive level of systemic disadvantage for this group of children, and imply that a holistic strategy underpinned by affirmative action across several systems will be necessary to address the ongoing criminalization of children in residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversy surrounding the exclusion of evidence in criminal trials has continued with renewed vigour. At one end are those who believe that a piece of evidence should be admitted based solely on its inherent epistemic value without reference to any other external considerations. At the other end are those who contend that criminal justice systems are meant to serve many societal ideals of which the search for truth is only one, and that criminal trials must be designed to ensure balanced resolutions of all conflicting interests. Naturally, legal systems across the world exemplify these divergencies with many variations along the spectrum regarding the scope of the exclusionary powers of the fact finder or court and the justifications for such powers. This article sets out to analyse the illegally or improperly obtained evidence exclusion regimes in the United States, Canada, Nigeria and Australia, and their respective levels of commitment to the search for truth. This article provides an insightful frame of comparative reference for stakeholders in these jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review synthesized current knowledge about the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among young people known to have offended and examined evidence of associations between ACEs, trauma symptoms, and offending behavior. A systematic search of English-language, peer-reviewed studies published from the year 2000 onwards was conducted. A final pool of 124 studies that reported quantitative data were included in the review. The Cambridge Quality Checklist for the assessment of studies on offending was used to assess methodological quality of included studies. Pooled data indicated that almost 87% of justice-involved young people across 13 countries experienced at least one traumatic event. The odds of experiencing at least one ACE were over 12 times greater for justice-involved young people compared with nonjustice-involved young people. Prevalence of individual ACEs ranged from 12.2% for childhood sexual abuse to 80.4% for parental separation among justice-involved young people. Those who reported both a higher number and multiple types of ACEs were more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress symptoms. However, when considering only high-quality studies, there was minimal evidence to suggest that a higher incidence of ACEs predicted trauma symptoms or that trauma symptoms mediated the association between ACEs and offending behavior. Further research is needed to elucidate factors that differentiate young people exposed to ACEs who go on to offend from those who do not. This research is essential to understanding whether ACEs and trauma are drivers of offending behavior and for informing prevention and intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminal record checking is now widespread in Australia. Aboriginal people are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, for a range of reasons including historic levels of disadvantage due to colonisation. They are therefore disproportionately likely to be negatively affected by criminal record checking when seeking employment, when taking on community governance roles, when being considered as kinship carers and so on. At the same time, productive and rewarding employment, and engagement in governance roles, are vital aspects of Aboriginal people's participation, contribution and engagement across all parts of the Australian community. This article examines practices, protocols and experiences of employers, employment agencies and government organisations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory managing the potential impact of a criminal record on Aboriginal employment. The article identifies four fields that can give rise to good employment practice: Background Checking; Recruitment; Risk Management; and Support and Engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordination of specialist with mainstream service systems is prone to role delineation and implementation difficulties worldwide. In the case of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), this specialist/mainstream interface is complicated by federalism and funding responsibilities held by different levels of government. People with disability, especially cognitive or intellectual disability, are over‐represented in Australia's prisons. Through semi‐structured interviews with professionals working at the interface of disability and criminal justice, we explore some of these interface issues with regard to NDIS services (specialist) in prisons (mainstream). We find that policy permits some NDIS‐funded services to be delivered inside prisons, such as transition services related to a person's disability, but in practice there is significant variation in how policy is understood and implemented, leading to exclusion and service gaps. This case study shines light on longstanding debates about service coordination across organisational and jurisdictional boundaries. Summary at a glance People with disability are over‐represented in Australian prisons, yet seldom have access to adequate disability services while incarcerated. This article investigates an important service interface issue for incarcerated people with disability: the availability and accessibility of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services in prisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, the 2022 acquittal by an all-white jury of Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe following the shooting death of nineteen-year-old Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker has re-highlighted the absence of First Nations Australians on the criminal jury. This article argues that addressing their absence is a crucial step in dealing with the continuing crisis of legitimacy facing the Australian criminal justice system. It does so by considering Indigenous peoples’ under-representation on juries from an historical perspective, drawing on franchise inequality, as well as the ancient right to mixed juries that originated in twelfth-century England, to demonstrate the well-concealed power dynamics that underlie the failure to render juries more representative. The article further makes the point that this often overlooked democratic dimension of the jury means that the issue is one that goes beyond who is on trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘problem’ of Indigenous domestic violence has become increasingly dominant in populist and government discourse, with the criminal justice system (including the courts) being criticised for the possible lenient treatment of offenders. Using a population of cases sentenced in New South Wales from January 2009 to June 2012, this paper uses multivariate analyses to explore the intersection between Indigenous status, context of violence (domestic vs. nondomestic) and the imprisonment sentencing decision. Results suggest that when sentenced under comparable statistical circumstances, Indigenous domestic violence offenders are equally likely as those convicted of violent crimes outside of intimate/familial contexts to be sentenced to prison. In contrast, non-Indigenous domestic violence offenders are significantly less likely than those convicted of violent offences outside of intimate/familial relationships contexts to be sentenced to prison. Drawing on the focal concerns sentencing perspective, possible explanations for this finding are explored. The tension faced by the courts between the impact of colonialism on Indigenous offenders and their communities, the need to protect Indigenous victims of domestic violence and their communities, as well as overarching expectations around the punitive treatment of crimes of domestic violence are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States (U.S.) and Australian contexts, the fight to achieve legal and societal recognition of cisgender men's violence against cisgender women operated according to an incident-based victim-offender binary. Those held accountable for the violence were seen as offenders, those who survived the violence were seen as victims. This binary persists across police, court, corrections, intervention, and child protection settings. However, work with cisgender heterosexual women with offenses of abuse and violence demonstrates that the binary does not capture their complex experiences. Instead, they have "offended" in the context of often surviving long-term harm in their families of origin and from their intimate partners. Because their experiences do not align with the binary, they are caught in ineffective and retraumatizing responses. The authors use an intersectional theoretical framework to explore how heterosexual cisgender women's use of force complicates the victim-offender binary. By understanding women who have used force as having both survived and caused harm, rather than "victims" or "offenders," the authors call attention to the limitations of, and harm caused by, binary approaches. The authors also call for a reconceptualization beyond the binary—challenging established legal and intervention frameworks. To demonstrate the need for this reconceptualization, the authors report on U.S. and Australian legal cases, intervention approaches, and discuss socio-legal systems implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When domestic violence was criminalised in countries like Australia, United States and United Kingdom, many saw this as a victory, as the state taking responsibility for violence against women. The problem was that its policing was delegated to a masculinised police force ill-equipped to respond to survivors of gender violence. Latin America took a different pathway, establishing women-led police stations designed specifically to respond to the survivors of gender violence. Our research team looked for inspiration to reimagine the policing of gender violence in the twenty-first century from the victim-centred women-led police stations that emerged in Argentina in the 1980s. By emphasising a preventative over a punitive approach, multi-disciplinary teams of police, social workers, psychologists and lawyers offer survivors a gateway to support, instead of just funnelling them into the criminal justice system. Surveying gender violence sector workers and members of the general public, we sought views on the potential of adapting the protocols of these specialist police stations to Australia. We argue that if staffed by appropriately trained teams to work from both gender and culturally sensitive perspectives, women-led victim friendly police stations could side-step some of the unintended consequences of criminalisation, pathing the way for reimagining the policing of gender violence. Framed by southern criminology the project aims to redress the biases in the global hierarchy of knowledge, by reversing the notion that policy transfer can only flow from the countries of the Global North to the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the discipline of ‘criminology’ has existed within Australian universities for more than half a century, the introduction of discrete ‘criminology’ and justice programmes is much more recent. Little is known, however, about the current state of play when it comes to what a degree in ‘criminology’ actually entails. With growing student enrolments in such programmes, reflecting on the status of these programmes is important in the context of student and employer requirements and expectations. Drawing on the findings of a preliminary study, this paper will explore what it means to study for an undergraduate degree in ‘criminology’ in Australia. Specifically, we will focus on the content, availability and range of ‘criminology’ and justice degrees available in Australia, in order to gain a better understanding of the convergences and divergences across degree programmes, and make some recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the importance of community researchers has long been acknowledged in disability studies, inclusive research practices such as these are less common in research about another marginalised group: people who are in prison or have spent time in prison. Over the past decade in Australia, the number and rate of people imprisoned has risen rapidly, and recidivism rates remain high, indicating a need for improved services. In this article, we draw on methodological reflections from two case studies on research with marginalised communities, one in disability studies and one in post-prison research. We apply insights from disability research to argue the importance of incorporating community researchers in qualitative research projects seeking to explore the experiences of people involved with the criminal justice system, such as people who have been released from prison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The confidence of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors/victims in the criminal justice system (CJS) is important to consider when exploring intervention and prevention strategies toward deterring IPV. Information on the experiences of IPV survivors/victims with the justice system is greatly lacking. This issue is even more so for IPV survivors/victims for minority communities such as Australian–Muslims. The lack of cultural and religious sensitivity that many immigrant women experience with the CJS deters them from accessing the CJS. In addition, the contrast between the mediation processes in courts and those of religious requirements may make the mediation processes ineffective if they do not include the perpetrators in the mediation process. Furthermore, for many migrant women, their lack of knowledge about their rights under the Australian legal system renders them powerless to undertake active action against IPV in their relationships. Due to the lack of research on Muslim women's experiences, it is difficult to ascertain how the justice system response can effectively address IPV issues for Australian Muslim women. It is therefore necessary to solicit Muslim women's views and explore past experiences with the justice system to inform future reforms that will better meet the justice response needs of Muslim women in Australia. This article explores Muslim women's positive and negative experiences with the justice system in response to their IPV victimization. It also investigates the constraints that have deterred Muslim women from seeking assistance from the Australian criminal justice system (ACJS), particularly in the reporting of intimate partner violence. The findings of this research give voice to Muslim women's past experiences with the CJS. It is expected that the findings will influence practical outcomes that can facilitate strategies by the CJS to promote inclusiveness among Muslim women to increase their confidence in the CJS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public trust in the criminal justice system, including the jury system, is important for maintaining a democracy that is fair for all citizens. However, there is little research on trust in the jury system generally and even less cross-country comparison research specifically. Trust in the jury system might relate to other legal attitude measures (e.g., authoritarianism). This study identified the degree to which trust in the jury system relates to legal attitudes and compared perceptions of trust between the U.S. and Australia. Community members completed a survey that included measures of trust in the jury system and legal attitudes. The U.S. sample had higher levels of trust in juries than the Australian sample. In both samples, just world beliefs and legal authoritarianism were positively related to trust. Results have both theoretical and practical implications regarding legal attitudes, trust in the jury system, and public opinions of juries in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desire to identify which journals are core to a discipline is important to librarians and departmental faculty alike. Whether for purposes of accreditation, decisions related to retention, tenure, and promotion, or the assessment of a library's collection, core lists are highly valued resources. Applying a previously tested, mixed-methods approach, the authors created a five-tiered list of criminal justice and criminology journals from which 151 titles were identified as being core to the discipline. In an effort to assess the reliability fo their results, the authors also compared the results of their study to a list created by criminal justice scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic facial recognition technology (AFR) is increasingly used in criminal justice systems around the world, yet to date there has not been an international survey of public attitudes toward its use. In Study 1, we ran focus groups in the UK, Australia and China (countries at different stages of adopting AFR) and in Study 2 we collected data from over 3,000 participants in the UK, Australia and the USA using a questionnaire investigating attitudes towards AFR use in criminal justice systems. Our results showed that although overall participants were aligned in their attitudes and reasoning behind them, there were some key differences across countries. People in the USA were more accepting of tracking citizens, more accepting of private companies' use of AFR, and less trusting of the police using AFR than people in the UK and Australia. Our results showed that support for the use of AFR depends greatly on what the technology is used for and who it is used by. We recommend vendors and users do more to explain AFR use, including details around accuracy and data protection. We also recommend that governments should set legal boundaries around the use of AFR in investigative and criminal justice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The offence of sexual assault has been reformed significantly since the 1980s. These reforms have been designed to create a fairer criminal justice system and contribute to primary prevention through community education. Yet, how exactly does this education happen? This article draws on a qualitative interview study with government and non‐government stakeholders in the Australian State of NSW to consider how members of the public are equipped with the information they need to understand the laws that govern their sexual lives. Despite multiple educational pathways on key legal concepts such as consent, the study found a knowledge gap between the legal meaning of sexual assault and effective public access to that meaning. The article concludes with recommendations for addressing the barriers that undergird this gap. It argues that law's educative promise depends on the state's preparedness to create policy that fosters the public's appreciation of the sexual standards embedded in legal rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is a concern in many countries about violence from late‐night alcohol sales and appropriate regulatory responses. However, economic losses arising from this activity rarely feature in public debate. Credible estimates are lacking because economic evaluations have not taken a 'societal perspective', costing health, policing and criminal justice outcomes. Our aims were to: (i) develop an analytic model capable of informing cost–benefit analysis of policy changes; and (ii) estimate costs of alcohol‐related assault (ARA) in a major city. Methods: We employed decision‐analytic cohort models of health and judicial consequences of ARA in Sydney, Australia. We constructed two 6‐branch decision‐analytic models of patient and offender pathways through the health and judicial systems. We produced overall estimates and analysed their sensitivity to key assumptions. Results: Combining results from a Health model comprising 40 pathways and 137 cost events, and a Justice model comprising 20 pathways and 48 cost events, yielded an overall cost estimate of $85 093 per ARA, of which 64% was health‐related, while 36% was justice‐related. Estimates were sensitive to values assigned for 'pain, suffering, morbidity and wellbeing', and to costs of incarceration. Health service‐related costs accounted for 1.3% of the total. Discussion and Conclusion: The costs of ARA are significant and dominated by incidents in which a victim does not necessarily receive acute medical care but suffers loss in quality‐of‐life, and where a perpetrator is processed through the criminal justice system. Being derived transparently, within a theoretical framework, the estimates are adaptable to inform cost–benefit analyses of policy options in Australia and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes up the challenge offered to educators, researchers and policy-makers in the Ngaga-dji report, to reflect on the ways in which services and institutions need to change to better support and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their families and communities. Ngaga-dji, which means 'hear me/hear us' in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people, was launched by the Koorie Youth Council in August 2018 and reports on the experiences of 42 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people from across Victoria who have had contact with the criminal justice system. With a focus on education, the article engages with the Ngaga-dji report to examine how educators and those involved in education might seek to change their practices. The solutions put forward in the report are also connected to international research on education and youth justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I use the themes and arguments contained in Professor Penelope Pether's unfinished monograph, 'Perverts', 'Terrorists', and Business as Usual: Comparative Indefinite Detention before and after 9/11, to reflect upon the emerging body of preventive justice scholarship. I argue that Pether's account unsettles many of the assumptions and aspirations of preventive justice scholarship and highlights that preventive justice scholars, myself included, need to think differently about preventive justice – questioning its normative project and legal standpoint. I argue that preventive justice scholarship, while aiming to furnish the values and principles by which justice might be achieved, should be conscious of its potential role in the perpetration of injustice by legitimizing – or being used by others to legitimize – laws and practices that offend rights and liberties. In doing so, preventive justice scholarship can guard against complicity in what Pether terms 'law's...creation of jurisdictions of exception'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study of the official state representation of the institutional life course of one Indigenous Australian woman who is disabled, I demonstrate that across multiple jurisdictions, legal orders, service systems, material spaces and modes of intervention, law provides for the heightened carceral control of bodies on the basis of their designation as disabled. In being designated as disabled, bodies are positioned as necessarily and legitimately subjected to ongoing, persistent and multifarious control in a way paradigmatic of Foucault's argument of the policed subject such that the disabled body itself is a carceral site. Moreover, the indefinite detention of disabled Indigenous persons on the basis of their disability builds upon and masks as 'noncolonial' settler colonial violence against Indigenous Australians. An analysis of how law orders, constructs and legitimates disabled carceral control troubles current understandings of indefinite detention, illuminates the limited notions of (in)justice that these understandings allow and provides new openings to acknowledging a fuller and more complex range of institutional injustices done to disabled offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serial homicide attracts significant attention from the media, entertainment industries, the criminal justice system, and related disciplines even though it accounts for less than 1% of all homicides in Australia. Despite this interest, there is a shortage of research on serial murder specifically applicable to Australia. This study provides an overview of Australian serial homicide, reporting on characteristics related to the victims, perpetrators, and features of the crime. The sample is the largest ever examined in Australia and consists of 71 serial homicides, with 317 victims, committed by 82 perpetrators where each committed at least two homicides. By examining the Australian National Homicide Monitoring Program, the Radford and Florida Gulf Coast University Serial Killer Database, court transcripts, textbooks, and media reports, the authors tabulated offence variables including the number of victims, number of offenders, and motive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to describe the experiences of autistic people who had interacted with police in Australia in the previous 5 years. Fifty autistic adults and 61 parent/carers completed a questionnaire and 30 participants took part in an interview. Participants were most commonly interacting with police in the context of seeking assistance or as victims of crime. Autistic adults were largely unsatisfied with their interactions and reluctant to disclose their autism. Parent/carers reported significantly higher satisfaction than autistic adults and incidents involving children were rated more highly than those involving adults. Suggestions for improved interactions included increased autism awareness amongst police and use of appropriate accommodations. Areas for future research in relation to the evaluation of police training is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Individuals with psychosis are over-represented in the criminal justice system and, as a group, are at elevated risk of re-offending. Recent studies have observed an association between increased contacts with mental health services and reduced re-offending, as well as reduced risk of re-offending in those who are ordered to mental health treatment rather than punitive sanctions. In furthering this work, this study examines the effect of disengagement from mental health treatment on probability of re-offence in offenders with psychosis over time.Methods: Data linkage was conducted with judicial, health and mortality datasets from New South Wales, Australia (2001-2015). The study population included 4960 offenders with psychosis who received non-custodial sentences and engaged with community-based mental health treatment. Risk factors for leaving treatment and/or reconviction were examined using multivariate cox regression. Further, a multi-state model was used to observe the probabilities associated with individuals moving between three states: conviction, disengagement from mental health treatment and subsequent re-conviction.Results: A threefold increase was observed in the risk of re-offending for those who disengaged from treatment compared to those who did not (aHR = 2.76, 95% CI 1.65-4.62, p < 0.001). The median time until re-offence was 195 days, with the majority (67%) being convicted within one year of leaving treatment. A higher risk of leaving treatment was found for those born outside of Australia, with substance-related psychosis, and a history of violent offence.Conclusions: The findings argue for an emphasis on continued engagement with mental health services following release for offenders with psychosis and identify subgroups within this population for whom concentrated efforts regarding treatment retention should be targeted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]