ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1759-8232
Current Organisation
University of New South Wales
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Aboriginal Studies | Panel Data Analysis | Criminology | Public Policy | Criminology | Policy and Administration | Causes and Prevention of Crime
Justice and the law not elsewhere classified | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education | Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis | Law Enforcement | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander development and welfare |
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2005
DOI: 10.1080/09595230500167460
Abstract: The current study aimed to model the effect of Australia's first Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) on acquisitive crime and loitering by drug users and dealers. The effect of the MSIC on drug-related property and violent crime was examined by conducting time series analysis of police-recorded trends in theft and robbery incidents, respectively. The effect of the MSIC on drug use and dealing was examined by (a) time series analysis of a special proxy measure of drug-related loitering (b) interviewing key informants and (c) examining trends in the proportion of Sydney drug offences that were recorded in Kings Cross. There was no evidence that the MSIC trial led to either an increase or decrease in theft or robbery incidents. There was also no evidence that the MSIC led to an increase in 'drug-related' loitering at the front of the MSIC after it opened, although there was a small increase in 'total' loitering (by 1.2 persons per occasion of observation). Trends in both 'drug-related' and 'total' loitering at the front of the MSIC steadily declined to baseline levels, or below, after it opened. There was a very small but sustained increase in 'drug-related' (0.09 persons per count) and 'total' loitering (0.37 persons per count) at the back of the MSIC after it opened. Key informant interviews noted an increase in loitering across the road from the MSIC but this was not attributed to an influx of new users and dealers to the area. There was no increase in the proportion of drug use or drug supply offences committed in Kings Cross that could be attributed to the opening of the MSIC. These results suggest that setting up an MSIC does not necessarily lead to an increase in drug-related problems of crime and public loitering.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-12-2003
DOI: 10.1046/J.1360-0443.2003.00248.X
Abstract: To examine the effects of supply-side drug law enforcement on the dynamics of the Australian heroin market and the harms associated with heroin. Around Christmas 2000, heroin users in Sydney and other large capital cities in Australia began reporting sudden and significant reductions in the availability of heroin. The changes, which appear to have been caused at least in part by drug law enforcement, provided a rare opportunity to examine the potential impact of such enforcement on the harm associated with heroin. Data were drawn from a survey of 165 heroin users in South-Western Sydney, Australia from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project from NSW Health records of heroin overdoses and from the Computerized Operational Policing System (COPS) database. Heroin price increased, while purity, consumption and expenditure on the drug decreased as a result of the shortage. The fall in overall heroin use was accompanied by a significant reduction in the rate of overdose in NSW. However, the health benefits associated with the fall in overdose may have been offset by an increase in the use of other drugs (mainly cocaine) since the onset of the heroin shortage. There does not appear to have been any enduring impact on crime rates as a result of the heroin 'drought'. Supply control has an important part to play in harm reduction however, proponents of supply-side drug law enforcement need to be mindful of the unintended adverse consequences that might flow from successfully disrupting the market for a particular illegal drug.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-1985
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-04-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.15774
Abstract: In February 2014, the government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, introduced new restrictions (known as the ‘lockout laws’) on the sale of alcohol in licensed premises in two of Sydney's most prominent entertainment districts, Kings Cross (KX) and the central business district (CBD). This study aimed to determine: (i) whether the introduction of the lockout laws was the point at which the time pattern of the assault series in the KX and CBD entertainment precincts changed (ii) whether the apparent reduction in assault in these precincts persists when we control for common variations in assault across the entire state of NSW (iii) whether the reduction in assault in the KX and CBD entertainment precincts resulted in a displacement of the assault problem into other areas and (iv) whether there is a net reduction in assault after taking any spill‐over or displacement effects into account. Structural break analysis was used to determine the date at which the time pattern of assaults changed. Interrupted time series analysis with a rest‐of‐NSW comparator was used to assess the change in assault. The monthly totals of incidents of non‐domestic assaults reported to the NSW Police between January 2009 and March 2019 ( n = 123). The structural break in assaults occurred in January 2014 rather than in February 2014, when the lockout laws were introduced. The reduction in assault persists even when we control for common influences across NSW as a whole. In particular, from January 2014 onwards, assaults fell immediately by 22% (a downward step) in KX (90% confidence interval [CI] = 15–28) and by 33% in the CBD (90% CI = 19–47). Assaults continued declining in KX (trend‐break coefficient = −0.094, 90% CI = −0.192 to 0.005). The reduction in assault in the KX and CBD precincts is associated with a rise in assault in areas surrounding these precincts. The net effect, nonetheless, remains a lower level of assault. In particular, we estimate that the net reduction over the three areas combined was 1670 assaults (i.e. 27 per month). Some of the initial reduction in assault in KX and the CBD of Sydney, Australia, previously attributed to the February 2014 introduction of lockout laws may have been a response to publicity surrounding recent deaths connected with alcohol‐related violence.
Publisher: MIT Press - Journals
Date: 03-2022
DOI: 10.1162/REST_A_00954
Abstract: We evaluate electronic monitoring as an alternative to prison for nonviolent offenses. Leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in sentencing outcomes generated by quasi-random assignment of judges, we find electronic monitoring reduces reoffending at both extensive and intensive margins. Compared with prison, electronic monitoring is estimated to reduce the probability of reoffending by 22 percentage points five years after sentencing and by 11 percentage points ten years after sentencing, with the cumulative number of offenses reduced by 40% ten years after sentencing. These results demonstrate that electronic monitoring has sustained crime-reducing effects.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 27-07-2016
Abstract: Although a large number of offenders are released to parole each year, little is known about the effectiveness of parole supervision in reducing re-offending. The few studies that have been conducted provide mixed results and, for the most part, have been unable to rule out the possibility of selection bias. The present study is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of parole supervision using propensity score matching techniques. It compares two groups of offenders, carefully matched in terms of factors likely to affect re-offending but differing in terms of whether they are supervised. The results suggest that parole supervision does reduce the risk of re-offending.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-08-2020
Abstract: Between 2000 and 2019, the number of inmates in Australian prisons grew from 21,714 in 2000 to 43,028 in 2019, an increase of 98%, or in per capita terms, 48%. Much of this increase occurred between 2012 and 2019. In New South Wales (NSW), for ex le, the prison population rose by 17% in the 11 years between 2000 and 2011, but then grew a further 39% in the eight years between 2012 and 2019. A similar acceleration in inmate numbers occurred in other States and Territories after 2011. In this article, we examine the contribution of sentencing, bail, policing policy and crime to the rapid rise in NSW imprisonment rates. We cite evidence showing that the likelihood of bail refusal has changed very little over the period when imprisonment rates rose, we find no evidence of a significant change in the length of sentences and no evidence of an increase in the likelihood of a prison sentence once changes in sentence-relevant factors are taken into account. Most of the increase in imprisonment rates appears to be due to changes in policing policy and (to a lesser extent) certain types of crime.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.13073
Abstract: Although opioid substitution therapy (OST) immediately after prison release reduces mortality, the cost-effectiveness of treatment has not been examined. Therefore, we undertook a cost-effectiveness analysis of OST treatment upon prison release and the prevention of death in the first 6 months post-release. Population-based, retrospective data linkage study using records of OST entrants (1985-2010), charges and court appearances (1993-2011), prison episodes (2000-11) and death notifications (1985-2011). New South Wales, Australia. A cohort of 16,073 people with a history of opioid dependence released from prison for the first time between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2011. OST treatment compared to no OST treatment at prison release. Mortality and costs (treatment, criminal justice system-court, penalties, prison-and the social costs of crime) were evaluated at 6 months post-release. Analyses included propensity score matching, bootstrapping and regression. A total of 13,468 in iduals were matched (6734 in each group). Twenty (0.3%) people released onto OST died, compared with 46 people (0.7%) not released onto OST. The final average costs were lower for the group that received OST post-release ($7206 versus $14,356). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio showed that OST post-release was dominant, incurring lower costs and saving more lives. The probability that OST post-release is cost-effective per life-year saved is 96.7% at a willingness to pay of $500. Opioid substitution treatment (compared with no such treatment), given on release from prison to people with a history of opioid dependence, is cost-effective in reducing mortality in the first 6 months of release.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 13-01-2014
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of good behaviour bonds in reducing re-offending. Data on 19,478 in iduals who received a good behaviour bond under section 9 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) for their principal offence were examined. Propensity score matching techniques were used to match offenders who received a bond of less than 24 months with offenders who received a bond of 24 months or more. These two matched groups were then compared on time to first new offence. After matching offenders on a large range of factors, time to reconviction was longer for offenders placed on bonds 24 months or longer compared with offenders placed on shorter bonds. A significant effect of bond length on re-offending was apparent for both supervised and unsupervised orders. The evidence presented here tentatively suggests long bonds are more effective in reducing re-offending than short bonds.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 22-12-2023
DOI: 10.1177/26338076221146326
Abstract: Background: Over the last 20 years a body of research has emerged in the United States (US) revealing that the country’s sentencing courts to treat young male African American (and Hispanic) offenders more harshly than white offenders, even after adjusting for relevant legal and contextual factors. Similar research in Australia has generally found that the effect of Indigenous status on adult bail/sentencing outcomes is either non-significant, or significant but very small. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of race, age, and gender on police decisions to prosecute rather than caution to a juvenile offender. Methods: We employ a multilevel model with random intercepts to explore the impact of race, age, and gender on police decisions to prosecute rather than caution to a juvenile offender. The first level controls for offender/offence factors a police officer may legally consider when deciding whether or not to caution a young offender. The second level controls for the police patrol to which the police officer is attached. Results: After adjusting for the effects of legally relevant factors, we find Indigenous juvenile offenders (regardless of sex) are more likely to be prosecuted than cautioned, compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. There is also wide variation across local area commands in willingness to caution juvenile offenders. Conclusion: Further research is needed to obtain a better understanding of the factors responsible for racial disparity in the use of police cautions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-11-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.13621
Abstract: To determine whether restrictions on the availability of alcohol in two inner-city entertainment areas in Sydney, Australia (1) reduced the incidence of assault in those areas, (2) increased the incidence of assault in nearby areas (where the restrictions did not apply), (3) resulted in a net reduction in overall levels of assault (4) and/or whether the reductions in assault were most pronounced during the daily time-periods when liquor trading restrictions were in operation. Structural time-series modelling was used to estimate and compare trends in assault in areas/times affected by the new restrictions on alcohol availability with trends in assault in areas unaffected by the new restrictions. Sydney, Australia. The primary outcome measure was the police-recorded monthly incidence of non-domestic assault in the 78 months between January 2009 and June 2015. Following the reforms, we found reductions in assaults of 45% [beta = -0.599, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.107, -0.091] and 22% (beta =0.260, 95% CI = -0.397, -0.123), respectively, in the Kings Cross and Sydney CBD Entertainment Precincts. In the Kings Cross Entertainment Precinct, reductions in assault were observed in all three daily time-periods. In the Sydney CBD Entertainment Precinct reductions in assault were observed only in the second and third daily time-periods. Assaults did not increase in entertainment areas adjacent to or within easy reach of the target areas. Restrictions on the availability of alcohol appear to reduce the incidence of assault.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 28-12-2000
Abstract: Despite a century of effort, criminologists do not yet fully understand the relationship between disadvantage and crime. The balance of evidence suggests that economic and social stress increase the risk of involvement in crime by increasing the motivation to offend. But there are a number of empirical anomalies that cannot easily be reconciled with this interpretation of the evidence. Weatherburn and Lind argue that the transmission mechanism linking economic and social stress to crime is not offender motivation but disruption to the parenting process. They put forward an epidemic model of the genesis of delinquent-prone communities and show how this model resolves the empirical anomalies facing conventional interpretations of the disadvantage/crime relationship. This book offers compelling new evidence which will stimulate debate in this area of criminology and will also interest academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-1985
DOI: 10.1111/J.1748-121X.1985.TB00608.X
Abstract: The discipline of criminology has been dominated since the turn of the century by an explanatory paradigm known as ‘positivism’. The distinctive features of that paradigm have been both substantive and methodological. On the substantive side ‘positivist criminology’ has been marked by a commitment to the explanation of criminal behaviour (and deviance generally) in terms of characteristics of the in idual. Thus positivist criminology has been notable for its explanations of criminal behaviour in terms of gross bodily features, patterns of child-rearing, genetic defect, and idiosyncratic personality traits. On the methodological side positivist criminology has been marked by a preference for scientific method in the evaluation of theory and scientific ideas in the formulation of that theory. By and large these methodological predilections have meant assigning a primacy both to the role of systematic observation in the evaluation of theory and to the avoidance of theoretical assumptions whose validity could not be checked by recourse to observation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2019
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2001
DOI: 10.1177/000486580103400203
Abstract: Criminological theory has historically assumed that economic adversity increases crime rates because it increases the motivation to offend. This assumption appears supported in cross-sectional studies of the relationship between economic adversity and crime but time series studies have generally produced much less consistent results. Attempts to resolve this anomaly without abandoning the motivational hypothesis have met with mixed success. The purpose of this paper is to test the motivational assumption using monthly data drawn from a period during which a severe recession occurred. The results of the study do not support the motivational assumption. Alternative explanations of the aggregate-level relationship between economic adversity and property crime are canvassed.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2002
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-10-2022
DOI: 10.1177/26338076221128997
Abstract: There are stark and enduring differences between the Australian States and Territories in their rates of imprisonment. The Australian Capital Territory, for ex le, has an imprisonment rate of 113/100,000 population. The Northern Territory imprisonment rate is more than 8 times the Australian Capital Territory rate, and 41% higher than the imprisonment rate in Louisiana the US state with the highest imprisonment rate in that country. The disparity is not limited to the Australian Territories. The imprisonment rates of Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales are between 1.5 and 2.4 times higher than the Victoria rate. The aim of the present article is to determine whether the lower rate of entry into Victorian prisons is due to less frequent use of imprisonment or a lower arrest/court appearance rate. We find that the principal reason is a lower court appearance rate, particularly in relation to traffic and vehicle regulatory offences, justice procedure and related offences, burglary/break and enter, and illicit drug offences.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-01-2018
Abstract: Recent studies have found evidence of a racial bias in sentencing in Australia despite previous work showing the opposite. However, in some cases, these studies fail to adjust properly for differences in offence seriousness and in others fail to control for important covariates. Our aim in this study was to investigate the relationship between Indigenous status and likelihood of imprisonment for serious assault offences, matching on offence seriousness and controlling for additional covariates. Multivariate logistic regression with generalized estimating equations was used to explore the effect of Indigenous status on the likelihood of a prison sentence while controlling for the other sentence-relevant factors. Interaction effects were examined by fitting a logistic regression model with all covariates separately for Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders and comparing the coefficient of each covariate for differences. The results show that the marginal increase in the risk of a prison sentence for Indigenous offenders is less than one percentage point (3.40% for Indigenous offenders compared with 2.45% for non-Indigenous). Significant interaction effects between Indigenous status and whether or not the offence was domestic violence related ( p = .024), whether or not the offence was committed after 2011 ( p = .020) and whether or not the offender had previously been issue a community service order for a serious assault offence ( p = .025) were found, each of which altered the probability of imprisonment. Despite this, no interaction effect was found that resulted in a difference in marginal probability of imprisonment greater than 1.2 percentage points between Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders. We conclude that while there is a significant effect of Indigenous status on sentencing, the effect is vastly reduced when controlling for additional covariates.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-2013
Abstract: Social disorganisation theorists maintain that structural variables, such as poverty, ethnic heterogeneity and geographic mobility, exert their effects on crime by reducing the level of informal social control or collective efficacy in a neighbourhood. There is a large body of in idual level evidence, however, which suggests that structural variables exert their effects on offending by disrupting the parenting process (e.g., by reducing the level of parental supervision).The purpose of this article is to report the results of an aggregate-level study designed to investigate whether the aggregate-level effects of poverty, ethnic heterogeneity and geographic mobility on rates of juvenile participation in crime are produced by raising the level of child neglect in a neighbourhood. The results support this hypothesis. Possible limitations of the study are discussed and suggestions for more definitive research are put forward.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-09-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-1997
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-1999
DOI: 10.1016/S0376-8716(98)00157-4
Abstract: It has been suspected for some time that alcohol is involved in the origin of offensive behaviour and property damage incidents. Using regression analyses and a cross-sectional design, this study investigates these relationships for both Sydney and country New South Wales (NSW), whilst controlling for key social and demographic variables. The study found that both offence types occurred more frequently in areas with greater sales of alcohol. The effect of alcohol sales was considerably larger in Sydney than it was in country NSW. There was an interaction between aboriginal population size and alcohol sales for country NSW offensive behaviour data. Overall, these findings are consistent with alcohol consumption playing a causal role in these offences, however, the possibility remains that alcohol sales may be acting as an indicator of criminal opportunity.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1982
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-1995
DOI: 10.1007/BF02221138
Publisher: ANU Press
Date: 11-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-09-2013
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.12324
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-02-2009
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1995
Abstract: Under the influence of labelling theory, juvenile justice policy has tended to emphasise the importance of erting young offenders away from court. This emphasis has been reinforced by recent claims that community-based restorative sanctions, such as Community Aid Panels (CAPs) and Family Group Conferences (FGCs), are more effective in reducing juvenile reci ism than sending young offenders to court. This article critically reviews the labelling theory thesis that formal processing of juvenile offenders is inherently criminogenic. Having concluded that the thesis lacks empirical support, it then goes on to argue that strategies designed to reduce juvenile reci ism are more appropriately targeted at repeat offenders rather than those with no or little prior criminal record.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 11-2010
Abstract: Many national and international studies have examined public opinion towards the adequacy of sentencing. A smaller number of studies, particularly in Australia, have tended to look more closely at levels of confidence in specific aspects of the courts. This study describes a survey of the New South Wales (NSW) public bearing on their attitudes towards sentencing and other aspects of criminal justice administration. Consistent with previous research, a high proportion of respondents reported that sentences are either ‘a little’ or ‘much’ too lenient. Most were either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ confident that the criminal justice system respects the rights of accused persons (72%) and treats them fairly (75%) but smaller proportions were confident that the justice system brings people to justice (54.8%), deals with cases efficiently (43.7%), deals with cases promptly (29.7%) or meets the needs of victims (34.7%). Critically, people who know more about trends in crime, court outcomes and sentencing practices have higher levels of confidence in sentencing and other aspects of the justice system.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1999
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2008
Abstract: A number of theories have been put forward to explain the high level of violence among Australia's Indigenous population. Up until 2002, lack of suitable data on the risk factors associated with Indigenous violent victimisation made it very difficult to assess the adequacy of these theories. In 2002, the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a national survey (the NATSISS) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That survey made it possible to examine a range of correlates of Indigenous violent victimisation. Analysis of the NATSISS victimisation data, however, has so far been limited to a few bivariate comparisons. This article presents the results of the first multivariate analysis of risk factors for violent victimisation among Indigenous Australians using the NATSISS. The results provide strong support for lifestyle/routine activity theories, moderate support for social disorganisation and social deprivation theories, but little support for cultural theories of Indigenous violence.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 03-1982
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 24-08-2019
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-2002
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1080/09595230701710811
Abstract: Australian Indigenous imprisonment rates are higher now than they were at the time of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The Commission attributed Indigenous imprisonment to Indigenous cultural, economic and social disadvantage. Noel Pearson has argued that Indigenous drug and alcohol use is a more important cause of Indigenous contact with the justice system than Indigenous disadvantage. In this paper I argue that the available evidence provides strong support for Pearson's view and for the proposition that future efforts to reduce Indigenous imprisonment should place more emphasis on supply-side strategies for reducing Indigenous drug and alcohol abuse.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-06-2015
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.12951
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1999
DOI: 10.1046/J.1360-0443.1999.9433979.X
Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between alcohol sales and assault in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The design was a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between alcohol sales and assault, taking into account spatial autocorrelation. The analyses were carried out separately on data from metropolitan Sydney and country NSW. The unit of analysis was local government areas (178 in NSW). The dependent variable was assault rates. The independent variables were overall alcohol sales and sales disaggregated by alcohol and outlet type and relevant demographic and socio-economic factors. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between overall alcohol sales in an area and its incidence of assault for both Sydney and country NSW. There were few effects of outlet or alcohol type for Sydney, but the effect of alcohol sales from hotels and off-licences accounted for most of the alcohol-assault relationship for country NSW. Although the current research cannot exclude an opportunity account of the role of alcohol in assault, the results are entirely consistent with alcohol consumption as a causal agent.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-2021
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2020-044656
Abstract: Considerable evidence supports an association between poor impulse control (impulsivity) and violent crime. Furthermore, impulsivity and aggression has been associated with reduced levels of serotonergic activity in the brain. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of antidepressants that aim to regulate brain serotonin concentrations. Several small studies in psychiatric populations have administered SSRIs to impulsive–aggressive in iduals, resulting in reduced impulsivity, anger, aggression and depression. However, no clinical trial has been undertaken in a criminal justice population. This protocol describes the design and implementation of the first systematic study of the potential benefits of SSRIs in impulsive–violent offenders who are at high risk of reoffending. A randomised, double-blinded, multicentre trial to test the clinical efficacy of an SSRI, sertraline hydrochloride, compared with placebo on reci ism and behavioural measures (including impulsivity, anger, aggression, depression and self-reported offending) over 12 months. 460 participants with histories of violence and screening positive for impulsivity are recruited at several local courts and correctional service offices in New South Wales, Australia. Results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Possible implications of the effectiveness of this pharmacological intervention include economic benefits of reducing prison costs and societal benefits of improving safety. This study has received ethical approval from the University of New South Wales, Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council, Corrective Services NSW and the NSW Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network. ACTRN12613000442707.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 23-06-2008
DOI: 10.1093/BJC/AZN049
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-02-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1360-0443.2008.02336.X
Abstract: This paper discusses the dilemmas inherent in pursuing a philosophy of (drug) harm minimization. The dilemmas arise (i) because all drug control policies produce harms as well as benefits (ii) because many of these harms and benefits cannot be measured and (iii) because even when they can be measured, judgements about what harms matter the most are irreducibly political. The paper concludes by proposing that the interests of drug policy might be better served if we abandoned the idea of an overarching goal in favour of a set of goals dealing with specific identifiable problems.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-07-2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2001
DOI: 10.1093/BJC/41.1.101
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2008
Abstract: The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody attributed Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system to Indigenous disadvantage. Others have attributed it to alcohol abuse and substance use and/or passive welfare dependence. To date, however, there has been little rigorous empirical research into the factors that distinguish Indigenous Australians who come into contact with the criminal justice system from those who do not. The study reported here uses the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) to explore the correlates of Indigenous arrest. The analyses suggest that factors like economic stress, welfare dependence and unemployment are strongly correlated with whether or not an Indigenous respondent has been arrested and with the number of times an Indigenous respondent has been arrested in the past 5 years. The strongest correlate, however, is alcohol abuse. The implications of these findings for research and policy on Indigenous contact with the justice system are discussed.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1994
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 27-07-2016
Abstract: In a bid to reduce alcohol-related violence, the New South Wales Government recently proposed introducing mandatory minimum prison terms for assault. This article addresses the question of whether the threat of mandatory minimum penalties would reduce the incidence of assault. We exploit an earlier sentencing reform in New South Wales (the introduction of standard non-parole periods) in which longer minimum periods in custody were announced but never actually carried into effect. We use time series structural modelling to see whether assault rates in New South Wales were affected by the threat of more severe penalties. No evidence is found that the threat of longer prison terms had any effect on the incidence of assault in New South Wales. The article discusses the policy implications of this finding and concludes that liquor licensing policy is a more cost-effective policy instrument for dealing with alcohol-related violence than sentencing policy.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2000
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13426
Abstract: The present study explores Australian public support for more lenient treatment of persons found in possession of small amounts of illegal drugs for personal use. Data for the study are drawn from the 2013, 2016 and 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Surveys. Bivariate associations were tested using χ 2 tests corrected for survey design. Multivariate analyses of public support for legalisation and imprisonment involved logistic regression. Multivariate analyses of public preferences for various responses to those found in possession of illicit drugs involved the use of multinomial regression. Support for legalising personal use of three drugs (cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine) has risen significantly since 2013 but remained stable (and low) for two (heroin and meth hetamine). Support for no action, a caution or a warning has grown for those found in possession of cannabis, ecstasy and heroin for personal use but not for those found in possession of meth hetamine. There is, however, more support for responding to this group with treatment, education or a small fine than there is for imprisonment. There is strong support for legalising use of cannabis. There is little support for legalising use of ecstasy and cocaine but growing public support for a less punitive approach to those who use these drugs. There is little public support for a change in the current approach to heroin and meth hetamine.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1978
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.15298
Abstract: To examine the specific deterrent effect of offender supervision on the risk of a further offence by persons convicted of hetamine use and/or possession. Observational study of two groups matched on a wide range of factors using augmented inverse probability of treatment weighting. New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A total of 2099 persons convicted of hetamine use and/or possession and placed on either a supervised good behaviour bond (1004) or a bond without supervision (1096). Conviction for another hetamine use ossession offence, any drug offence, assault or theft within 48 months free time after the index court appearance. Only two of the treatment estimates were consistent with a deterrent effect. Where the outcome was an assault offence, the estimated reduction in risk of re‐offending was 1%. Where the outcome was a theft offence, the estimated reduction in the risk of reoffending was 0.07%. Neither result was statistically significant. The coefficients measuring the effect of supervision on the remaining two outcomes (use ossess hetamine and use ossess any drug) were both positive and not statistically significant. Correctional supervision does not appear to have been effective in New South Wales, Australia, in reducing the risk of reoffending among people convicted of hetamine use ossession.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGPO.2016.12.018
Abstract: Australian and international street-level drug law enforcement deploy many strategies in efforts to prevent or deter illicit drug offending. Limited evidence of deterrence exists. This study assessed the likely impacts of four Australian policing strategies on the incidence and nature of drug use and supply at a common policing target: outdoor music festivals. A purpose-built national online survey (the Drug Policing Survey) was constructed using five hypothetical experimental vignettes that took into account four policing strategies (High Visibility Policing, Riot Policing, Collaborative Policing, and policing with Drug Detection Dogs) and a counter-factual (no police presence). The survey was administered in late 2015 to 2115 people who regularly attend festivals. Participants were block-randomised to receive two vignettes and asked under each whether they would use, possess, purchase, give or sell illicit drugs. Compared to 'no police presence', any police presence led to a 4.6% point reduction in engagement in overall illicit drug offending: reducing in particular willingness to possess or carry drugs into a festival. However, it had minimal or counterproductive impacts on purchasing and supply. For ex le, given police presence, purchasing of drugs increased significantly within festival grounds. Offending impacts varied between the four policing strategies: Drug Detection Dogs most reduced drug possession but High Visibility Policing most reduced overall drug offending including supply. Multivariate logistic regression showed police presence was not the most significant predictor of offending decisions at festivals. The findings suggest that street-level policing may deter some forms of drug offending at music festivals, but that most impacts will be small. Moreover, it may encourage some perverse impacts such as drug consumers opting to buy drugs within festival grounds rather than carry in their own. We use our findings to highlight trade-offs between the goals of public health promotion and crime control in street-level enforcement.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-2003
DOI: 10.1375/ACRI.36.1.77
Abstract: The prevalence of cannabis use in Australia has increased in the last few years, prompting some to argue that the prohibition against cannabis is both costly and ineffective and should be lifted. Surveys designed to evaluate the effect of reducing or eliminating sanctions for cannabis use, however, have been more concerned about the effect of cannabis law reform on the number of new cannabis users than about its effect on cannabis consumption among existing users. This is a serious oversight because most of the risks associated with cannabis are associated with regular rather than occasional use of the drug. The present research was designed to assess some of the potential effects of lifting the prohibition against cannabis use.The study results suggest that, while the illegal status of cannabis does act to limit its use, it is not a major factor in decisions about whether to use cannabis or to cease using it. Prohibition does, however, appear to limit consumption among existing cannabis users and particularly among those who use the drug on a weekly basis or more frequently.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-04-2015
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.12749
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2011
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2001
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-09-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00181-019-01758-6
Abstract: Despite an abundance of empirical evidence on crime spanning over 40 years, there exists no consensus on the impact of the criminal justice system on crime activity. We construct a new panel data set that contains all relevant variables prescribed by economic theory. Our identification strategy allows for a feedback relationship between crime and deterrence variables, and it controls for omitted variables and measurement error. We deviate from the majority of the literature in that we specify a dynamic model, which captures the essential feature of habit formation and persistence in aggregate behaviour. Our results show that the criminal justice system exerts a large influence on crime activity. Increasing the risk of apprehension and conviction is more influential in reducing crime than raising the expected severity of punishment.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 23-06-2022
DOI: 10.1177/26338076221105898
Abstract: Although they constitute a significant fraction of the workload of most courts, very little research has been conducted on the criminal careers of those who commit minor offences. Such research is important for both theoretical and practical reasons. It is of theoretical importance because the criminal careers of those who commit minor offences may differ significantly from those who commit serious offences. It is of practical importance because the assumed rate of re-offending among minor offenders has a bearing on both the sentence imposed and the question of whether some offences should be decriminalised. Use or possession of a prohibited drug is a common minor offence – and one that many have argued should be decriminalised. Little is known, however, about the criminal careers of those convicted of this offence. We do not know what proportion are rearrested, what further offences (if any) they commit, or what factors affect the rate of offending among those who do have further contact with the criminal justice system. To answer these questions, we examined a cohort of 13,953 people whose first proven offence was for the use or possession of a prohibited drug and examined their criminal careers over an average period of 4.4 years (sd. = 3.4 years, range = 20.8 years). The majority (73%) had no further contact with the NSW criminal justice system. The most common offence among those who did re-offend was another drug possession offence. Significantly higher risks of re-offending were found among those living in areas in the lowest quartile of disadvantage and among those found in possession of cannabis. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2014
Abstract: The principal weakness with Alex Wodak's response to my original article is that the points he makes, whether accepted or not, have little bearing on the arguments I put. He is right to point out that there are substantial human and financial costs associated with drug prohibition. I acknowledged these costs at some length in my original paper. The fundamental question for policy makers, however, is not whether drug prohibition carries significant human and financial costs. Most criminal prohibitions carry substantial human and financial costs. We maintain them because we believe they also produce benefits and that (for at least some outcomes) the benefits outweigh the costs. Wodak ignores or downplays the benefits associated with drug prohibition. His arguments betray a misunderstanding of the mechanisms through which prohibition operates and of the kind of evidence required to determine whether a particular drug policy is a success or failure. I conclude with Caulkins and Lee (2012) that, given current knowledge, legalisation of any addictive or dangerous drug would be a ‘leap into uncharted and potentially dangerous waters'.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-05-2002
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2004
Abstract: In New South Wales, Australia, a cost-effectiveness evaluation was conducted of an adult drug court (ADC) program as an alternative to jail for criminal offenders addicted to illicit drugs. This article describes the program, the cost-effectiveness analysis, and the results. The results of this study reveal that, for the 23-month period of the evaluation, the ADC was as cost-effective as were conventional sanctions in delaying the time to the first offense and more cost-effective in reducing the frequency of offending for those outcome measures selected. Although the evaluation was conducted using the traditional steps of a cost-effectiveness analysis, because of the complexity of the program and data limitations it was not always possible to adhere to textbook procedures. As such, each step involved in undertaking the cost-effectiveness analysis is discussed, highlighting the key issues faced in the evaluation.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-03-2012
Abstract: This study uses propensity score matching to test the proposition that imprisonment deters future criminal activity among juvenile offenders. Using data from all court appearances of juveniles in the NSW Children’s Court (Australia) between 2003 and 2004 ( N = 6196), the reoffending of a group of young offenders sentenced to control (i.e. custodial) orders ( N = 376) was compared to a matched group of offenders receiving community-based sanctions. No differences were observed between the two groups. The young offenders given detention orders had a slightly lower rate of reoffending, but this difference was not significant. The results of this study indicate that, over the time period examined in this study, the imposition of a custodial sentence had no effect on the risk of reoffending.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 25-03-2021
DOI: 10.1177/00048658211003637
Abstract: The New South Wales (NSW) Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 gave the NSW Police the power in certain circumstances the power to stop, search and detain a person without warrant. The same legislation gave the police the power to direct a person to move on from a place if they believe on reasonable grounds that the person in question is obstructing traffic or another person engaging in behaviour that is considered harassment or intimidation to another person (or people) behaving in a way that is causing or likely to cause fear to a reasonable person or present in the place in order to unlawfully supply or cause another person to unlawfully supply drugs. The exercise of these powers has attracted considerable controversy, but little is known about their effectiveness in controlling crime. We investigate the relationship between police activity and crime using panel data of 17 Local Area Command for the period 2001 to 2013. We find a significant and strongly negative long-run relationship between both indices of police activity and each of break and enter, motor vehicle theft and robbery. No significant long-run relationship is found between assault and move-on directions. The person search activity is negatively related to assault, but the effect is weak with a 10% increase in person search only resulting in a 0.5% fall in assaults. The implications for the exercise of police move-on and search powers are discussed.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2010
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1993
DOI: 10.1177/000486589302600105
Abstract: The article deals with the prospects for general theories of crime. It begins with a review of the empirical conditions which have proved propitious for general theory in other branches of science and concludes that no similarly propitious conditions for general theory exist in criminology. It then attempts to show that the schematic nature of existing criminological theories means that current attempts at theoretical integration in criminology are unlikely to deliver any real gains in explanatory power or any secure foundation for crime prevention policy. The discussion concludes by urging theorists to pursue detailed explanations for specific patterns of offending rather than general theories of crime.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 02-08-2005
DOI: 10.1093/BJC/AZH085
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 26-02-2018
Abstract: The period between 2002 and 2016 saw substantial reductions in a number of major categories of crime in Australia, including murder, robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and ‘other’ theft. One might expect the Australian imprisonment rate to have fallen too, but it did not. Over the same period, the Australian imprisonment rate grew by 36%. Most commentators assume the growth in imprisonment rates is due to the growth in punitive penal policies. Little attention has been paid to the influence of crime and policing policy. In this article I present evidence that much of the growth in imprisonment rates stems from rising rates of drug use/drug trafficking and changes in policing policy vis-à-vis family violence and child sexual assault.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-04-2023
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-1988
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-1997
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-2007
Abstract: The possibility of racial bias in the criminal justice system is a recurring concern in Australia, as it is in other countries with high rates of minority overrepresentation in prison. In this country, however, very little research has been conducted on racial bias in sentencing. This article reports the results of a logistic regression analysis designed to test for racial bias in the sentencing of Indigenous adult offenders. Our results show that the unadjusted risk of imprisonment is much higher for Indigenous than for non-Indigenous offenders but this effect progressively diminishes as more sentence-relevant factors are taken into account. Indigenous status remains a significant predictor of imprisonment when all measured legal factors have been taken into account but in the median case the difference between Indigenous and non- Indigenous offenders in the risk of imprisonment is less than one percentage point. Sentencing courts were found to place less weight on the prior criminal record of an Indigenous offender than on the prior criminal record of a non-Indigenous offender. The implications of the study for future research and policy are discussed.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-1996
DOI: 10.1177/000486589602900205
Abstract: Until recently, criminal matters finalised by way of a trial in the NSW District Court have been the subject of substantial delays. In 1990–93, there was a significant drop in the backlog of trial cases pending in the court but the corresponding reduction in trial court delay has been less substantial than might have been expected. The article draws on past research showing that adjournments contribute significantly to trial court delay and considers the question of whether the practice of 'judge shopping' might in part be responsible for the high rate of adjournments. Evidence is presented showing that there are substantial disparities in the use of imprisonment by District Court judges and that this appears to be a determining factor in the willingness of defendants to proceed to trial.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-1999
DOI: 10.1016/S0376-8716(98)00159-8
Abstract: In order to determine the role played by heroin purity in fatal heroin overdoses, time series analyses were conducted on the purity of street heroin seizures in south western Sydney and overdose fatalities in that region. A total of 322 heroin s les were analysed in fortnightly periods between February 1993 to January 1995. A total of 61 overdose deaths occurred in the region in the study period. Cross correlation plots revealed a significant correlation of 0.57 at time lag zero between mean purity of heroin s les per fortnight and number of overdose fatalities. Similarly, there was a significant correlation of 0.50 at time lag zero between the highest heroin purity per fortnight and number of overdose fatalities. The correlation between range of heroin purity and number of deaths per fortnight was 0.40. A simultaneous multiple regression on scores adjusted for first order correlation indicated both the mean level of heroin purity and the range of heroin purity were independent predictors of the number of deaths per fortnight. The results indicate that the occurrence of overdose fatalities was moderately associated with both the average heroin purity and the range of heroin purity over the study period.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-07-2022
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13360
Abstract: This study sought to determine: (i) whether decriminalisation of cannabis use would increase the proportion who would try the drug and (ii) the proportion who would use more cannabis and (iii) explore their characteristics. Australian National Drug Strategy Household surveys were used to address (i)‐(iii). Significant independent predictors of (i) and (ii) were identified using logistic regression. An estimated 4.2% of the population aged 14 and over ( n = 882 708) who have never tried cannabis before would try it, if use of the drug were made legal, while 2.6% of the population aged 14 and over (537 000) would use more cannabis if its use were made legal. Respondents were more likely to say they would try cannabis if they were male, younger or suffered from a mild, moderate and/or severe level of psychological stress. Respondents were more likely to say they would use more cannabis if they were male, younger, psychologically stressed and not currently frequent users of the drug. Decriminalisation of cannabis use is likely to result in an increase in consumption of the drug among young people with mental health problems. If cannabis use is decriminalised, Australian State and Territory Governments should make provision for a possible increase in demand for drug treatment and for public education on the risks associated with frequent rolonged cannabis use.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 17-08-2012
DOI: 10.1108/13639511211250749
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to determine whether trends in arrests for heroin, hetamine‐type substances (ATS) and cocaine can be used as indicators of trends in the use of these drugs. The question was addressed using ARIMA models to analyse the relationship between arrests and emergency department (ED) admissions for narcotics, hetamine type substances (ATS) and cocaine. Strong positive correlations were found for the narcotics and cocaine series between arrests and EDs in the same month (contemporaneous correlation) and between arrests in the current month and overdoses in earlier months (lagged correlation). The contemporaneous correlation between ATS arrests and EDs was slightly less strong than the lagged correlations at two and four months. A jump in ATS EDs, was followed by a jump in arrests in the same month and then two and four months later. Arrests for narcotics use ossession, ATS use ossession and cocaine use ossession may in some circumstances provide useful intelligence about drug trends and/or a basis for evaluating the impact of police drug law enforcement activity on the use of narcotics, ATS and cocaine when other stronger measures of drug use are not available. Efforts to evaluate local drug law enforcement activity on illicit drug use have been h ered by poor measures of trends in illicit drug use at small area levels. This is the only study the authors are aware of that has examined the long‐term relationship between illicit drug arrests and emergency department admissions for illicit drug use.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2003
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 07-2003
DOI: 10.1177/002204260303300306
Abstract: This paper describes characteristics of clients registered in the first 12 months of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre's (MSIC) operation, as well as predictors of frequent attendance. The study is based on information collected from clients at their initial registration and subsequent service utilization. Most of the 2,719 clients were male (71%), almost half had previously experienced at least one nonfatal heroin overdose, and one quarter had accessed formal drug treatment in the previous 12 months. Characteristics associated with frequent attendance at the MSIC were reporting previous attendance at the local primary health service for injection drug users (IDU), injecting drugs other than hetamine, reporting sex work, injecting at least daily, and injecting in a public place in the month before registration.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2006
DOI: 10.1016/J.AAP.2006.02.010
Abstract: Face-to-face, structured interviews were conducted with 320 recent cannabis users in New South Wales, Australia to assess the likely deterrent effects of (a) increasing the certainty of apprehension for driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and (b) doubling the severity of penalties for DUIC. Participants were presented with a drug-driving scenario and asked to indicate their likelihood of driving given that scenario. The perceived risk of apprehension and severity of punishment were manipulated in each scenario to create four different certainty/severity conditions and participants were randomly allocated to one of these four groups. A subsidiary aim was to assess the likely impact of providing factual information about the accident risk associated with DUIC. Recent drug drivers who felt at low risk of accident when DUIC were asked to rate their willingness to drive if convinced that it was dangerous. The results suggested that increasing the certainty but not severity of punishment would produce reductions in cannabis-intoxicated driving among recent cannabis users. Providing factual information about the risks associated with DUIC would appear to have little impact on drug-driving rates among this population.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGPO.2015.09.012
Abstract: Direct evidence of the effect of drug seizures on drug use and drug-related harm is fairly sparse. The aim of this study was to see whether seizures of heroin, cocaine and ATS predict the number of people arrested for use and possession of these drugs and the number overdosing on them. We examined the effect of seizure frequency and seizure weight on arrests for drug use and possession and on the frequency of drug overdose with autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models. Granger causality tests were used to test for simultaneity. Over the short term (i.e. up to 4 months), increases in the intensity of high-level drug law enforcement (as measured by seizure weight and frequency) directed at ATS, cocaine and heroin did not appear to have any suppression effect on emergency department (ED) presentations relating to ATS, cocaine and heroin, or on arrests for use and/or possession of these drugs. A significant negative contemporaneous relationship was found between the heroin seizure weight and arrests for use and/or possession of heroin. However no evidence emerged of a contemporaneous or lagged relationship between heroin seizures and heroin ED presentations. The balance of evidence suggests that, in the Australian context, increases in the monthly seizure frequency and quantity of ATS, cocaine and heroin are signals of increased rather than reduced supply.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2002
Abstract: This paper discusses law and order politics and policy in Australia. It challenges the conventional criminological wisdom that Australia does not have a serious crime problem. It argues that, while political responses to crime are all too frequently irrational, this is not because Australian state and territory governments so often rely on punitive law and order policies. Australian law and order policy is irrational because it usually lacks any clear rationale, is rarely subjected to any effectiveness or cost-effectiveness evaluation, frequently ignores the possibility of unintended side-effects and is occasionally founded on a misdiagnosis of the crime problem that prompts it. The paper concludes by discussing various explanations for this state of affairs and what can be done about it.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-2011
Abstract: Using administrative data from the higher and lower courts of New South Wales, this study examines whether Indigeneity: (a) exerts a direct effect on length of imprisonment term once other relevant sentencing variables are taken into account (b) interacts with other relevant sentencing variables to influence prison length. Results show that being Indigenous significantly reduces the length of sentenced prison term in the lower courts but has no significant effect at the higher court level. Further, evidence of interactive effects by Indigenous status was scant. Only age differed significantly between Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders at both court levels. In this case age had no effect on the length of sentence imposed on Indigenous defendants in the lower courts or higher courts but increased sentence length for non-Indigenous offenders at both court levels.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-06-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-04-2009
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-0044
DOI: 10.1177/0011128799045002005
Abstract: Public housing estates in Britain, the United States, and Australia are frequently plagued by crime problems. In Australia at least, policy debate about how to address these problems has been dominated by the view that public housing design influences crime by controlling the supply of opportunities for offending (the design hypothesis). An alternate and less frequently considered possibility is that public housing estates experience persistent crime problems simply because crime-prone in iduals are (by reason of their economic and social disadvantage) more likely to be allocated to public housing (the allocation hypothesis). This article reports the results of research designed to test the two hypotheses. The results support the allocation hypothesis.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-1995
DOI: 10.1177/000486589502800107
Abstract: A Japanese tourist in the US was recently shot dead by a gun owner who mistakenly thought he was being attacked by a tourist. The circumstances surrounding the episode suggest the possibility that the risk of a fatal gun attack by a gun owner may not be independent of the general level of gun ownership. The possible consequences of this are explored using New South Wales data on homicide and gun ownership rates.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-2004
DOI: 10.1375/ACRI.37.1.22
Abstract: In January 1998 the New South Wales Police Service introduced a new crime control strategy, modelled on the New York “Compstat” process. The strategy involved a series of “Operation and Crime Review (OCR) Panels” in which senior police provided Local Area and Regional Commanders with information on crime trends and patterns in their local area and asked them to devise various tactics and strategies to reduce crime. At a later point in time the same commanders returned to the OCR panels and their performance in reducing crime was reviewed by senior management. This paper examines the impact of OCR Panels on the rate of recorded crime in four offence categories that fell after their introduction. The results suggest that OCR panels were temporarily effective in reducing three of these offences. Due to the suspension of OCR panels in the lead up to the Olympics it is not clear whether these effects could have been sustained.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2008
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.13049
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-2005
Abstract: In a recent article in this journal Max Travers advanced the view that criminal justice evaluation is boring, biased and beset with methodological problems. As evidence of this he cited (among other things) an evaluation of the NSW Drug Court carried out by the present author and several of his colleagues. This article offers a brief response to Travers' claims.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2001
DOI: 10.1046/J.1360-0443.2001.9645776.X
Abstract: To test the hypothesis that drug law enforcement encourages entry into methadone maintenance treatment. Survey conducted as face-to-face interviews in methadone clinics, at needle exchange centres and on the street, in areas of widespread heroin dealing and use. Sydney, Australia. Heroin users. Self-reported data on personal characteristics, and experience of drug law enforcement and methadone maintenance treatment. Although keeping their relationship/family together emerged as the most important reason given by respondents for entering treatment, avoiding more trouble with police/courts was also rated by the majority of respondents as an important or very important reason for entering treatment. The results of logistic regression analysis show that, after controlling for other factors, heroin users who have had a friend or family member imprisoned are more likely to have tried methadone maintenance treatment. A heroin user's own experience of arrest and imprisonment was also found to increase the likelihood of having tried treatment but only when age and length of time as a regular user (which were related to the user's experience of arrest and imprisonment) were excluded from the set of control variables. Despite having extensive histories of contact with the police and criminal justice system, however, Asian, Middle Eastern and Aboriginal respondents showed less proclivity to enter treatment than Caucasian respondents. Drug law enforcement may have a role to play in heroin demand reduction but its effects are not evident for all ethnic groups and the separate effects of contact with police, age and time spent in the heroin market remain unclear.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGALCDEP.2006.09.005
Abstract: Identifying cannabis users who are most at risk of driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) has important implications for drug treatment and prevention efforts. This paper examined correlates of DUIC among a purposive s le of recent cannabis users. Interviews were carried out among a cross-sectional s le of 320 Australian cannabis users. Past-year prevalence of DUIC (without using alcohol or other drugs) was regressed against a range of potential predictor variables. Use of multiple drugs, believing that DUIC does not increase accident risk and cannabis dependence all predicted likelihood of DUIC. There was an interaction between age of first cannabis use and gender, whereby earlier onset cannabis use predicted DUIC but only among women. The correlates of drug driving reflected cannabis users' beliefs about the dangers of cannabis use as well as their patterns of drug consumption. The emergence of cannabis dependence and age of onset as predictors of DUIC suggests a clearly defined role for treatment and prevention efforts in reducing the potential harms associated with DUIC.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-04-2011
DOI: 10.1093/BJC/AZR043
Start Date: 2013
End Date: 2015
Funder: Criminology Research Advisory Council, Australian Institute of Criminology
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2008
End Date: 2011
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2009
End Date: 2010
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2011
End Date: 2016
Funder: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2008
End Date: 2014
Funder: Criminology Research Advisory Council, Australian Institute of Criminology
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2011
End Date: 2014
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council, Criminology Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2005
End Date: 2009
Funder: Criminology Research Advisory Council, Australian Institute of Criminology
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2007
End Date: 2008
Funder: Criminology Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2007
End Date: 2010
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2009
End Date: 2011
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 08-2007
End Date: 06-2012
Amount: $120,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 03-2015
End Date: 03-2017
Amount: $114,500.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity