Criminal services and the role of place in transnational crime in Asia. Criminal service hubs in Asia facilitate transnational crimes that impact on Australia. The project will explore the nature of these hubs and analyse their relationships to the mobility, activities and longevity of criminal networks. Understanding what makes a crime hub and how criminals use them will create new opportunities for the prevention of serious crime.
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.
Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. This project aims to develop and test a series of interventions to disrupt identify theft activities, and design an operational risk framework that will aid law enforcement agencies and organisations to timely and appropriately intervene in cyber space. The buying and selling of identity credentials via dark net forums is a significant and growing problem. This research— based on systems ....Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. This project aims to develop and test a series of interventions to disrupt identify theft activities, and design an operational risk framework that will aid law enforcement agencies and organisations to timely and appropriately intervene in cyber space. The buying and selling of identity credentials via dark net forums is a significant and growing problem. This research— based on systems analyses of dark net forums, and bringing together researchers, practitioners, theories and methods from human factors, sociotechnical systems, criminology, and cyber security—is expected to increase understanding of the dark net and improve ways of disrupting identity theft and trading.Read moreRead less
Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revi ....Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revising job descriptions, activity profiles, skill requirements and supervisory structures; and retraining relevant personnel. Outcomes will be independently assessed. Crime prevention and safety strategies are being implemented in most Western countries, and similar problems are being experienced. Hence the project is of national and international significance.Read moreRead less
The New Policing: Partnerships, Resources and Modes of Governance. This project promises to establish Australia as a world leader in policing research and policing practice. Following an exhaustive review of current approaches in Victoria and internationally, and backed up by needs assessments, a series of pilot programs at selected sites will allow the development of innovative models for securing and allocating resources that support innovative policing partnerships involving government, the b ....The New Policing: Partnerships, Resources and Modes of Governance. This project promises to establish Australia as a world leader in policing research and policing practice. Following an exhaustive review of current approaches in Victoria and internationally, and backed up by needs assessments, a series of pilot programs at selected sites will allow the development of innovative models for securing and allocating resources that support innovative policing partnerships involving government, the business sector, non-governmental agencies, community-based organizations and citizens. The collaboration with Victoria Police will provide a model for police-university partnership across Australia and the pilot programs developed will be replicable widely in Australia and overseas.Read moreRead less
Policing for the 21st Century. This project will design and evaluate an innovative policing strategy for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The project team, including members of the Australian Federal Police, will conduct an exhaustive inventory of mechanisms for informing and consulting the public, and for empowering communities in the co-production of public safety. It will design a framework using those mechanisms best suited to the ACT, and integrate these with existing strategies of ....Policing for the 21st Century. This project will design and evaluate an innovative policing strategy for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The project team, including members of the Australian Federal Police, will conduct an exhaustive inventory of mechanisms for informing and consulting the public, and for empowering communities in the co-production of public safety. It will design a framework using those mechanisms best suited to the ACT, and integrate these with existing strategies of restorative justice and intelligence-driven policing. The project will evaluate the impact of the new policing strategies on citizen satisfaction with police performance, perceptions of public safety, and measures of crime.Read moreRead less
Targeted crime: policing and social inclusion. This project will undertake a criminological study of the policing of targeted incidents and crime, that is, incidents and crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred towards members of particular groups, communities and individuals. It will develop a best practice policing framework for targeted crimes and incidents.
Understanding the relationship between mental illness and offending: implications for crime prevention and the management of mentally ill offenders. The criminal justice system struggles to cope with the challenge of mentally ill offenders. Yet unfortunately increasing numbers of mentally ill people are coming into contact with police, the courts and correctional institutions. Using a life-course criminological perspective, this project aims to understand the links between mental illness and of ....Understanding the relationship between mental illness and offending: implications for crime prevention and the management of mentally ill offenders. The criminal justice system struggles to cope with the challenge of mentally ill offenders. Yet unfortunately increasing numbers of mentally ill people are coming into contact with police, the courts and correctional institutions. Using a life-course criminological perspective, this project aims to understand the links between mental illness and offending. Such an understanding will provide the criminal justice system with strategies for managing and treating mentally ill offenders. More importantly, such an understanding can be used to intervene in circumstances that result in mentally ill people offending, improving their well-being and increasing community safety.Read moreRead less
Better Planning for and Managing Asymmetric Threats to Australia's Security: Applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) Systems Thinking Approach. Despite an enviable national security condition, Australia is at risk in an information-abundant world that increasingly spawns asymmetric threats such as information terrorism. What is needed are enhanced strategic and operational structures to improve the nation's security and ensure sound futures planning. This research focuses on applying the Fie ....Better Planning for and Managing Asymmetric Threats to Australia's Security: Applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) Systems Thinking Approach. Despite an enviable national security condition, Australia is at risk in an information-abundant world that increasingly spawns asymmetric threats such as information terrorism. What is needed are enhanced strategic and operational structures to improve the nation's security and ensure sound futures planning. This research focuses on applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) systems thinking approach to asymmetric information warfare threats to Australia. This is a new approach previously developed by ECU researchers investigating risk and innovation in the armed forces. It will now be extended to improve professional practice and the knowledge and skill base of Australia's information defence practitioners.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particul ....Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particular at-risk groups at crucial developmental phases. The innovative longitudinal costing method that will be developed and applied in the Queensland context will enable an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of diversionary and crime prevention programs. This will provide a sound empirical basis for directing scarce government resources.Read moreRead less