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According to Crown Prosecutors interviewed for a recent Australian Institute of Criminology study, a number of factors determine whether to proceed with or discontinue an adult sexual assault case. The most important of these is credibility, which encompasses various personal characteristics, including whether the victim is genuine and trustworthy, for example, not embellishing facts such as how much she or he had been drinking. Perceptions of credibility are also influenced by demeanour, such as a victim being calm and not argumentative towards the defence.

Foreword | Through the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP), the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) monitors trends and patterns in homicide across Australian jurisdictions. The NHMP data are the most comprehensive collection on homicide in Australia, providing details of victims, offenders and the circumstances of the incident. This is only made possible through the strong support and commitment to the Program provided by all state and territory homicide squads.

The advent of the Internet has created opportunities for the global exchange of information and purchase of goods and services. However, it has also facilitated the creation of online illicit drug markets and forums in which drug-related information can be exchanged between users. Bruno, Poesiat & Matthews (2013) reported that illicit drug-specific search terms (such as cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogens and high) were used, on average, 39,700 times per month in the Google search engine in Australia.

Foreword | Corrections statistics in Australia indicate a clear trend towards increased numbers of older prisoners and the growth of this inmate group is paralleled in prisons in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. Older prisoner populations present a number of challenges for governments, correctional administrators, healthcare providers and community agencies.

Some communities have a higher propensity for arson than others, and the demographic characteristics of each community seem to contribute. For some time, research has endeavoured to uncover those demographic variables associated with bushfire arson to inform the targeting of community-based programs to combat firelighting as well as the content of those programs.

Sexual abuse of children by other children or adolescents constitutes approximately 40 to 90 percent of sexual offending against children. This paper examines the nature and causes of adolescent intrafamilial sex offending and which treatment approaches are likely to be successful. Using the results of a four-year study in Western Australia, it provides an overview of intrafamilial adolescent sex offenders (IASOs), what is known about them and how they can be conceptualised. Findings show that IASOs have greater developmental trauma and family dysfunction than adult sex offenders.

Issue 5 of this bulletin looked at some of the background factors that can lead to problem firesetting in children and adolescents. The present bulletin discusses findings from two recent studies of children and firesetting. Understanding the origins of firesetting behaviour in young people is important due to the high number of fires they are responsible for. In the United States, between 60 and 75 per cent of illegal fires are set by persons under 18, and 40 to 50 per cent of all arson arrests involve juveniles.

Foreword | Although there are numerous arguments for and against the use of suspended sentences, improving our knowledge of how this sentencing disposition is applied in practice will help inform the debate. This paper provides an overview of the use of suspended sentences in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, as well as an analysis of reconviction and breach rates for those placed on such an order.

Key findings

• In light of increased concern regarding the illegal use of prescription medication and the extent of the diversion of pharmaceuticals into the black market, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) incorporated a set of new questions into its Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program in 2011.
• Analysis showed that one in three (36%) of 825 adult police detainees self-reported using either buprenorphine, methadone, morphine, benzodiazepines or dexamphetamine at least once in the past 12 months.

Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews, and Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt have today announced the recipients of the Indigenous Justice Research Program (IJRP) funding.

Proceedings of a conference held 27-29 October 1992

Contents

• Foreword
  Patricia Weiser Easteal
• Introductory address
  Sally Brown

Part 1: Overview

• Introduction to part 1: Overview
• Without consent: the aims, the insights, the aftermath
  David Goldie
• Rape and 'real rape'
  Joanne Spangaro
• Beliefs about rape: a national survey
  Dr Patricia Weiser Easteal
• Patterns of rape: a preliminary Queensland perspective
  Amanda Moran
• Only a witness

Foreword | Protecting and providing support to victims is a central component of the international and Australian response to combat trafficking in persons. The complex and diverse nature of people trafficking means that victims may experience a range of exploitative conditions across a variety of commercial and domestic settings.

In 2003, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) published a report that drew attention to the characteristics of domestic/family homicide based on the differing family relationships between victims and offenders (Mouzos & Rushforth 2003). Over the 13 years of data examined for that report (ie 1 July 1989 to 30 June 2002), there were, on average, 129 domestic/family homicide victims each year (between 32 and 47 percent of all homicides annually).

Foreword | In recent years there has been increasing concern about the prevalence of drug driving in Australia. Over the past four years, the majority of Australian states have introduced legislation that makes it an offence to drive with the presence of a range of drugs in the blood or saliva. Using data from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, this paper examines the prevalence of drug driving among a sample of police detainees in key sites in 2005 and 2006.

The murder/manslaughter of international visitors in Australia can have significant implications for Australian international relations. In particular, the questions about international visitor safety that can follow after news of murder can have far-reaching consequences for a range of important economic sectors, such as tourism and international student education.