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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).

Foreword | Legal threshold quantities for drug trafficking, over which possession of an illicit drug is deemed ‘trafficking’ as opposed to ‘personal use’ are used in most Australian states and territories. Yet, in spite of known risks from adopting such thresholds, most notably of unjustified conviction of users as traffickers, the capacity of Australian legal thresholds to deliver proportional sanctioning has been subject to limited research.

Much has been written about how correctional education contributes to post-release outcomes for ex-prisoners. In their systematic review of 50 studies of the effectiveness of correctional education, Davis et al. (2013) found that study in prison unequivocally reduces post-release recidivism and, on average, increases post-release employment. Unlike most earlier studies of the impact of correctional education on recidivism and employment, including the primary studies included in the Davis et al.

Foreword | Children are vulnerable to many forms of abuse and exploitation and have long been victims of trafficking for the purpose of both sexual and labour exploitation. There has been some analysis of trafficking of children in Asia, where trafficking persists despite significant prevention efforts, however, comparatively little is known about trafficking in the Pacific.

Foreword | Opportunities for criminals to engage in transnational activities have expanded with globalisation and advancements in information and communications technologies. Cyber criminal activities will increasingly affect the financial security of online business. It is widely accepted that the financial and insurance industry is the ‘target of choice’ for financially motivated cyber criminals. Yet there is a lack of understanding about the true magnitude of cyber crime and its impact on businesses.

Foreword | The rapid development and adoption of online digital technologies has had a profound effect on the way young people conduct their social relationships. The emergence of sexting, or the distribution of sexually explicit photos and videos, has gained widespread attention and raised moral concerns. However, there remains little policy-relevant research on the prevalence of sexting and its impact on young people.