Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sex-offenders in Australia: Assessing risk for practice and policy. A key priority of Australian governments is to improve community safety through reducing the risk of sex offenders re-offending after release from prison. This project will assess the validity of tools used to predict the risk of sexual offender recidivism and identify alternate risk assessment tools for Indigenous and non-Indigenous sex offenders.
Justice Reinvestment in Australia: conceptual foundations for criminal justice innovation. This project will examine the characteristics of Justice Reinvestment programs used in other countries which reduce spending on prisons and reinvest the savings in high crime communities to reduce crime and build community services. This study will analyse whether such programs can be developed in the Australian context.
Understanding and preventing youth sexual violence and abuse: an investigation of offender development, offending onset, and progression. Youth sexual violence and abuse poses serious threats to the health and well-being of Australian women and children. This project will investigate the development, onset and progression of youth sexual violence and abuse, and thereby contribute to its management and prevention.
Targeted crime: policing and social inclusion. This project will undertake a criminological study of the policing of targeted incidents and crime, that is, incidents and crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred towards members of particular groups, communities and individuals. It will develop a best practice policing framework for targeted crimes and incidents.
Understanding the relationship between mental illness and offending: implications for crime prevention and the management of mentally ill offenders. The criminal justice system struggles to cope with the challenge of mentally ill offenders. Yet unfortunately increasing numbers of mentally ill people are coming into contact with police, the courts and correctional institutions. Using a life-course criminological perspective, this project aims to understand the links between mental illness and of ....Understanding the relationship between mental illness and offending: implications for crime prevention and the management of mentally ill offenders. The criminal justice system struggles to cope with the challenge of mentally ill offenders. Yet unfortunately increasing numbers of mentally ill people are coming into contact with police, the courts and correctional institutions. Using a life-course criminological perspective, this project aims to understand the links between mental illness and offending. Such an understanding will provide the criminal justice system with strategies for managing and treating mentally ill offenders. More importantly, such an understanding can be used to intervene in circumstances that result in mentally ill people offending, improving their well-being and increasing community safety.Read moreRead less
Legitimacy and effective policing responses to domestic and family violence. Domestic and Family Violence is a problem of epidemic proportions. This project aims to significantly improve police legitimacy and effectiveness by examining for the first time how capacity, police capability and conducive police culture operate individually and interact collectively to inform practice and survivor outcomes. Expected outcomes include the delivery of robust empirical evidence derived from new theoretica ....Legitimacy and effective policing responses to domestic and family violence. Domestic and Family Violence is a problem of epidemic proportions. This project aims to significantly improve police legitimacy and effectiveness by examining for the first time how capacity, police capability and conducive police culture operate individually and interact collectively to inform practice and survivor outcomes. Expected outcomes include the delivery of robust empirical evidence derived from new theoretical and methodological approaches on how these critical factors intersect collectively, and a comprehensive practice framework that identifies the tipping point of critical components for effective responses. The expected benefit will be improved policing responses to domestic and family violence nationally and internationally.Read moreRead less