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This publication was the official journal of the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Vol. 1 No. 1 1989 - Vol. 7 No. 3 1996

The following documents are available only in PDF format.

Foreword | Research investigating the methods and motivations of burglars has typically focused on incarcerated offenders. The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program provided an opportunity for the authors to explore the methods and motivations of those actively involved in committing burglaries, whether or not they had actually been caught or detained for that offence.

'Spam' is an electronic version of 'junk mail' sent to a large number of people who do not request it, detailing products or services in which they may have no interest. Spam is sent by people who disguise their identity and whom it is difficult, if not impossible, to locate or deter. Senders of spam rely on the fact that, although most will reject the message, a minority of recipients will read and/or respond to it.

Foreword | Over the past 10-15 years, although the overall use of firearms in violent crime has declined, handguns have increasingly become the firearm of choice in both Australia and other English-speaking countries. Handguns are often used as a means of protection, particularly among people involved in gangs and the drugs market, and their concealable nature, high firepower and large calibre are often cited as features prompting their acquisition by the criminal community.

Children are responsible for nearly three quarters of deliberately lit fires. There are two basic groups of child firesetters - those who are curious about fire and those who light fires with deliberate intent. Curiosity firesetters are typically quite young (five to ten years old) and usually have no criminal intent. On the other hand, the reasons older children light fires are usually to do with aggression, vandalism, antisocial behaviour, sensation or attention seeking, or in response to social skills deficits.

This project was funded by the Crime Prevention Branch of the Criminal Justice Division, Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department.

Foreword | The incidence of service station armed robbery has steadily increased over the past decade. Using the Australian Institute of Criminology's National Armed Robbery Monitoring Program (NARMP) data, this paper examines the incidence of armed robbery at service stations and profiles the offenders involved. The NARMP data shows that about one in ten armed robberies in Australia were of service stations, and that these were more likely to be targeted at night by lone offenders using knives. The most common item stolen was cash, with an average value of $643.

Foreword | There is emerging evidence that the Pacific Island region is vulnerable to the crime of trafficking in persons. Using information from a range of Pacific Island stakeholder forums and consultations conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), together with a review of the literature, key issues relevant to trafficking in persons in the Pacific Islands region are identified in this paper.