Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of crimin ....Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of criminal laws and police powers concerned with presence in, and movement around public places. It will particularly focus on the impact on women, children and Indigenous peoples. The outcomes will seek to reduce the criminalisation of homeless people, by identifying law and policy reform options, and comparing their cost with that of 'business as usual'.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sex-offenders in Australia: Assessing risk for practice and policy. A key priority of Australian governments is to improve community safety through reducing the risk of sex offenders re-offending after release from prison. This project will assess the validity of tools used to predict the risk of sexual offender recidivism and identify alternate risk assessment tools for Indigenous and non-Indigenous sex offenders.
Evaluating redress mechanisms governing the human rights practices of transnational business: lessons for institutional design and operation. Australian and United Kingdom researchers will collaborate with leading development and human rights organisations to design regulatory systems that promote sustained business compliance with human rights norms, and enable workers and communities to defend their human rights when these are infringed by businesses from Australia and other OECD countries.
Gauging informed public opinion on sentencing sex offenders: a national study. Sex offences appear to attract the greatest community condemnation and desire to punish, particularly when involving predatory stranger rapists or when the victims are children. This national study aims to ascertain informed public opinion on sex offender sentencing by exploring the views of jurors in sex offence trials in all higher courts in Australia.
Improving online case law within the constraints of free access through heuristic linking and resulting discovery mechanisms. Better interconnections between cases and between cases and other documents, will improve the work of the judiciary, lawyers and legal researchers. Improved speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of assessment of the legal implications of previous cases should result in better quality client advice and judicial decisions. The general public and business, for whom AustLII ....Improving online case law within the constraints of free access through heuristic linking and resulting discovery mechanisms. Better interconnections between cases and between cases and other documents, will improve the work of the judiciary, lawyers and legal researchers. Improved speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of assessment of the legal implications of previous cases should result in better quality client advice and judicial decisions. The general public and business, for whom AustLII is the principal means of accessing law, will also benefit from better understanding of, and easier access to, the interconnections between the sources of law. Free access via AustLII's increasingly comprehensive coverage of Australian Courts and Tribunals means these innovations will be of immediate broad national benefit.Read moreRead less
Parole in crisis? Public opinion on the use of parole. Serious crimes committed by parolees in Australia have brought parole into the public eye. Without concrete evidence, governments often act on the assumption that the public holds punitive attitudes. This project is expected to develop an evidence base to inform policy on parole at a crucial time when governments are under pressure to restrict its use. Three mixed-method studies aim to assess: what public views on parole are; why the public ....Parole in crisis? Public opinion on the use of parole. Serious crimes committed by parolees in Australia have brought parole into the public eye. Without concrete evidence, governments often act on the assumption that the public holds punitive attitudes. This project is expected to develop an evidence base to inform policy on parole at a crucial time when governments are under pressure to restrict its use. Three mixed-method studies aim to assess: what public views on parole are; why the public holds these views; and what influence these views have on policy and practice. The project is expected to make contributions to: creating information strategies that properly inform the public; supporting prisoner reintegration strategies; and shaping criminal justice policies based on informed community feedback.Read moreRead less
Next-generation latent fingermark detection using functional nanomaterials. Next-generation latent fingermark detection using functional nanomaterials. This project aims to develop a nanotechnology-based fingermark detection technique applicable in standard police laboratories and crime scenes. Current methods only detect half the fingermarks on an object, so many criminals are not identified. This project will use silicon oxide nanoparticles with a luminescent dye to target fingermark secretion ....Next-generation latent fingermark detection using functional nanomaterials. Next-generation latent fingermark detection using functional nanomaterials. This project aims to develop a nanotechnology-based fingermark detection technique applicable in standard police laboratories and crime scenes. Current methods only detect half the fingermarks on an object, so many criminals are not identified. This project will use silicon oxide nanoparticles with a luminescent dye to target fingermark secretion components and address interference from substrate chemistries and background luminescence. Moving away from traditional detection methods is expected to improve law enforcement outcomes, as fingermarks that current technologies cannot detect will be visualised for the first time.Read moreRead less
Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet th ....Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet there has never been a systematic study of this chapter of Australian Legal and Military History. This project is intended to provide the first study of the trials and will also "unlock" the under-utilised but vast documentary resource for future researchers.Read moreRead less
The court as archive: rethinking the institutional role of federal superior courts of record. This project examines the institutional role of federal superior courts of record to ground an analysis of their responsibilities as curators of a significant national archive. It will provide principles for the administration of court records that respond to the competing legal and civic demands of contemporary Australian society.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882782
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$169,776.00
Summary
The Australian Legal Scholarship Library - enhancing research infrastructure for Australian law. It is difficult to find Australian legal scholarship of the last 50 years because too little of it is available online or searchable from any central location. The Australian Legal Scholarship Library, located on AustLII, will remedy that by creating a comprehensive repository for Australian academic and non-profit law journals, law school repositories for all of their new scholarship no matter whe ....The Australian Legal Scholarship Library - enhancing research infrastructure for Australian law. It is difficult to find Australian legal scholarship of the last 50 years because too little of it is available online or searchable from any central location. The Australian Legal Scholarship Library, located on AustLII, will remedy that by creating a comprehensive repository for Australian academic and non-profit law journals, law school repositories for all of their new scholarship no matter where it is eventually published, and smart methods of finding how legal documents relate to each other. People researching Australian law, whether for business, academic or community purposes, will benefit from better access to this wealth of expertise.Read moreRead less