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Contents

• What is child abuse?
• How widespread is the problem of child abuse?
• What are the effects of child abuse?
• What causes child abuse and who are the abusers?
• What has been done?
• What needs to be done in the future?
• How can this be achieved?
• Conclusion

Foreword | The public tends to assume that trafficking in persons is associated with the forced recruitment of women for sexual exploitation by highly organised, criminal gangs. In reality, the modus operandi and individuals involved in trafficking crimes are diverse. Trafficking in persons can and does occur in a range of industries and sectors, and it affects women, men and children. Furthermore, this crime can and has been perpetrated by relatively unsophisticated offenders, including individuals acting alone or with one other person, such as a spouse.

Introduction

Foreword | This paper presents a summary of findings from a report to the Criminology Research Council on the experiences of child complainants of sexual abuse in the criminal justice system in three Australian jurisdictions: Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. The aim of the research was to investigate the processes surrounding, and the consequences of involvement in, the criminal justice system from the perspective of the child complainant.

Foreword | Investigations into the widespread possession of online child sexual abuse images reveal enormous variety in the types of images collected by adults with a sexual interest in children. While there is almost universal condemnation of the sexual exploitation of children through such images, it is not possible to define precisely what constitutes an illegal child sexual abuse image. This is because the concept is broad, changeable and, at the margins, elusive.

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 | Malicious hoax calls for service and suspicious fires are a significant burden to the community financially and in the potential danger they present, yet little is known about the dynamics associated with their prevalence. The present research is the first of its kind in Australia to comprehensively examine these offences using unit-level location data supplied by the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. The aim of this research is to identify the temporal and spatial patterning of malicious hoax calls and suspicious fires.

Foreword | This paper considers the potential application of social marketing principles to crime prevention. Social marketing has been a significant force in the public health field in Australia for more than two decades. It is a key component in the promotion of engagement in health protection behaviours, early detection programs and the promotion of individual health behaviour change. It is built on the application of evidence-based strategies and often, dual consumer/provider communication strategies.

Foreword | Drawing on data from the Australian Business Assessment of Computer User Security (ABACUS) survey, this paper examines a range of factors that may influence businesses’ likelihood of being victimised by a computer security incident. It has been suggested that factors including business size, industry sector, level of outsourcing, expenditure on computer security functions and types of computer security tools and/or policies used may influence the probability of particular businesses experiencing such incidents.

Foreword | An increasing body of research suggests that some interventions with offenders can reduce reoffending. While little of this research has focused on the impact of routine supervision of offenders on probation, parole or other community-based orders, a few studies have found that when supervisors make use of a number of specific practice skills, there is a reduced rate of recidivism for those under their supervision.

Foreword | To date, Australia has been relatively quarantined from large-scale, organised terrorist activities such as those which have emerged in central and southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. Nonetheless, as a well-resourced country, Australia is at risk of being a location from which funds for terrorist activities may be drawn—even if the activities themselves are based predominantly in other countries.

Foreword | Bullying in schools has become an issue of major importance among educators. However, interventions to reduce bullying have enjoyed only modest and limited success. This paper examines five different explanations for bullying. These emphasise, respectively:

Foreword | Prisoners experience high rates of drug dependence, health problems and premature mortality. Without intervention, they often come into further contact with the criminal justice system, creating further health risk. Opioid dependence is common among prisoners, yet treatment with opioid substitution therapy (OST) may reduce or prevent morbidity, mortality and offending.

Foreword | People who have been victimised by interpersonal violence have an increased risk of mental illness, and associated hospitalisation costs burden the Australian population. A paucity of data makes it difficult to develop appropriate preventative initiatives. This paper outlines a population-based study in Western Australia investigating mental illness in hospitalised victims due to interpersonal violence. Groups at risk of interpersonal violence include young people between 20 and 29 years old and Indigenous females.

Foreword | The present research is the first of its kind in Australia to simultaneously examine individual, family and neighbourhood predictors of adolescent antisocial behaviour. The study draws on two key data sources—Australian Bureau of Statistics census data and the Mater University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP). The MUSP is a prospective longitudinal study of mothers and their children in Brisbane, Australia; the current project draws on data from birth through to adolescence (age 14 years).