Newest AIC publication: Misconceptions of sexual crimes against adult victims: Barriers to justice (Nov 2020)

Published Date: 12-11-2020

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice - 611

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of sexual offending in our communities, there is a lack of understanding about the nature and dynamics of sexual crimes. Myths and misconceptions about sexual offending are common and may contribute to the high attrition rates of sexual offence cases throughout the criminal justice system. This study synthesises over 40 years of research evidence to present an accurate and updated picture of sexual offending. With specialist knowledge, we can improve criminal justice responses and outcomes for victims of sexual crime.

website ››

Newest AIC publication: Mobile dating applications and sexual and violent offending

Published Date

19-11-2020

Series: Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice - 612

Abstract

In the last few years, a number of high-profile cases of sexual and violent offending have been committed after the offender and victim met through a mobile dating application (dating app). Subsequent media and popular rhetoric have positioned dating app sexual and violent offending as a major safety concern.

A literature review was conducted to determine the prevalence of dating app violence, the design features of dating apps that create and prevent opportunities for violence to occur, and the prevention strategies used by individual users and app designers. Results suggest that dating app users are at greater risk of sexual and violent victimisation than non-users. Dating app features designed to promote safety and connectedness paradoxically place users at risk of victimisation. Although some dating apps feature innovative safety mechanisms, most place the onus on users to protect themselves against victimisation.

More research is needed to inform prevention and intervention efforts.

website ››

New Criminology Research Grants awarded by the Australian Institute of Criminology

MEDIA RELEASE

New Criminology Research Grants awarded by the Australian Institute of Criminology.

The AIC has announced important new funding that will support Australian academics to undertake cutting edge crime and justice research. We are pleased to announce eight new Criminology Research Grants, which have been selected by the Criminology Research Advisory Council and approved by the AIC Director.

These projects address a range of policy-relevant issues, including sex offender reintegration, the use of apps and video conferencing in prisons, youth offending, firearms, body-worn cameras, and the criminalisation of coercive control.

Further details of the projects include:

Organisation	Chief Investigators	Project Title
Queensland University of Technology	Associate Professor Kelly Richards (Principal Chief Investigator), Dr Jodi Death (Chief Investigator), Dr Michael Chataway (Chief Investigator), Ms Carol Ronken (Chief Investigator), Dr Rebekah Chapman (Chief Investigator) & Inspector (Mr) Chris Emzin (Advisor)	Victims/survivors’ perspectives on sex offender reintegration: A mixed methods study
The University of Melbourne	Prof. Stuart Ross (uni of Melbourne - Project Lead), Dr Mark Wood (Deakin University - Principal Researcher), Dr Hannah Graham (Stirling University, UK - Research Advisor), Mr Jason Morris (National Offender Monitoring Service, UK - Research Advisor). A Research Assistant - To be appointed.	Digital service delivery applications in corrections: Uptake, impact and challenges in the wake of COVID 19
Monash University	Dr Susan Baidawi (Principal Investigator), Professor Rosemary Sheehan (Principal Investigator), Dr Catherine Flynn (Principal Researcher) & Magistrate Jennifer Bowles (Research Advisor)	Children’s Court responses to young offenders: provisions and outcomes for 10 to 13-year-old children charged with offending
University of Sydney	Professor Joel Negin (Principal Researcher), Professor Natasha Nassar (Principal Researcher, Research Advisor & Research Assistant), Dr Lorraine Ivancic (Lead Analyst) & Prof Don Weatherburn (Criminologist)	Identifying precursors and outcomes of firearm incidents in New South Wales: creating a data profile to examine firearm registration, domestic and family violence, and suicide to guide prevention and intervention
Swinburne University	Associate Professor Stephane Shepherd (Principal Researcher), Professor James Ogloff (Research Advisor), Dr. Nina Papalia (Project Manager) & Research Assistant to be appointed	Exploring the transition from youth to adult offending - A 10-year follow-up study of Australian young people in custody.
University of Wollongong	Dr Natalia Hanley (Principal Researcher), Dr Elisabeth Duursma (Co-Principal Researcher), Associate Professor Amy Conley Wright (Co-Principal Researcher) & Mr Luke Grant (Associate Investigator)	Maintaining father-child relationships using video-visitation in Australian prisons.
Deakin University	Dr Mary Iliadis (Principal Researcher), Dr Bridget Harris (Chief Investigator), Dr Danielle Tyson (Chief Investigator), Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Chief Investigator) & Dr Zarina Vakhitova (Chief Investigator)	Police body-worn camera technology in response to domestic and family violence: a national study of victim-survivor perspectives and experiences
Monash University	Associate Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon (Principal Researcher), Professor Sandra Walklate (Principal Researcher), Associate Professor Silke Meyer (Principal Researcher) & Research Assistant to be appointed	The criminalisation of coercive control: a national study of victim/survivors’ views on the need for, benefits, risks and impacts of criminalisation

Australian Institute of Criminology Director, Mr Michael Phelan APM said that these projects cover a range of contemporary crime and justice issues.

“The evidence they will generate will be vital for shaping future policy. We look forward to working closely with the successful project teams,” Mr Phelan said.

Background

The Criminology Research Grants (CRG) program is administered by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and aims to support research relevant to current and future public policy issues, to foster quality criminological research and to ensure that funded research is disseminated effectively.

For more information on Criminology Research Grants visit https://www.aic.gov.au/crg

ECPA 2020: who are the winners?

The topic of 2020 was family-based crime

Ireland: Greentown Project

An evidence-informed and design-led targeted community intervention to reduce the influence of criminal networks on children.

The Netherlands: Untouchables Approach

Cooperation between justice, the municipality and care and service-providing partners to restore liveability in the neighbourhood, regain trust in the authorities and restore the authority of the government.

Sweden: TICKAN Initiative and phase model

A multi-agency initiative to counter a family-based criminal network by working in line with the Phase model.

Textfeld: An integrated approach to family-based crime

Have a first look at our toolbox on family-based crime, which will be published soon. Three papers make up this EUCPN toolbox: 1. theoretical background 2. effective prevention 3. the European Crime Prevention Award 2020. Stay tuned!

Corporate crime in Australia: The extent of the problem

The AIC has today released a new study on corporate crime in Australia.
The study was undertaken by a team of researchers from Griffith University and was funded by a Criminology Research Grant.
It examines cases of corporate crime reported by ASIC, ACCC, ATO and FWC/FWO.
The research focuses on offending by 1,941 corporations (33 ASX200 listed parent corporations and their 1,908 wholly owned subsidiary corporations).
Over the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2015, nine (27.2 percent) of the corporate groups (parent corporations and their subsidiaries) examined offended at least once.
Offending was found to occur in the financial, utilities, communication services and consumer staples sectors.
Offences were recorded for 21 corporations (six parent corporations and 15 subsidiary corporations).
Three corporate groups were found to account for three quarters of the offences.
Offending largely fell into one of three broad categories:
- breaches of market integrity (including cartel offences)
- misleading or deceptive conduct (including making false or misleading representations)
- unconscionable conduct.
A range of suggestions are made to reduce corporate offending, including making parent companies more accountable and introducing a national database of corporate offending.

The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi613

CEP: The Restoration of Normality: Mirroring the Past in the Future

11-10-2021, Prague, Czech Republic

CEP, together with the Czech Probation and Mediation Service, will organize a conference on the past and future of probation, especially aiming at restorative justice and interagency cooperation. The aim of this conference is to reflect on community and inter-agency cooperation amongst probation agencies, justice agencies and other relevant authorities across Europe, with a focus on Central and Eastern European countries.

The programme of this event is available on the CEP website and registration is open!

Read more here

New AIC Publication: Deaths in custody in Australia 2018-19

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Deaths in custody in Australia 2018-19

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released the latest report from the National Deaths in Custody Program. The Deaths in custody in Australia 2018–19 Statistical Report details the 113 deaths in custody in 2018–19—89 in prison custody and 24 in police custody or custody-related operations—and compares these findings to longer term trends.

Of the 89 deaths in prison custody, sixteen (18%) were of Indigenous persons and 73 (82%) were of non-Indigenous persons. Eighty-seven deaths (98%) were of males.
The death rate of Indigenous prisoners was 0.13 per 100 prisoners, lower than the death rate of non-Indigenous prisoners (0.23 per 100).
Fifty-one (57%) deaths in prison custody were caused by natural causes. Natural causes were the most common cause of death for both Indigenous (85%, n=11) and non-Indigenous prisoners (65%, n=40).
Of the 24 deaths in police custody, four (17%) were of Indigenous persons, 19 (79%) were of non-Indigenous persons, and the Indigenous status was unknown in one further case.
Thirteen deaths (54%) were caused by gunshot wounds—nine were police shootings and four were self-inflicted.
Two of the four Indigenous deaths in police custody were accidental deaths attributable to other/multiple causes, one was a self-inflicted death attributable to gunshot wounds, and one had no cause or manner of death recorded.
In the 28 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991), there have been 455 Indigenous deaths in custody—295 in prison, 156 in police custody or custody-related operations and four in juvenile detention.

The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr31

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WHO: The Decade of Healthy Ageing: a new UN-wide initiative

The United Nations General Assembly today declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing.

“Today’s announcement of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing sends a clear signal that it is only by working as one, within the United Nations system and with governments, civil society and the private sector, that we will be able to not only add years to life, but also life to years,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in response to today’s development.

“By adopting a UN-wide approach in support of healthy ageing, we will be able to galvanize international action to improve the lives of older people, their families and communities, both during the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond,” added Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Social Determinants of Health at WHO.

Health is central to our experience of older age and the opportunities that ageing brings. Initiatives undertaken as part of the Decade will seek to: change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing; facilitate the ability of older people to participate in and contribute to their communities and society; deliver integrated care and primary health services that are responsive to the needs of the individual; and provide access to long-term care for older people who need it.

The UN Resolution, which follows recent endorsement of the Decade by the World Health Assembly, expresses concern that, despite the predictability of population ageing and its accelerating pace, the world is not sufficiently prepared to respond to the rights and needs of older people. It acknowledges that the ageing of the population impacts our health systems but also many other aspects of society, including labour and financial markets and the demand for goods and services, such as education, housing, long-term care, social protection and information. It thus requires a whole-of-society approach.

The Resolution also calls upon the World Health Organization to lead the implementation of the Decade, in collaboration with the other UN organizations. Governments, international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, academia and the media are encouraged to actively support the Decade’s goals.

"Today’s announcement is the culmination of many years of collaboration with partners across the world,” said Alana Officer, who leads WHO’s Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing team. “But it also represents a new beginning. If we are to be successful in delivering the change envisaged under the Decade, we need new ways of working”.

WHO and UN partners are seeking inputs from all interested stakeholders to help build a collaborative Platform where all knowledge on ageing can be accessed, shared, and produced in one place ̶ by anyone, anywhere in the world.

EUCN: Toolbox - family-based crime

Three papers make up the EUCPN toolbox on family-based crime:

Theoretical background
The focus of this paper is twofold. First, it outlines the phenomenon of family-based crime. Crime sometimes runs in families, a phenomenon to which several factors may contribute. The most important factors are discussed here, and put into context by sketching three cases. Second, the paper translates what we know about family-based crime into a theoretical basis for prevention. It emphasises the importance of a systematic and integrated approach to preventing family-based crime.

Effective prevention
This paper lists seven different types of preventive interventions for family-based crime, targeting different phases of the processes that lead to crime. It indicates for each one how it works, which prevention mechanisms it activates, to what extent its effectiveness is supported by evidence, and what it might contribute to the fight against family-based crime. Ideally, different types of interventions are combined into an integrated approach to prevent family-based crime.

European Crime Prevention Award 2020
This paper reports on the 2020 edition of the European Crime Prevention Award, organised by the German Presidency of the EUCPN. This paper outlines the nine projects or programmes that competed in the contest, with a special focus on the top three and the jury’s assessment of them.