Summary paper: Family support, enriched preschool and serious youth offending
Full report: The impact of a preschool communication program and comprehensive family support on serious youth offending: New findings from the Pathways to Prevention Project

New reports by researchers from Griffith University demonstrate the benefits of a communication program to improve children’s language skills, when combined with family support.

• Family support was associated overall with a heightened risk of offending, reflecting the high level of need in these families, particularly in the later primary years.
• However, family support combined with a communication program corresponded to a very low offending rate. 

This suggests that family support should be combined with both high-quality, early-childhood preventive initiatives and evidence-based child and parent programs in late primary school.

Copyright © 2024 Australian Institute of Criminology

Public Policy Exchange will be hosting a webinar on Tackling Serious and Organised Crime: Assessing What a Comprehensive Strategy for Tackling Organised Crime Should Look Like Under a New Labour Government which will take place on Thursday, December 5th 2024 between 9:30 AM — 1:00 PM.

Confirmed Speakers:

• Professor Robert Smith, Professor of Policing at the Institute of Policing, Staffordshire University
• Evan Jones, Director of CE Development at St Giles Trust
• Cllr Sara Conway, Chair of Barnet's Safer Communities Partnership Board & Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Participation, Barnet Council

Programme:

• Examine existing trends in and drivers of organised crime in the UK
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the UK government’s current strategies and the tools and powers that law enforcement officers have available to tackle organised crime
• Learn about and assess the new Labour government’s plans for crime and policing might mean for tackling organised crime
• Exchange views on how to make serious progress in tackling cross-Channel people smuggler gangs
• Analyse the respective roles of local police forces, the NCA and other agencies in tackling organised crime
• Understand what a multi-agency, multi-stakeholder, partnership-based approach to tackling organised crime should look like
• Develop strategies for improving collaborating with other countries and with the EU, and for strengthening international collaboration through structures such as Interpol

Link to: Drivers and deterrents of child sexual offending: Analysis of offender interactions on the darknet

A new AIC study examined threads on a darknet forum for undetected online and contact child sexual offenders to identify key drivers and deterrents of offending and to inform intervention approaches.

• Online communities and networks of like-minded offenders help shape views about, and alleviate responsibility for, sexual offending against children.
• Tor networks, secure storage and erasure programs offer increased opportunities to offend and avoid detection, driving continued offending. 

Acknowledgement of the harm to children, feelings of guilt and shame, and concern about being caught by law enforcement or detected by family and friends are reported to act as deterrents of continued offending.

Copyright © 2024 Australian Institute of Criminology, All rights reserved

Link to: Routine online activities and vulnerability to dating app facilitated sexual violence

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released new research examining the routine activities of dating app users that make them more vulnerable to dating app facilitated sexual violence.

• Prolific dating platform users and those who share more information, who communicate with people across different platforms, and who paid for an online dating service were more likely to report experiencing dating app facilitated sexual violence.
• These activities increased the likelihood of both online and in-person dating app facilitated sexual violence.

Findings provide insight into perpetrators’ decision-making when engaging in dating app facilitated sexual violence, and inform measures to protect users from harm.

Link to: Routine online activities and vulnerability to dating app facilitated sexual violence

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released new research examining the routine activities of dating app users that make them more vulnerable to dating app facilitated sexual violence.

• Prolific dating platform users and those who share more information, who communicate with people across different platforms, and who paid for an online dating service were more likely to report experiencing dating app facilitated sexual violence.
• These activities increased the likelihood of both online and in-person dating app facilitated sexual violence.

Findings provide insight into perpetrators’ decision-making when engaging in dating app facilitated sexual violence, and inform measures to protect users from harm.

Copyright © 2024 Australian Institute of Criminology, All rights reserved.

Countries pledge to act on childhood violence affecting some 1 billion children

7 November 2024 

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More than 100 governments today made historic commitments to end childhood violence, including nine pledging to ban corporal punishment – an issue that affects 3 out of every 5 children regularly in their homes. These commitments were made at a landmark event in Bogotá, Colombia, where government delegations are set to agree on a new global declaration aimed at protecting children from all kinds of violence, exploitation and abuse.

Also at the event, which is hosted by the Governments of Colombia and Sweden together with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, several countries committed to improve services for childhood violence survivors or tackle bullying, while others said they would invest in critical parenting support – one of the most effective interventions for reducing violence risks in the home.

“Despite being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day to day reality for millions of children around the world – leaving scars that span generations,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.  “Today countries made critical pledges that, once enacted, could finally turn the tide on childhood violence. From establishing lifechanging support for families to making schools safer places or tackling online abuse, these actions will be fundamental to protecting children from lasting harm and ill health.”

Over half of all children globally – some 1 billion – are estimated to suffer some form of violence, such as child maltreatment (including corporal punishment, the most prevalent form of childhood violence), bullying, physical or emotional abuse, as well as sexual violence.  Violence against children is often hidden, mostly occurs behind closed doors, and is vastly underreported. WHO estimates that fewer than half of affected children tell anyone they experienced violence and under 10% receive any help.

Link to: Findings from the Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery National Minimum Dataset pilot, July to December 2022

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released a new Statistical Report describing the findings from the Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery National Minimum Dataset pilot data collection, conducted over a six-month period from July to December 2022.

• The Australian Federal Police received 150 reports of alleged human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices (modern slavery) between
  1 July and 31 December 2022. Reports most commonly related to allegations of forced marriage (31%), followed by sexual servitude
  (25%), trafficking of persons out of Australia (21%) and forced labour (12%).
• Between 1 July and 31 December 2022, 36 victim-survivors of modern slavery were referred to the Support for Trafficked People Program. Most were female (94%) and 44 percent were aged under 18. The highest proportion of victim-survivors were born in Southern and Central Asia (31%), Oceania and Antarctica (28%) and North Africa and the Middle East (17%).
• Between 1 July and 31 December 2022, 15 matters involving human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like offences were either referred to, or continued by, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. At 31 December 2022, 20 of the 24 defendants had been charged with a total of 55 human trafficking and modern slavery offences.

Read the AIC media release.

This comprehensive document aims to support jurisdictions to consider identified issues before developing and using technology, undergoing digitalisation or considering hybrid working models. It includes a compilation of best practices and a practical checklist to guide organizations ineffectively navigating introduction of new technologies

You can access the full document on the CEP website