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As part of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), respondents aged 14 years and over were asked whether, in the 12 months prior, they had experienced drug-related victimisation or were involved in a range of illegal activities while under the influence of drugs. Drug-relatedness is based on the perceptions of respondents in the NDSHS and does not necessarily indicate the actual presence of drug use or intoxication at the time of an incident.

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

Contents

• Participants
• Introduction
• Opening address

Report of the conference

• Preliminary discussion
• Item I: The use of technology in prisons
• Item II: The role of volunteers in prisons in relation to programs for inmates
• Item III: Problems of the physically and mentally handicapped in prisons
• Item IV: Mechanisms used by various jurisdictions to monitor crime and incident rates in prison systems
• Item V: The definition of recidivism
• General business

Foreword | Fraud is Australia’s most costly form of crime with the Australian Institute of Criminology estimating that in excess of $8.5b was lost to fraud in 2005 (Rollings 2008). Consumer fraud alone has been found to cost Australians almost $1b each year (ABS 2008c). Most types of consumer fraud entail the use of so-called ‘advance fee’ techniques in which individuals are tricked into paying money—an ‘advance fee’—upfront in order to secure an anticipated financial or other benefit at a later date.

Foreword | In some countries, collecting statistics about the occurrence of homicide is not possible, either because of a lack of resources or because of the sheer volume of incidents. Fortunately in Australia there are three main data collection systems that produce largely independent sets of statistics on homicide: the National Homicide Monitoring Program at the Australian Institute of Criminology, and the Recorded Crime Australia and Causes of Death collections managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Personal security in public places has become an area of increasing concern to governments in the past 10 years in Australia and overseas. One response has been a significant increase in the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in densely populated areas such as central business districts and entertainment districts. CCTV is employed as a surveillance measure in such areas to monitor behaviour of individuals and in public spaces as a deterrent and opportunity reduction measure (see AIC 2006).

Foreword | It is generally accepted that a person’s living situation, in particular their experience of homelessness and housing stress, can have both long-lasting and wide-ranging consequences. For criminal justice practitioners, the task of limiting homelessness and preventing crime remain key policy priorities in need of ongoing and integrated research.

Foreword | The latest national prison census revealed that on 30 June 2003, there were 23,555 prisoners in Australian jails (ABS 2004). Of these, seven per cent (1,594) were women, an increase of 109 per cent since 1993. Of the 812 prisoners whose most serious offence involved deception or a related offence, 21 per cent were female, representing 11 per cent of the total female prison population, compared to three per cent of men in jail for the same category of offence.

Foreword | In this paper, the authors describe recent developments in DNA technology. Key cases involving DNA evidence in Australia and overseas that occurred between 2003 and 2014 are used to illustrate the benefits and potential issues that can arise when new DNA techniques are applied to criminal investigations. Empirical data on the value of DNA evidence and DNA databases on investigative and court outcomes are outlined, demonstrating strong support for the value of DNA evidence to investigations and prosecutions.

Foreword | The use of fire in homicide can involve a fire as a direct weapon to commit homicide, or to conceal homicide. It can involve the additional crime of arson, the act of deliberately setting fire to property. Analysis shows that, while homicide trends over this period have declined, the proportion of fire-associated homicides has increased significantly; a trend which has also been observed overseas. This paper examines the involvement of fire, either directly or indirectly, in the commission of homicide in Australia.

Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• Abstract
• Executive summary
• Introduction
  • Purpose of this report
• Methodology
  • Literature review
  • Interviews with stakeholders
  • Terminology
  • Limitations
  • Next steps
• Money laundering and terrorism financing opportunities
  • The scale of money laundering
  • Sectors, methods and enablers
  • Summary
• Economic impacts
  • Distorted rates

Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards

The annual Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards recognise and reward good practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia. The awards encourage public initiatives, and assist governments in identifying and developing practical projects which will reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.

Foreword | Violent crime statistics drawn from police data do not show the large amount of violent crime and victimisation that is never disclosed to police. Within this ‘dark figure of crime’ are human experiences that can leave victims without help and support, perpetrators not coming to justice and cycles of violence continuing unbroken. This paper explores some of the reasons for the high rates of non-disclosure of violence in Indigenous communities.