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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.

The term 'capital punishment' is derived from the Latin caput, meaning 'head'. It originally referred to death by decapitation, but now applies generally to state sanctioned executions. Some Middle East countries still practise decapitation for certain offences, but more common forms of the death penalty include electrocution, gas, firing squad, lethal injection and hanging.¹

Foreword | In recent years, the Australian Government has committed significant resources to combating trafficking in persons. Within this larger anti-trafficking effort, the community sector, law enforcement, prosecutors, health professionals and members of the community all have an important role to play. As each sector comes to terms with the reality of trafficking in Australia, it is important that emerging challenges and possible solutions are identified.

Foreword | With the ageing of the population, and increasing demand for individuals to be financially literate and self-sufficient, older Australians may find themselves at greater risk of fraud. Although the proportion of the elderly experiencing fraud is lower than for those aged less than 65 years, this is the crime they are most likely to experience and the effects can be devastating as the elderly are often not able to recoup the losses.

Foreword | Adolescent antisocial behaviour is an issue of major concern to parents, teachers, police and governments and is a significant cost to the community. As not all antisocial behaviour is recorded by police, it is valuable to measure adolescents' own reports of their involvement in such behaviour.

There has been considerable growth in the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in public spaces as a crime prevention measure and, increasingly, as a tool to detect and identify offenders. In Australia, CCTV systems have become an increasingly common fixture in urban centres, in shopping centres and malls, individual shops and banks, on public transport and in car parks.

Early intervention aims to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors that impact on the likelihood that a young person will engage in offending behaviour. As a crime prevention strategy, it is based on the premise that intervening early in a young person's development can produce significant long term personal, social and economic benefits.

Victoria Police’s Vehicle Crime Squad (VCS) Second-Hand Dealer Inspection and Closure program today received a bronze award in the police-led category of the 2021 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA).

The ACVPA recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence.

The British Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI) was evaluated several times in its four year life. CRM No.31 presented the findings of one of these reviews (Kodz & Pease 2003). In a separate study of the RBI, Hope et al. (2004) used a time-series methodology to examine what proportion of the reduction in burglary was directly attributable to the RBI initiative, isolated from all other factors. This supplementary research found that while burglary rates generally declined, this could be attributed to the independent effect of the RBI in only six of the 20 targeted areas.