Conferences

Evaluation in crime and justice : trends and methods

ABS House, Canberra
24-25 March 2003

This conference was hosted by the Australian Institute of Criminology in conjunction with the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Introduction

The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for practitioners, researchers and policy makers to discuss current issues and challenges involved with criminal justice research and evaluation. The conference includes discussion of different research and evaluation methodologies and interpretation of crime and justice statistics, including use in the policy environment and the competing demands placed on research in this context. Papers presented at the conference cover a wide variety of topics in research and evaluation, including policing evaluation, crime statistics, dealing with survey data, data collection, use of research consultancies, research ethics, linking research and policy, use of performance indicators, researching offenders, crime prevention program evaluation, prison related research, court based research, research design and practice, cultural considerations, and the review work of the Campbell Collaboration.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics

The ABS is Australia's official statistical organisation. The Bureau assists and encourages informed decision-making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by providing a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service. The National Centre for Crime and Justice is located in the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This Centre undertakes data collection on recorded crime, criminal courts and corrections.

Conference papers

Keynote addresses

• Research and evaluation : issues arising in the emerging evidence-based policy and performance management context (ABSTRACT ONLY)
  Paul Wiles, Chief Scientific Advisor and Director, Research Development and Statistics, Home Office, United Kingdom

Evaluation in a policing context

• Innovation, partnerships and policing : a teams approach to remote service delivery
  Murray Lampard, Commander North Eastern Region, WA Police Service
• Evaluating police innovation : the pros and cons of randomised experiments
  Lorraine Mazerolle, Griffith University

Crime statistics in a social context

• Strategic directions in ABS crime and justice statistics in the Australian policy context
  Barbara Dunlop, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• The International Violence Against Women Survey : challenges and issues in developing an international comparative research project
  Holly Johnson, Statistics Canada

Administrative data

• Inadequacies of published statistics : policy and debate on heroin in the community
  Lorraine Beyer, Australian Customs Service
• Australian homicide rates : a comparison of three data sources
  Jenny Mouzos, Australian Institute of Criminology
• Researching the literature : the epidemiology of violence in rural and remote Australia
  Helen Maskell-Knight, Bright Associates

Dealing with survey data

• Australian victims' propensity to report assault and break and enter to police
  Robert Tanton and René Jones, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Separating true effects from artefacts in repeat victimisation research
  Frank Morgan, University of Western Australia
• Self-reported drug use : how prevalent is under-reporting?
  Kiah McGregor and Toni Makkai, Australian Institute of Criminology

Developing processes

• 'Predicting the future' in Victoria's criminal justice system : a case study of the Department of Justice
  John Walker, Department of Justice, Victoria
• Investing in Our Youth : community action plan evaluation research strategy (CAPERS)
  Colleen Carlon, Beth Jackson, Lynelle Watts and Raquel Willis, Investing In Our Youth
• Challenges and strategies for evaluating drug prevention programs (ABSTRACT ONLY)
  Peter Tyler, BearingPoint

Data overview

• ABS data overview
  Chris Libreri, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Workshops

• A window on analysis methods for crime and justice
  Ken Tallis and Godfrey Lubulwa, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Policy simulation models : application to the juvenile justice system
  Anna Stewart, Ian O'Connor and Gerard Palk, Griffith University; Nancy Spencer and Michael Livingstone, Office of Economic and Statistical Research, Queensland

Panel discussion

• Getting the best value out of research consultancies : a consultant's perspective
  Ania Wilczynski and Alison Wallace, Urbis Keys Young

Workshops

• The role of ethics in research
  Lorraine Beyer Australian Customs Service
• Crime mapping applications
  Jerry Ratcliffe, Australian Institute of Criminology

Linking research and policy

• Supporting policy change : the experiences of the WA Department of Justice (ABSTRACT ONLY)
  Katalin Kraszlan, Department of Justice, Western Australia
• Linking research to the strategic directions of the Victorian Department of Justice : turning policy into research as part of the planning process
  Tony Ward, Department of Justice, Victoria
• Getting the most out of programme evaluation : the evaluation of New Zealand's domestic violence legislation
  Alison Chetwin, Ministry of Justice, New Zealand; and Angela Lee, Department for Courts, New Zealand

Evaluation and performance indicators (PIs)

• Evaluation of the local crime prevention program : 1998-2000 : a summary
  Bronny Walsh, Attorney-General's Department, South Australia
• S.M.A.R.T., Q.U.E.S.T. and F.A.B.R.I.C : are they more than just acronyms
  Paul Williams, Australian National University
• Alternative strategies for evaluating community-based crime prevention (ABSTRACT ONLY)
  Daniel Sansfaçon, International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, Canada

Researching offenders

• Developing a reoffending database : design, processes, problems and solutions
  Bronwyn Lind, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Tracking from incident report to finalisation in court : some methodological issues
  Joy Wundersitz, Office of Crime Statistics and Research, South Australia
• Development of a national offence index for the ranking of offences
  Catherine Andersson, Australian Bureau of Statistics

New tools

• Futures work in strategic criminal intelligence
  Neil Quarmby, Australian Crime Commission
• Developing a framework for evaluating computer forensic tools
  Colin Armstrong, Curtin University of Technology
• Methodological impediments to researching serious fraud in Australia and New Zealand
  Russell Smith, Australian Institute of Criminology

Evaluation research

• Standing back or diving in : evaluation issues in the development and delivery of a prisoner support program
  Stuart Ross and Emma Ryan, University of Melbourne
• "I don't like evaluations": Improving the relationship between evaluation and policy development (ABSTRACT ONLY)
  Bev O'Brien, Attorney-General's Department, South Australia
• Difficulties in evaluating crime prevention programs : what are some lessons for evaluators of community-based programs?
  Anona Armstrong and Ronald Francis, Victoria University

Prison-related research

• Factors affecting remand in custody in two Australian jurisdictions : some methodological challenges for those exploring systemic issues
  Rick Sarre and Sue King, University of South Australia; and David Bamford, Fliders University
• Dynamics in repeat imprisonment : utilising prison census data
  Terry Rawnsley, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Women in prison : why is the rate of incarceration increasing?
  Karen Gelb, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Cross-jurisdiction data

• Establishing a national vehicle theft research and monitoring collection
  Paul Thomas, Office of Crime Statistics and Research, South Australia
• Evaluating differences in recorded crime statistics
  Chris Libreri, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Assessing the costs of crime
  Pat Mayhew, Australian Institute of Criminology

Evaluating police initiatives

• Evaluating a police operation : challenges faced and lessons learned
  Craig Jones, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Evaluating the effectiveness of police crime prevention initiatives
  Vanessa Goodwin, Tasmania Police
• Evaluating a community policing initiative
  Marie Segrave, Lisa Collins, Jerry Ratcliffe and Toni Makkai, Australian Institute of Criminology

Research design and practice

• Interview effects in the DUMA project : a preliminary analysis
  Lubica Forsythe, Forsythe Consultants; and Toni Makkai, Australian Institute of Criminology
• Signed consent forms in criminological research : protection for researchers and ethics committees but a threat to research participants?
  Lynne Roberts and David Indermaur, University of Western Australia

Court-based research

• Evaluating Australia's first drug court : research challenges
  Karen Freeman, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Researching the link between gambling and crime
  Penny Crofts, University of Technology Sydney

Cultural considerations

• The trials and tribulations of researching crime against ethnic small businesses
  Natalie Taylor, Australian Institute of Criminology
• Interweaving cultural perspectives : an evaluation within New Zealand's criminal justice system
  Alison Chetwin, Ministry of Justice, New Zealand

The Campbell Collaboration

• The Campbell Collaboration
  Peter Grabosky, Australian National University
• Reviewing restorative justice for the Campbell Collaboration
  Heather Strang, Australian National University