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Foreword | The Australian heavy vehicle industry is critical to the movement of people, freight, livestock and other goods. However, every year there are deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads, some of which are caused by speeding heavy vehicles.

Foreword | One of the most intractable crime problems that has arisen in the twenty-first century concerns the criminal misuse of identity - popularly known as identity fraud or identity theft. Computer technologies have enabled documents used to verify an individual's identity to be altered or counterfeited with ease, leading to a problem which, in 2001-02, was estimated to cost $1.1 billion in Australia alone (Cuganesan & Lacey 2003).

Erratum

Mouzos J & West D 2007. An examination of serial murder in Australia. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 346. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.

Foreword | In order to transfer money, people in Western societies have, for many years, relied on conventional banks and other financial institutions. In addition to ordinary banking, however, money and other forms of value can be transferred through the use of so-called remittance services which have operated for hundreds of years in non-Western societies.

Foreword | Prosecuting transnational crimes such as people trafficking is a complex and difficult task. It is often the case that the people who have been trafficked are the primary witnesses and provide the bulk of the evidence against a trafficker. Yet for a range of reasons, trafficked persons may be reluctant or unable to participate in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

Foreword | As the internet and other forms of information and communications technology advances, opportunities for child sexual offenders and other financially-motivated cybercriminals to sexually exploit children will increase. Official statistics here and overseas indicate the number of investigations and prosecutions remain small but are increasing rapidly. This paper discusses non-legislative measures to address the issue of online child exploitation, particularly child grooming.

Foreword | Identity-related crime affects all sectors of society - and robust measures are needed to guard against its increase. There are various mechanisms used by organisations to verify the evidence of a person's identity and an important goal is to ensure that any system is as effective and efficient as possible. This paper provides a framework for assessing the competing factors that decision makers need to address when determining the effectiveness and efficiency of any proposed identity checking system.

Like many crimes, bushfire arson exhibits clustering (ie multiple offences committed in a short space of time). A recent study found evidence that in Florida, arson events are clustered over periods of up to 11 days (Prestemon & Butry 2005). The tight clustering of suspicious or incendiary bushfire ignitions observed in many parts of Australia suggests that this may also be occurring locally (Bryant 2008).

Foreword | Conferencing and cautioning are used as diversionary alternatives in the juvenile justice system and there is evidence to suggest they reduce reoffending. As Indigenous young people are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, an important question is whether they are as likely to be diverted as non-Indigenous young people.

The probability that bushfires (all vegetation fires irrespective of size) will occur on high to very high or extreme bushfire weather days is affected by both climatic conditions and human action:

Malware (e.g. worms, viruses, backdoors and Trojans) facilitates high tech crime by providing criminals with the means of installing programs on computers that allow them to engage in criminal activities without the computer owners' consent or knowledge (for further information see Choo 2007). Financially motivated criminals and malware authors continue to develop malware to steal personal information, such as bank and online gaming account details. This stolen information can be used to facilitate other crimes such as identity theft and extortion.

Papers from a seminar held on 7 February 1996, Canberra.