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 | This paper examines the offender behaviour patterns of residential burglars to demonstrate why protected communities are less likely to provide the protection from outsiders that residents seek. In examining the home addresses of Canberra burglars and the addresses of their targets, the study finds that burglars do not, as expected, work in their own neighbourhood. In A.C.T. burglaries recorded in 1999 and 2000, most burglars (77%) travelled away from their home suburb to do their work, travelling an average of five kilometres to their target.
In the 1990s, the number of known victims of armed robberies in Australia increased from around 5,000 per year to a peak of over 11,000 in 2001 (Figure 1). Between 2001 and 2005 the number dropped steadily to around 6,000 (ABS 2006). The number of banks robbed and the number of victims of armed robberies involving firearms have generally mirrored this pattern. It is unlikely that these statistics represent the full extent of armed robbery in this country, as these data reflect only offences reported to and recorded by police.
The 11th annual Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards were announced in Canberra on 24 October 2002. The Awards recognise outstanding projects contributing to the prevention or reduction of violence in Australia. This year, for the first time, the awards also recognised projects dealing with the prevention or reduction of crime in general. Four projects received monetary awards of $10,000, five projects received $5000, three projects received $3000; two projects received a combined award of $3000 and twenty seven projects were awarded $2,000.
Foreword | This paper is the second in a series that examines the different components of the criminal justice response to trafficking in persons. Specifically, this paper seeks to identify some of the practical issues that may affect trafficking prosecutions, such as unclear legal frameworks, the transnational nature of trafficking, and reliance on often traumatised victims as witnesses who may also be unwilling or unable to participate in prosecutions.
Foreword | The Internet has increased the range, volume and accessibility of sexually abusive imagery, including child pornography. Child pornography depicts the sexual or sexualised physical abuse of children under 16 years of age. Australia has joined many other nations in an international effort to combat this multi-faceted global menace that combines both heavily networked and highly individualised criminal behaviour. This paper examines the typology of online child pornography offending, as well as law enforcement responses to the problem.
Foreword | Sexual assault has among the highest rates of acquittal and lowest rates of proven guilt compared with other offences. Given that more than 70 percent of sexual assault incidents are not reported to police and only about one in 10 reported incidents results in a guilty finding, increasing conviction rates for sexual assault is a key issue for the criminal justice system. This paper presents findings from two recent studies conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
Foreword | Estimating the use of illicit drugs in the general community is an important task with ramifications for law enforcement agencies, as well as health portfolios. Australia has four ongoing drug monitoring systems, including the AIC’s DUMA program, the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, the Illicit Drug Reporting System and the Ecstasy and Related Drug Reporting System. The systems vary in methods, but broadly they are reliant upon self-report data and may be subject to selection biases. The present study employed a completely different method.
Foreword | The criminal justice system is a complex process involving police, courts and corrections. Historically these component parts have tended to act autonomously yet their actions impact on each other. Increasingly criminal justice policy-makers have come to recognise the need to understand the long term impacts of policy changes across the whole system. To effectively and efficiently manage the criminal justice system, policy-makers require analytical tools to project the relative effects of changes to policies based on current system information.
The National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) is responsible for monitoring the extent and nature of deaths in police, prison and juvenile custody. Since 1980, there has been a total of 1,879 deaths in custody - 1,161 in prison custody, 701 in police custody (and custody-related operations) and 17 in juvenile custody (Joudo & Curnow 2008). As prison deaths account for most deaths in custody, trends in prison deaths will be reflected in overall deaths. Between 1980 and 2006, three trends have emerged in the total number of deaths in custody recorded each year.
Findings from the Australian Institute of Criminology's National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) 2002 Annual Report revealed that there were a total of 69 deaths in custody in Australia. Fifty of these deaths were in prison custody and 19 were in police custody and custody-related police operations. One in five (20 per cent) of all custodial deaths involved Indigenous persons (n=14) during 2002. Of these, eight occurred in prison facilities and six occurred whilst in the custody of police.