Understanding and preventing gun violence: A qualitative study. Gun violence causes significant harm across Australian communities. Excluding sexual assault, firearms feature in nearly one in 10 violent crimes. The annual costs of gun violence run into tens of millions of dollars. This project aims to make an original qualitative contribution to understanding and preventing gun violence in three contexts: drug dealing/trafficking, other organised crime activity, and armed robbery. The proposed r ....Understanding and preventing gun violence: A qualitative study. Gun violence causes significant harm across Australian communities. Excluding sexual assault, firearms feature in nearly one in 10 violent crimes. The annual costs of gun violence run into tens of millions of dollars. This project aims to make an original qualitative contribution to understanding and preventing gun violence in three contexts: drug dealing/trafficking, other organised crime activity, and armed robbery. The proposed research would be the first study nationally - and one of the very few internationally - to interview convicted gun crime users about the acquisition and use of firearms in criminal life. Project results are expected to have direct implications for reducing the impact of gun violence in Australia.Read moreRead less
Justice Reinvestment in Australia: conceptual foundations for criminal justice innovation. This project will examine the characteristics of Justice Reinvestment programs used in other countries which reduce spending on prisons and reinvest the savings in high crime communities to reduce crime and build community services. This study will analyse whether such programs can be developed in the Australian context.
Targeting early contact with the criminal justice system in young people. This project aims to identify who and why young people first come in contact with the criminal justice system and what determines the early course of contact. The project will focus on first police contact, as a victim, witness or offender, as a means of identifying young people at-risk of adverse life outcomes. It intends to build on the NSW Child Development Study, a large population-based intergenerational cohort, to de ....Targeting early contact with the criminal justice system in young people. This project aims to identify who and why young people first come in contact with the criminal justice system and what determines the early course of contact. The project will focus on first police contact, as a victim, witness or offender, as a means of identifying young people at-risk of adverse life outcomes. It intends to build on the NSW Child Development Study, a large population-based intergenerational cohort, to develop services and interventions aimed at preventing young people from becoming enmeshed in the criminal justice system.Read moreRead less
Violence and disengagement from violence in young men's lives . This project will study the significance of victimisation, perpetration and the watching of violence and images of violence, among young Australian men. It will explore the underlying links with masculine identity and have practical applications for developing an understanding of the unknown aspects of disengagement from involvements in violence.
What works, what doesn't, and what is promising for preventing sexual violence and abuse: the effectiveness of situational prevention. The costs of sexual violence and abuse are enormous and involve immediate and long-term negative effects for the life of victims, families and the society. This project will investigate and provide critical evidence-based knowledge on the effectiveness of situational prevention measures.
Linked Lives: Antisocial Behaviour Across Three Generations. Antisocial behaviour involves about 10 per cent of children and/or adolescents. It has a substantial impact on many life outcomes including education, employment, family life, and offending. The costs of providing services to an antisocial child are 10 times higher than other children. Antisocial offspring are often children of antisocial parents and grandparents. The proposed project aims to assess antisocial behaviour transmitted acr ....Linked Lives: Antisocial Behaviour Across Three Generations. Antisocial behaviour involves about 10 per cent of children and/or adolescents. It has a substantial impact on many life outcomes including education, employment, family life, and offending. The costs of providing services to an antisocial child are 10 times higher than other children. Antisocial offspring are often children of antisocial parents and grandparents. The proposed project aims to assess antisocial behaviour transmitted across three generations, to document the predictors of this intergenerational transmission, and to describe how antisocial behaviour is changing over generations. This project aims to provide data to enable a more focussed delivery of services to antisocial families.Read moreRead less
Crime, poverty and early prevention: A longitudinal study of social and developmental pathways to wellbeing through the Pathways to Prevention Project. Youth crime is concentrated in poor areas because social processes undermine positive development. Family support is widely used in these areas but its crime prevention value is unclear. This project analyses how such services offered by the Pathways to Prevention Project enhanced child and parent wellbeing. It uses interviews, records and case s ....Crime, poverty and early prevention: A longitudinal study of social and developmental pathways to wellbeing through the Pathways to Prevention Project. Youth crime is concentrated in poor areas because social processes undermine positive development. Family support is widely used in these areas but its crime prevention value is unclear. This project analyses how such services offered by the Pathways to Prevention Project enhanced child and parent wellbeing. It uses interviews, records and case studies, and a longitudinal database of 4858 children aged 4 to 12 years that link Project participation with parent and child outcomes, including youth justice record, to model pathways from preschool for participants and matched non-participants. By situating pathways in the context of systemic barriers facing families, teachers and agency staff, the project will advance prevention theory and practice.Read moreRead less
Automated internet warnings to prevent viewing of minor-adult sex images. Since the advent of the internet and digital cameras, the market for child exploitation material (CEM) has boomed. This project aims to explore how the visual appearance of warning messages influences internet users. It plans to conduct a randomised controlled experiment with naïve participants on a real-life website to test the effectiveness of messages designed to discourage viewers of legal ‘barely legal’ pornography. I ....Automated internet warnings to prevent viewing of minor-adult sex images. Since the advent of the internet and digital cameras, the market for child exploitation material (CEM) has boomed. This project aims to explore how the visual appearance of warning messages influences internet users. It plans to conduct a randomised controlled experiment with naïve participants on a real-life website to test the effectiveness of messages designed to discourage viewers of legal ‘barely legal’ pornography. It is anticipated that results will assist policing efforts by indicating whether warnings can be used to dissuade first-time CEM viewers and whether differences exist between harm or deterrent-focused messages.Read moreRead less
Understanding and preventing youth sexual violence and abuse: an investigation of offender development, offending onset, and progression. Youth sexual violence and abuse poses serious threats to the health and well-being of Australian women and children. This project will investigate the development, onset and progression of youth sexual violence and abuse, and thereby contribute to its management and prevention.
What makes a community resilient? Examining changes in the adaptive capacities of Brisbane suburbs before and after the 2011 flood. This project will be the first study to examine the key community processes and structures associated with community resilience both before and after the 2011 Brisbane floods. Drawing on a longitudinal study of Brisbane suburbs, it will critically assess the conditions under which suburban communities respond to and recover from a major disaster.