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Foreword | A feature of criminal justice policy in the latter half of the twentieth century was a rise in the victims' rights movement. Various measures were introduced to improve the treatment of victims in the criminal justice system. One way in which victims became involved in correctional procedures was by making submissions to parole boards concerning release decisions affecting those who perpetrated offences against them.

At the height of the 2001-2002 fire season, when volunteers firefighters were stretched to their limit, one of their members was busily making their job harder. From January 2001 to March 2002, 'Ben' (not his real name) lit at least 25 bushfires across the state. Ben's case provides an example of how a firefighter can cross the line and start creating the fires he is entrusted to extinguish.

Foreword | One of the most intractable crime problems that has arisen in the twenty-first century concerns the criminal misuse of identity - popularly known as identity fraud or identity theft. Computer technologies have enabled documents used to verify an individual's identity to be altered or counterfeited with ease, leading to a problem which, in 2001-02, was estimated to cost $1.1 billion in Australia alone (Cuganesan & Lacey 2003).

Foreword | This paper investigates the frequency of intravenous drug use in a cohort of people who inject drugs, and the decline in use over time. It provides an important indication of the effectiveness of current interventions at reducing the consumption of illicit drugs. Comparisons are made between the injection frequency of participants on or off Opioids Substitution Therapy (OST), and according to the settings in which drugs are most frequently purchased and used (eg street, house).

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.

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

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is required by section 11C of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to publish a disclosure log on its website. The disclosure log lists information that has been released in response to an freedom of information (FOI) access request. This requirement has applied since 1 May 2011.

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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 | Information and communications technology (ICT) may be the target of criminal activity, as well as a tool used to facilitate criminal acts.

Foreword | Increasing demand for Australian seafood overseas and at home is driving both legal and illegal markets, heightening the need for sustainable harvesting and management. Though illegal activity in the Australian domestic fishing industry has long been thought to be small-scale and opportunistic, significant numbers are regularly flouting the regulations. Some organised criminal activity too is evident, in high-value, low-volume fish stocks, such as abalone and rock lobster.

What is domestic violence?

Children and ICT

The uptake of information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to new criminal activities and new ways of committing traditional crimes. This is the first in a series of high tech crime briefs looking at the impact of ICT on criminal activities. High tech or ICT-related crime is divided into offences where ICT is the object or target of an offence and where ICT is a tool for committing an offence.

Foreword | Problem-oriented justice seeks to incorporate innovative court practices to tackle offenders' behaviour and problems associated with offending. Over the last decade, the primary means of implementing such practices has been through the development of specialty courts. This paper presents an overview of the challenges associated with implementing aspects of specialty courts in the mainstream criminal justice system. The key issues explored are the need to promote equity of access, resourcing and the role of the judicial officer.

Foreword | Bushfire arson is an important issue in Australia, but studies analysing its prevalence and distribution are sparse and have focused on isolated areas or specific data collections.

Gamblers can often resort to criminal activity to support their chronic habit, fraud being one means of obtaining funds (Dohley 2000; Sakurai & Smith 2003). In Australia, it is estimated that 10 to 25 percent of problem gamblers commit gambling-related offences (Lahn 2005). A study of offenders on community corrections orders in the Australian Capital Territory found that, of those who reported problem gambling, 26 percent admitted that it contributed to their offending, and 46 percent said they had obtained money illegally to pay for gambling or related debts (Lahn 2005).