News

Ryan T. Motz; J.C. Barnes; Avshalom Caspi; Louise Arseneault; Francis T. Cullen; Renate Houts; Jasmin Wertz;

NIJ-Funded Research Examines what works for successful Reentry

BY BLAIR AMES

A cross the country, more than 600,000 Americans are released from prisons and jails every year, and more than 4.5 million are serving a community supervision sentence.1 For these individuals, transitioning back to their communities following incarceration can be a challenge for a number of reasons. Often, when individuals are released, they face several critical barriers to successful reentry that they will need to overcome. Some have substance abuse issues, others have no place to live, and a criminal record makes it difficult for many to find a job. For most, it is only a matter of time before they return to prison. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 68% of state prisoners are rearrested within three years of their release.2 The role of community corrections practitioners and reentry service providers is to ensure that these individuals do not commit additional crimes and that they gain the skills needed to fully reintegrate into the community. To support individuals returning from prison and jail, communities across the country provide programming — such as education, employment, housing, and other supportive measures — to help offenders reintegrate. But studying these programs, and identifying the most productive aspects of each that can be replicated in other communities, is a complicated task. “Every individual has unique needs when they return to the community. Similarly, the communities to which they return have specific needs they are able to address,” said Marie Garcia, special assistant to the NIJ director. “The intersection of these two could present challenges with regard to addressing individual needs and identifying what makes a program successful.”

Download (pdf)

„Does contact with the justice system deter or promote future delinquency? Results from a longitudinal study of British adolescent twins“

Terrie E. Moffitt

First published: 29 December 2019

The Environmental Risk (E‐Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study is funded by the U.K. Medical Research Council (UKMRC grant G1002190). Additional support was provided by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) grant HD077482, the Jacobs Foundation, and the Avielle Foundation.

Abstract

What impact does formal punishment have on antisocial conduct—does it deter or promote it? The findings from a long line of research on the labeling tradition indicate formal punishments have the opposite‐of‐intended consequence of promoting future misbehavior. In another body of work, the results show support for deterrence‐based hypotheses that punishment deters future misbehavior. So, which is it? We draw on a nationally representative sample of British adolescent twins from the Environmental Risk (E‐Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study to perform a robust test of the deterrence versus labeling question. We leverage a powerful research design in which twins can serve as the counterfactual for their co‐twin, thereby ruling out many sources of confounding that have likely impacted prior studies. The pattern of findings provides support for labeling theory, showing that contact with the justice system—through spending a night in jail/prison, being issued an anti‐social behaviour order (ASBO), or having an official record—promotes delinquency. We conclude by discussing the impact these findings may have on criminologists’ and practitioners’ perspective on the role of the juvenile justice system in society.

PDF

UNODC Handbook on the Classification of Prisoners (2020)

UNODC’s new Handbook on the Classification of Prisoners is designed to provide practical information and guidelines to support prison administrations with the development of an effective system that meets international standards. It is based on grounded research evidence and the experience of numerous countries that have implemented such systems. Although primarily designed for prison officers, it is also intended to be a useful resource guide for other criminal justice officials and parties involved in the criminal justice system.

AIC: Responding to adolescent family violence: Findings from an impact evaluation

Responding to adolescent family violence: Findings from an impact evaluation

The AIC has released a study describing the short-term impact of the Adolescent Family Violence Program (AFVP), which was implemented in three communities in Victoria. The evaluation involved the analysis of administrative data collected by service providers, analysis of offence data provided by Victoria Police, surveys and interviews with young people and their parents/carers, and the analysis of case files. Key findings include:

Parents/carers reported that young people involved in the AFVP were involved in frequent physical and non-physical behaviours targeted at family members, particularly mothers and siblings. For example, 51% of young people were reported to have threatened to harm their siblings at least once a week over the last 30 days.
Family interviews and case file analysis identified that the program improved relationships between family members and young people in many situations. This had roll-on benefits for the stability of young people’s accommodation, as well as their engagement in school.
Family interviews and case file analysis also demonstrated that the program improved understanding of the violence and abuse among family members, as well as their ability to support young people to manage their ‘triggers’.
The evidence regarding the program’s impact on violent reoffending among young people was mixed. Family interviews and case files analysis identified a reduction in the frequency and severity of violence and abuse as reported by young people and family members. However, when the analysis focused on family violence offences reported to the police over a 19 week period following a contact with police, there was no difference between young people referred to the AFVP and a matched comparison group.
Although the findings from this evaluation should be treated with caution due to small sample sizes as well as short follow-up periods, they study provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of this program in various domains.

The paper is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi601

EU Focus Day and the prevention of family-based crime

The Focus Day will take place on 21 October 2020.
With a prevention campaign and local preventive initiatives, the EUCPN and 26 European countries
aim to step up the fight against this crime by informing citizens on how they can protect their homes.

Domestic burglary is a criminal offence that all European countries are combating with various actions. It not only robs victims of their possessions – it can also rob people of their sense of security at home, a place where everyone should feel most safe. Consequently, victims can experience considerable adverse psychological effects. Besides, the financial impact on our society makes this an important problem. That is why European countries, united in the EUCPN and EUROPOL, have joined forces to launch this initiative.

The European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) and the European countries have launched the first EU-wide Focus Day on domestic burglary on 19 June 2019. The EU-wide Focus Day is a yearly event and aims to encourage citizens to protect their home by the use of a prevention campaign and local preventive initiatives. The campaign ‘Keep the surprises for your holiday!’ includes two campaign images, a poster, a flyer, three short social media posts, a radio spot, a case movie and two banners for email signatures or online use. By the absence of a spoken language the social media posts can easily reach a large audience. Each post demonstrates holidaymakers how their home was burglarized while they were enjoying their vacation. In addition, the municipalities of several countries will organise events that focuses on the prevention of domestic burglary. All these initiatives and prevention tips are gathered on a national prevention website.

Online conference EUSPR

The European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) organises its annual conference on 7-9 October as an online event. The theme of this year is ‘Make prevention science relevant for all: co-production and impact’. The conference in 2021 will take place in Tallinn, Estonia, on 29 September - 1 October.
Registration.

AIC: The impact of arrest and seizure on drug crime and harms: A systematic review

The impact of arrest and seizure on drug crime and harms: A systematic review

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has released a systematic review of the impact of supplier arrests and seizures on drug crime, drug use, drug price, drug purity, and drug harm outcomes.

Researchers from the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology were commissioned by the Serious and Organised Crime Research Laboratory to conduct a systematic review of the impact of law enforcement arrests and seizures on a range of drug-related outcomes.
The study used the Global Policing Database to identify published and unpublished studies between January 2004 and December 2018 that use experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations of policing interventions conducted since 1950.
Thirteen impact evaluation studies met the inclusion criteria. Only three of these studies contained sufficient data on effect sizes, meaning it was not possible to conduct a meta-analysis.
An evidence and gap map was constructed, showing that research to date relates primarily to drug harms, followed by drug crime and drug price, and that there are significant gaps in the impact evaluation literature.
The available research does not show a clear relationship between supplier arrest or seizures on drug use, drug price and drug purity.

This systematic review highlights the need for more research rigorously examining the impact of drug supplier arrest and seizures that can answer nuanced questions with implications for policing practice. The authors note there is evidence showing that proactive law enforcement initiatives that are place-focused and problem-focused are effective in reducing drug-related crime and harms.

The paper is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi602

Please see our Privacy Policy at https://aic.gov.au/privacy-0

Our mailing address is:

Australian Institute of Criminology

GPO BOX 1936

Canberra City, ACT 2601

Australia

EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025

We need to talk about racism. And we need to act. It is always possible to change direction if there is a will to do so. I am glad to live in a society that condemns racism. But we should not stop there. The motto of our European Union is: ‘United in diversity’. Our task it to live up to these words, and to fulfil their meaning

- President von der Leyen, European Parliament, 17 June 2020

Achieving a Union of Equality

On 18 September 2020 the Commission published its plan to step up action against racism in the European Union.

A Union of Equality: EU Action Plan against racism 2020 –2025

18 September 2020

English (747.1 KB - PDF)

DownloadPDF - 747.1 KB

Available languages (1)

Stepping Up Action For A Union Of Equality - Factsheet

18 September 2020

English (3.4 MB - PDF)

DownloadPDF - 3.4 MB

Available languages (2)

UNICEF: Moving Beyond the Numbers: What the COVID-19 pandemic means for the safety of women and girls

Since the beginning of the lockdowns and quarantine restrictions enacted by Governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is witnessing a horrifying surge- a surge of what was already an epidemic- in gender-based violence (GBV), particularly intimate partner violence. A plethora of reports from across the globe have indicated an increase in reported cases, as well as deaths. Yet at the same time, some of the figures actually show the opposite – that fewer GBV survivors are contacting service providers than before the pandemic. In order to make effective policy and programming decisions, governments, policymakers and donors must go beyond the numbers and aim for a more comprehensive understanding of dynamics driving pre-existing violence against women and girls and how the current environment exacerbates these risks. The increased threat to women and girls is predictable based on patterns of abuse and violence that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine and confinement measures increase the risks of GBV and, as a result, will worsen the severity of the violence experienced by women and girls.

This article illustrates some of the limitations of the statistics that have been widely publicized in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, provides additional contextual information to better understand the risks women and girls are facing, and outlines some priority recommendations to Governments, policy makers, donors and key humanitarian and development actors for addressing gender-based violence in the context of COVID-19.

AIC: Malware in spam email: Risks and trends in the Australian Spam Intelligence Database

Malware in spam email: Risks and trends in the Australian Spam Intelligence Database

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released a new report titled Malware in spam email: Risks and trends in the Australian Spam Intelligence Database.

A 10 percent sample of a 2016 dataset of 25.76 million spam emails provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Spam Intelligence Database was scanned for malware using the VirusTotal Malware database. Nearly one in 10 (9.9% or 255,222) emails were identified as malware compromised and, similarly, 9.9 percent were identified as inactive.

Of the compromised URL sites, nearly one-third (31.8% or 81,176) could be further classified as phishing (58.4%) or trojan-compromised URLs (40.6%) or dedicated malicious websites (1%).

All 115,025 unique file attachments found in the entire sample (0.5% of all spam) were also scanned and 31.4 percent (36,405) were compromised with various forms of malware.

The majority of compromised attachments were found in images (55.6%), followed by PDFs (15.0%) and binary files (10.0%). Various trojans and ransomware were the most common malware, and these and others identified in the sample are described.

The report was produced by researchers from the Australian National University – Roderic Broadhurst and Harshit Trivedi – and was funded through a Criminology Research Grant.

The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi603

Please see our Privacy Policy at https://aic.gov.au/privacy-0

Our mailing address is:

Australian Institute of Criminology

GPO BOX 1936

Canberra City, ACT 2601

Australia

European Drug Report 2020: Trends and Developments

EMCDDA, Lisbon, September 2020

Series type: European Drug Report

Summary

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of patterns emerging across Europe in the areas of drug supply, illicit drug use and associated public health problems. National data sets are also provided across these themes and on key harm-reduction interventions. The report is available in English with a summary of a selection of the main findings available in 24 languages in the accompanying Key Issues publication.

IC: Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019

Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019

The Statistical Report Drug use monitoring in Australia: Drug use among police detainees, 2019 summarises data collected for the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program between January and December 2019. The DUMA program measures drug use and offending among arrestees detained at police stations and watch houses across the nation. In 2019, 2,330 detainees participated in the DUMA program at sites in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Bankstown and Surry Hills in Sydney. Of these, 867 provided a urine sample for drug analysis.

In 2019, 78 percent (n=676) of detainees tested positive to at least one type of drug and 44 percent (n=382) tested positive to more than one drug type.
Detainees most commonly tested positive to methamphetamine (51%, n=444), followed by cannabis (45%, n=390), benzodiazepines (24%, n=207), opioids (19%, n=167) and cocaine (2%, n=16).
Detainees also reported that methamphetamine was the most readily available illicit drug in Australia, with 84 percent (n=913) of users rating availability as high or very high.
Almost half of all detainees attributed their detention to either illicit drug or alcohol use (45%, n=1,034). Thirty-three percent (n=760) of detainees reported that illicit drug use was the reason for their detention, compared with 16 percent (n=376) for alcohol use.
Methamphetamine use accounted for most of the association between illicit drugs and offending, with 83 percent attributing their MSO to methamphetamine (n=629). Fewer detainees attributed their offending to cannabis, heroin or MDMA use.
Methamphetamine use predominately contributed to drug (39%, n=62) and property (37%, n=215) offences.

The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr30

AIC: What are the characteristics of effective youth offender programs?