Search

The Australian Institute of Criminology has recently released a paper that examines the circumstances and characteristics of various types of family homicide in Australia. The data analysed in this research is taken from the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) at the AIC that covers the period from 1 July 1989 to 30 June 2002.

The Australian Institute of Criminology has recently released a paper that examines the extent to which participants in the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program under-report their recent drug use. Detainees who tested positive for drugs were more likely to self-report use in the past 30 days than in the last 2 to 3 days. Detainees with the most to lose were more likely to under-report their drug use.

Firearm Related Deaths in Australia, 1991-2001 examines the use of firearms to inflict fatal injury in Australia. The data focuses on five types of fatal firearm injury: suicide, homicide, accidents, legal intervention and those deaths classified as undetermined by the coroner. In total there were 5083 registered firearm related deaths in Australia between 1991 and 2001. Suicides accounted for the majority of these firearm related deaths (77 per cent), followed by homicide (15 per cent). In 1991, there were 629 firearm related deaths compared to 333 deaths in 2001.

The majority of Australian prisoners will one day return to the community as only four per cent of sentenced prisoners are serving "life" sentences. A paper recently released by the Australian Institute of Criminology examines various issues linked to the provision of post-release services to prisoners. The paper draws on both international literature and a roundtable discussion held at the Australian Institute of Criminology.

The Drug Use Careers of Offenders (DUCO) study released by the Australian Institute of Criminology examined the lifetime offending and drug use careers of over 2000 adult male inmates incarcerated in mid-2001. This project is funded by the Australian Government Attorney General's Department under the National Illicit Drugs Strategy. The study found that the majority of offenders reported using illegal drugs, and poly-drug use was common. More than 80 per cent had used any of the four main drug types - cannabis, heroin, amphetamines and cocaine.

The capacity of professionals working in child protection to do their job effectively is affected by their morale, competence and staff turnover. There is growing concern that these professionals are subjected to increasing levels of violence, threats and intimidation. The Australian Institute of Criminology has recently released a report on the key findings from an Australian study into the experiences of violence, threats and intimidation by professional groups working in child protection.

The Drug use careers of female offenders study, recently released by the Australian Institute of Criminology, is the latest addition to the DUCO project which has previously examined over 2,000 male offenders. In the female study, 470 women incarcerated in prisons in six jurisdictions were interviewed. The project was funded by the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department under the National Illicit Drug Strategy. The study found that a majority (80%) of the female offenders reported having ever used any illegal drugs.

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has released an Issues paper raising a series of questions about the sentencing and management of offenders convicted of federal criminal offences. The Issues paper analyses the limited data available regarding federal offenders. More than 4,000 persons are convicted of federal offences each year, the bulk of these being summary social security offences. There are no available data on the sentencing outcomes for all federal offenders, but as at 1 January 2005 there were 687 federal offenders in state and territory prisons.

The number of women incarcerated in Australian prisons has almost doubled since 1991 from 607 to 1,124. An Australian Institute of Criminology paper "Women Prisoners and Correctional Programs" (details below), discusses some of the major trends in the incarceration of women including the disproportionate rate of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander women currently imprisoned. While the rate of incarceration for men per 100,000 has increased from 194 to 240.5 since 1991 (an increase of 24 per cent), the rate for women has increased from 9.2 to 15.3 (an increase of 66 per cent).

A recent publication by the Australian Institute of Criminology shows that Indigenous Australians account for a disproportionately high number of both homicide victims and offenders. Although Indigenous Australians represent approximately two per cent of the total Australian population, they accounted for 15.1 per cent of homicide victims and 15.7 per cent of homicide offenders over the 11-year period between July 1989 and June 2000. The rate per 100,000 for homicide victimisation of Indigenous persons fluctuated between 12.6 and 13.8 in the early 1990s.

Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA): 2000 Annual Report on Drug Use Among Police Detainees, a report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology, shows that Bankstown and Parramatta sites have a higher prevalence of opiate use among males detained by police compared with East Perth and Southport. Figures also show that the percentage of male detainees testing positive to opiates in Southport and East Perth have remained relatively stable for two years.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology, "Australian Deaths in Custody and Custody-related Police Operations, 2000", states that during 2000 there was a total of 91 deaths in all forms of custody in Australia. In 1999 there were 85 custodial deaths. In 2000 the majority of deaths occurred in prison custody with 64 deaths. Two deaths occurred in juvenile detention during this time. There was a total of 17 Indigenous deaths in custody in the year 2000-11 of those deaths occurred in prison custody, five in police custody and one death in a juvenile detention centre.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology estimates that arrests are made in only 16 per cent of car theft cases. In 1998 there were 131,600 vehicles recorded stolen in Australia. In the same year approximately 21,000 offenders were charged with motor vehicle theft. Of adult offenders, one-fifth (n=3,254) were convicted of the offence and a further one-third (n=1,140) imprisoned. In other words, only one in every 90 incidents involving an adult offender resulted in a custodial sentence.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology has evaluated a program for managing bullying in schools. The program focuses on conflict resolution as a way of minimising bullying and the harm it causes. The program encourages children's active participation in addressing bullying and teaches five steps (known as the REACT keys) for dealing with the problem. The students who participated (from Year 5 in an ACT government school) had their feelings of safety at school measured on a four-point scale before and after taking part in the program.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology on anti-homosexual homicide is based on evidence from a study of 74 homicides with male victims that occurred in New South Wales between 1980 and 2000. The data show that the victims were generally older than the offenders. Most victims were middle-aged or older males, with a peak in the thirties or forties, while the bulk of assailants were young males aged under 25. These young assailants also tended to attack more often in packs.