(2022). Towards human rights compliance in Australian prisons. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 233-237.

ABSTRACT Giving evidence from the witness stand is often distressing for complainants of child sexual abuse. Technology-based special measures (eg, CCTV/AV link) enable complainants to give evidence from a location outside the courtroom, making the process less intimidating for complainants, which in turn enhances the quality of their evidence. Although the implementation of these measures has increased

(2022). The Palgrave International Handbook of Youth Imprisonment. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 229-233.

ABSTRACT The Tasmanian female prison population has increased by 57% since 2000. Sexual victimisation is one of the most reported forms of victimisation among female prisoners in Australia. This article explores how seven Tasmanian correctional staff and program facilitators understand the relationship between sexual victimisation, offending and rehabilitation pathways and makes recommendations about

ABSTRACT This article explores the nature of transgression in Antarctica, an isolated and extreme environment. Drawing upon interviews with Antarctic expeditioners, the paper examines harms and crimes of Australian Antarctic bases, some of which are unique to this physical and social environment. The article then considers how and why there is greater tolerance of ‘deviant’ behaviour in this setting

ABSTRACT This article assesses the need for veterans’ courts or lists in Australia. While evidence suggests that former and returned service personnel are over-represented in criminal justice institutions, insufficient attention has been paid to the desirability and feasibility of a veterans’ court or list in Australia. In accordance with therapeutic jurisprudence principles, a specialist court such

ABSTRACT In August 2021, the Commonwealth government passed the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 (Cth), authorising warrants that enable government hacking for investigation of past or future crimes. This article analyses the Act to understand the potential intrusions of data disruption warrants on the privacy of individuals. Taking the importance of privacy as extending

ABSTRACT This article analyses the content of 483 reports of sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse and various forms of sexual harassment, made to a digital reporting tool (DRT) developed by a rape crisis centre in Melbourne, Australia. These written digital reports were made in a confidential and informal capacity, with all de-identified reports distributed to relevant

ABSTRACT Amidst the increase in protest, activism and scholarship about police violence and repression in recent years, considerations of disability and ableism continue to be relegated to the margins. This article draws on interviews with leading disability justice advocates in Australia to shed light on the nature of police interactions with people with disability. Our analysis contributes to critical

ABSTRACT Rapport building has been highlighted as an effective and ethical means of eliciting information from suspects within criminal investigations. The purpose of this contemporary comment is to distinguish between what we have termed ‘interrogative rapport’ from rapport-building practices that occur in other professional contexts. To support this distinction, we advance the following arguments:

ABSTRACT The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, in its landmark 2016 report, recommended that in five years – 2021 – the Victorian Government consider expanding police powers to include the ability to grant on-the-spot family violence intervention orders. Such orders would see a bypassing of judicial oversight where deemed appropriate, thus mirroring the Tasmanian model, where police

ABSTRACT Research shows that prison programs addressing intergenerational trauma and grief, loss of culture and spiritual healing are necessary for incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Indigenous-led or culturally focused programs receive little attention and limited resourcing in Australia’s prison system compared with mainstream rehabilitation programs. Depending on the jurisdiction

ABSTRACT This paper provides a summary history and critique of the development and implementation of restorative justice in the Queensland youth justice system through an analysis of official data and documentary sources. The paper focuses on policy changes, including government responses to program reviews, issues regarding the availability of conferencing, connections between conferencing and prevention

ABSTRACT Since 2020, the Terrorism (High-Risk Offenders) Act 2017 (NSW) (THRO Act) has increasingly become a frontier for contestation about the implied freedom of political communication and the maintenance of community safety. In closely considering two recent decisions, State of New South Wales v Cheema (Preliminary) [2020] NSWSC 876 and Cheema v State of New South Wales [2020] NSWCA 190, this article

ABSTRACT Legal Aid NSW civil lawyers provide community outreach clinics and civil legal assistance to address the civil legal needs of participants in High Intensity Program Units (HIPUs) in prisons in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Legal Aid NSW staff to explore their work in HIPUs. Interviews focused on the types of civil legal issues faced by HIPU

ABSTRACT Australian States and Territories continue to reform criminal procedure to provide assistance to vulnerable witnesses in an attempt to ensure they provide the best possible evidence. In response to the 2017 recommendations by the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s Criminal Justice Report, there has been a consistent move towards provision of witness intermediaries

ABSTRACT Consistent with the crime drop experienced in many ‘Western’ market-based countries since the early 1990s, burglary and other theft offences in Western Australia have declined dramatically over the past two decades. To date, the most parsimonious explanation for these sustained international declines has focused on the changing nature of risk and effort involved with acquisitive crime resulting

ABSTRACT For over a century, changes have been implemented in the way the evidence of adult and child sexual assault complainants is received during the common-law adversarial trial process. Could the fact that reforms have rarely affected the way information is gathered at the initial stages of investigation be a reason why legal systems still struggle with prosecuting sexual offences, but particularly

ABSTRACT Identity theories have long influenced criminological thinking, and much of that work warns of deviant certification and negative appraisals as promoting criminal continuity. In the drug-use literature, similar themes have emerged linking drug-use continuity to the strength of one’s identity as ‘dependent’ or ‘addicted’ to drugs. Using archival data drawn from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia

(2022). Child protection and the care continuum: theoretical, empirical and practice insights. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 114-118.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the system of civilian oversight of police misconduct and corruption in Victoria and the prospects for reform. It considers the 2018 report and recommendations of a parliamentary ‘Inquiry into the external oversight of police corruption and misconduct in Victoria’ by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) Committee, along with the cases and scandals

(2022). Law, insecurity and risk control: neo-liberal governance and the populist revolt. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 112-114.

ABSTRACT Human source management (HSM) is an area of policing that is fraught with ethical and legal risks, and yet until relatively recently has received limited attention in policing literature. This article explores several areas critical to HSM in Australian policing, albeit with global implications. It explores the potential risks of creating arbitrary definitional distinctions in the registration

ABSTRACT This study examines the spatial concentration of outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) incidents in Melbourne, Australia. The aim of this paper is to explore how OMCG incidents cluster and to identify the neighbourhood-specific characteristics and crime attractors that are associated with the presence of such incidents. We compare the clustering of OMCG incidents with several other non-OMCG crimes

ABSTRACT At a critical juncture in carceral politics globally and in Australia, the rapid responses to the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the capacity for timely, systemic change in the justice system. Despite international best practice and the Black Lives Matter movement, this comment considers how the pandemic was a missed opportunity for governments to re-imagine the justice system to end the over-incarceration

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic poses a grave threat to the welfare of detainees and personnel in correctional facilities worldwide. This is especially true in jails and prisons with acute problems of overcrowding, such as in the Philippines, where the congestion rate hovers around 463%. This article documents shared governance practices in Manila City Jail Male Dormitory, the Philippines' most populous

ABSTRACT The prison, as the centrepiece of our justice system, is seen as fixed, unassailable, necessary. Yet, globally, COVID-19 has opened safety valves in previously impregnable, impermeable institutions, from maximum-security prisons to immigration detention. Some Australian prisons – bursting at record-high levels with our most dispossessed, wounded and reviled – have created space in ways that

ABSTRACT Procedural differences between civil justice and redress schemes are well known, but knowledge gaps stymie an ability to compare monetary outcomes. This paper advances the field of institutional abuse of children by analysing outcomes for 4563 civil justice and redress scheme claims of sexual abuse of children received by 36 Australian Catholic Church authorities (CCAs) over 35 years. The

(2021). Correction. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 416-416.

ABSTRACT As well as finding empirical relationships between victimisation, key socio-demographic variables and various psychological and environmental processes, criminologists have long suspected that the feelings now identified, corralled together and labelled as ‘the fear of crime’ have roots in the wider shifts in the social and economic bases of society. In this paper, and using survey data from

(2020). Introduction to the special issue: evidence in the intimate sphere. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 32, Evidence in the intimate sphere, pp. 379-381.

ABSTRACT Notwithstanding the global praise directed to New Zealand’s approach to COVID-19, the pandemic has intensified harms and inequalities in many areas of national life. The racialised, classed and gendered inequities that percolate through this settler-state have intensified, especially within criminal justice settings. At the same time, the pandemic has illustrated other opportunities for protective

ABSTRACT Contract cheating is a significant problem, both within and outside the academy. Responses have largely focused on punitive consequences for tertiary students, and in 2019 the Australian Federal Government proposed legislation that would formally criminalise contract cheating both for the buyer and the seller. Although contract cheating has the hallmarks of white-collar crime, criminological

ABSTRACT On 2 April 2020, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 (ACT). [Google Scholar] (ACT) made amendments to address the ongoing – and, at that stage, escalating – COVID-19 outbreak. Amongst its provisions, the Act amended the Supreme Court Act 1933 Supreme Court Act 1933 (ACT). [Google Scholar] (ACT) to allow judge-alone trials on indictable offences, at

(2021). Disability, criminal justice and law: reconsidering court diversion. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 536-538.

ABSTRACT Diversion from formal proceedings through the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW) (YOA) is only available if an ‘admission of guilt’ has been made by the offender. Young people are often reluctant to admit guilt to the police. Acknowledgement of this has in recent years resulted in the development of the Protection Admission Scheme (PAS) aimed at removing this barrier to diversion. To date, there

(2021). An inside look at the Khmer Rouge tribunal: Craig Etcheson’s Extraordinary Justice. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 409-411.

ABSTRACT In 2011, in Australia and Canada, two Aboriginal women – Lynette Daley and Cindy Gladue – died in suspicious circumstances suggestive of sexual homicide. At the time of their deaths, little media attention was given to their cases. However, several years later, as their cases progressed through the criminal justice system, the media would become intensely interested and numerous reports were

ABSTRACT While video technology has long been a feature of courtrooms, during the pandemic, courts underwent a seismic shift towards virtual hearings. Physical courtrooms shut their doors and hearings were moved to a virtual space. This transformation was fast, radical, and likely to permanently alter the landscape of justice. In this article, we review the strategies courts in Australia and the United

ABSTRACT The rapid increase in applications for bail was one of the earliest responses to COVID-19 across the Victorian court system. As the courts addressed the challenges that the pandemic posed it was accepted that COVID-19 would be taken into account as a surrounding circumstance relevant to the determination of bail applications. The consideration of conditions in custody under COVID-19 restrictions

ABSTRACT The abysmal conditions facing people inside Australian prisons are often difficult to draw public interest on. During COVID-19, when these conditions pose an even greater danger to the dignity, wellbeing and lives of people inside, why has mainstream media reporting on conditions – including personal protective equipment (PPE) and soap provision, lockdown, health resources and communication

ABSTRACT Algorithmic decision-making (ADM) promises to strengthen evidence-based decisions, particularly to better manage risks in various domains. Its use also extends to the criminal justice system where algorithmic risk assessments potentially provide very valuable evidence that can inform highly sensitive decisions. Yet, such algorithmic tools also introduce intricate problems that are tied to

ABSTRACT In this article, we consider the use of restrictive practices in Australian prisons in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on solitary confinement. We explore the health and human rights implications for people subjected to the practice. An overview is provided of the expansion of powers that have increased the risk of people being detained in conditions that amount to solitary confinement

ABSTRACT This piece provides an introduction to the special issue on COVID-19, Criminal Justice and Carceralism – Critical Reflections and Change. It highlights the backdrop of recent events, including the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, before articulating both the problems with penalty in the pandemic and the possibilities for justice.

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, prisoners around the world have been released from custody as a result of generally applicable government policies or individualised administrative decisions. This has brought to light the ways in which the Executive may, consistently with historical practice and contemporary exigencies, alter the effect of sentences imposed by the judiciary. In this comment,

ABSTRACT In 2020, while states worldwide were instituting large scale lockdowns and physical distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, those in penal and detention systems remained one of the most invisible and vulnerable populations to its spread. With limited resources and support, exposure for incarcerated and detained persons is heightened within confined spaces, lack of access to protective

ABSTRACT Serious concerns for the safety and well-being of children and young people are multiplying due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for children’s urgent release from prison. Evidence demonstrates that incarceration can aggravate existing health conditions and result in new health issues, such as depression, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic

In this article we consider the enforcement of COVID-19 measures as an instance of security policing, characterised by a pre-emption paradigm. Whilst COVID-19 measures are directed towards the goal...

The social conditions triggered by the global COVID-19 pandemic have been described as a ‘perfect storm’, which could incite and exacerbate incidences of family violence (FV). This article proposes...

Crimes such as terrorism pose some of the biggest contemporary challenges to criminal justice systems across the world. Systemic reaction in preventing such criminality raises numerous legal and po...

Notwithstanding the global praise directed to New Zealand’s approach to Covid-19, the pandemic has intensified harms and inequalities in many areas of national life. The racialised, classed and gen...

Sentencing that favours female sexual offenders (FSOs) over male sexual offenders (MSOs) has negative consequences for victims, offenders and the community. There have been calls to utilise qualita...

In March 2020, the Contra Costa Public Defenders Association (CCPDA) established a task force to counter the injustices and dangers experienced by clients in custody during the Covid-19 pandemic. T...

Community protection sits at the heart of the Sentencing Act 2017 (SA), as the ‘primary purpose’ and ‘paramount consideration’ of sentencing, but the legislation provides no guidance as to what thi...

Gender, crime, incarceration, mental health and trauma have a complex history of interaction. This project aimed to explore service providers’ experiences of supporting incarcerated women with a me...

The discussion of this book took place at the University of Sydney Law School on 13 December 2019. It is particularly fitting on an evening devoted to cultural property to acknowledge the Gadigal o...

Policing is considered one of the most dangerous and stressful occupations. The role and duties of officers mean that they are more likely to encounter not only accidents, but also assaults. Furthe...

(2021). Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood: Adaptation, Identity and Time, by Ben Crewe, Susie Hulley and Serena Wright, Palgrave MacMillan, 2019, ISBN 978-1-137-56600-3. Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 277-281.

The over-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children within Australian youth detention facilities is one of the nation’s most significant social and human rights issues. This art...

Changes in criminal justice in New South Wales over the past 10 years have been frequent and diverse. Most have been consistent with themes identified in an article which tracked changes from 1975 ...