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This paper is taken from the report of research undertaken with the assistance of a grant from the Criminology Research Council.

Potentially damaging forms of malicious software (malware) such as viruses, worms and Trojans infect large numbers of computers around the world and interfere with internet-based telecommunications (High Tech Crime Brief no.10). Other forms of intrusive program, not necessarily as damaging as, but potentially hiding these more virulent types of malware, circulate as adware, spyware, spam and spim.

Foreword | This paper summarises the results of a small-scale study into the online interactions of suspected paedophiles with undercover Australian police officers posing as male children. The study provides insight to an under-researched area of how persons with a sexual interest in male children interact with potential victims and whether these interactions differ from online engagements with female children.

Australia has entered the digital age. The convergence of computing and communications is already changing the way we live. Health, education, banking, indeed every institution in society, is undergoing profound change as the result of new technologies. This is no less the case with gambling.

Foreword | To date, research on stalking has focused almost exclusively on adults. This paper examines the nature of stalking among adolescents to determine the characteristics of stalkers and their victims and the utility of intervention orders for managing this behaviour. Its findings indicate that a majority of perpetrators are male and almost all victims know their stalker, with prior relationships including ex-school peers, family members, ex-intimate partners and former friends.

The following new titles have been added to the growing collection of arson-related literature that can be found in the searchable bibliographic database. In addition to these titles, the database provides access to major bushfire arson news articles. Of the 10 titles listed, the last three are Australian.

Foreword | Over the last few decades, understandings of the nature and causes of domestic violence have increased in sophistication. This has been influenced by, and led to, an influx of domestic violence typologies that have attempted to identify differences between groups of offenders and victims based on factors ranging from physiological reactions to specific stimuli through to historical experiences of violence and abuse.

Foreword | Youth offenders are complex and challenging for policymakers and practitioners alike and face high risks for long-term disadvantage and social marginalisation. In many cases, this marginalisation from the mainstream begins in early life, particularly in the classroom, where they have difficulty both with language/literacy tasks and with the interpersonal demands of the classroom.

Foreword | Online child pornography is an unintended aspect of the widespread adoption of information and communications technologies. Child pornography involves the sexual abuse of children on a global basis. It appears that a once limited trade has seen remarkable growth, with the potential to intrude into the homes and workplaces of all those connected to the internet. Occasionally, exposure to this form of pornography may be unintended, but in most cases it is deliberately sought out, retained and traded worldwide.

in: The Age, 23 April 2001, I.T.1 pp. 1,12.

Ever since human beings began to claim ownership over property, other human beings have sought to take it from them. In the past quarter of a century, with the arrival of digital technology, both property and theft have taken on new forms.

Money, music, text and video are now commonly stored and transferred electronically in the form of a long series of zeroes and ones. And they can be stolen with a laptop computer from one's bedroom.

Foreword | Correctional rehabilitation programs are routinely offered to moderate to high-risk offenders in all Australian jurisdictions. The similarities in service provision between states and territories is great; most, if not all, offer programs that are dedicated towards reducing risk in sexual and violent offenders, as well as addressing more general causes of offending. This paper describes some of the changes that have occurred to service provision since the last national review of offenders programs was conducted in 2004.