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Foreword | Victim/survivors of human trafficking involving partner migration employ diverse help-seeking strategies, both formal and informal, to exit their exploitative situations.

Key findings

• Recent data from the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program indicate a decrease in the use of ecstasy among police detainees. Specifically, only five percent of police detainees in 2010 (n=187) and 2011 (n=170) reported using ecstasy; 50 percent lower than in 2009 (n=428) when ecstasy use peaked at 11 percent.

Foreword | In 2006, the Australian Government introduced the Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) which increased regulatory controls over businesses potentially able to facilitate organised criminal activities such as money laundering. The implementation of tougher legislation and associated law enforcement interventions may result in criminal organisations adjusting their tactics in order to continue their activities without detection.

Foreword | This paper presents up to date figures on the costs of a range of offences and crime as a whole in Australia. The costs assessed include medical costs, lost output, and intangible costs, which set a monetary value on pain, suffering and lost quality of life.

Alcohol-related violence

There is strong evidence of an association between the consumption of alcohol and violence (Graham & Homel 2008). Conservative estimates suggest that in 2004–05, the total costs attributable to alcohol-related crime in Australia was $1.7b; the social cost relating to alcohol-related violence (which excludes costs to the criminal justice system) was $187m; and the costs associated with the loss of life due to alcohol-related violent crime amounted to $124m (Collins & Lapsley 2007).

Foreword | Although Australia has achieved significant reductions in drink driving since the 1980s, it continues to be a leading cause of road fatalities and injuries. A range of countermeasures have been used to address drink driving, although their effectiveness can be affected by a range of implementation issues.

Foreword | It is well documented that alcohol-related problems compromise individual and social health, and wellbeing. The individual harms are numerous, including premature death, loss of enjoyment and loss of social utility through fear of crime and victimisation. The misuse of alcohol, particularly among those most at risk in our community, presents a major challenge for all levels of government. In this paper, a study is presented that provides a better national-level estimate of the costs of alcohol-related problems in Australia.

Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) has been in operation in Australia since 1983, with a primary focus on reducing burglary, but its effectiveness has been questioned by both Australian and overseas research. An Australian study found NHW had limited value in combating burglary, leading to only modest decreases or having a displacement effect (Fleming 2005). Recently the Victorian police conducted a review of the program in their state (De Ridder & Johns 2007). NHW coordinators and volunteers were identified and sent terms of reference on six areas.

Foreword | The link between the use of alcohol, other drugs and crime continues to be a concern in communities throughout Australia. In regional Western Australia, little is known about the patterns of substance use and crime. In an attempt to better understand a regional offending population and their alcohol and drug use, the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project was utilised to collect such data in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms and abbreviations
• Abstract
• Introduction
  • Definitions of a death in custody
  • Data collection
  • Limitations
• Deaths in custody 2021–22
  • Deaths in prison custody
  • Deaths in police custody and custody-related operations
• Indigenous deaths in custody 2021–22
  • Indigenous deaths in prison custody
  • Indigenous deaths in police custody and custody-related operations
• Non-Indigenous deaths in custody 2021–22

The National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) has monitored the extent and nature of deaths that occurred in prison, police custody and youth detention since 1980. The NDICP was established at the Australian Institute of Criminology in 1992 in response to recommendation 41 by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The NDICP is based on death notifications from state and territory police services, correctional departments and youth justice agencies and coronial data from the National Coronial Information System.

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.

The National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) has monitored the extent and nature of deaths that occurred in prison, police custody and youth detention since 1980. The NDICP was established at the Australian Institute of Criminology in 1992 in response to recommendation 41 by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The NDICP is based on death notifications from state and territory police services, correctional departments and youth justice agencies and coronial data from the National Coronial Information System.