Accessing the family violence provision: enhancing migrant women’s safety. This project aims to investigate the operation of the Family Violence Provision (Migration Regulations (Clth) 1994), designed to act as a safety net for women on temporary visas whose relationships break down due to family violence. The project expects to generate new knowledge about awareness and application processes and outcomes. Using a multi-method approach this will be the first study to examine the operation of the ....Accessing the family violence provision: enhancing migrant women’s safety. This project aims to investigate the operation of the Family Violence Provision (Migration Regulations (Clth) 1994), designed to act as a safety net for women on temporary visas whose relationships break down due to family violence. The project expects to generate new knowledge about awareness and application processes and outcomes. Using a multi-method approach this will be the first study to examine the operation of the Provision. The outcomes will offer direct benefit to the Partner Organisations, and to national stakeholders providing support to migrant women. The project is expected to strengthen support for women who have experienced family violence for whom this provision was designed. Read moreRead less
Managing family objection to autopsy: a case study of the Queensland coronial system. Exploring how coroners, police, counsellors, and pathologists engage with families after the shock of a sudden or violent death, and the resulting development of an e-resource, enables a consistent and transparent whole system approach to be established. The expected benefits for the Coronial system will include: a decrease in unnecessary autopsies, a flow on to minimising staffing shortages, and an overall de ....Managing family objection to autopsy: a case study of the Queensland coronial system. Exploring how coroners, police, counsellors, and pathologists engage with families after the shock of a sudden or violent death, and the resulting development of an e-resource, enables a consistent and transparent whole system approach to be established. The expected benefits for the Coronial system will include: a decrease in unnecessary autopsies, a flow on to minimising staffing shortages, and an overall decrease in the cost of a death investigation. The benefits to the community will include: enhanced police relations with families, including those from minority religions and cultures, more informed and appropriate decision making by coroners, less invasive autopsies by pathologists, and more focused intervention by counsellors.Read moreRead less
Improving the analysis of trace DNA samples in forensic science and human identification. The introduction of DNA technology into forensic science has revolutionised this profession, by generating a very high level of individual discrimination through genetic profiling. However, there are still many crime scenes from which it is proving difficult to obtain sufficient DNA sample for such powerful profiling. This project will develop modifications to current techniques and procedures, as well as ....Improving the analysis of trace DNA samples in forensic science and human identification. The introduction of DNA technology into forensic science has revolutionised this profession, by generating a very high level of individual discrimination through genetic profiling. However, there are still many crime scenes from which it is proving difficult to obtain sufficient DNA sample for such powerful profiling. This project will develop modifications to current techniques and procedures, as well as new novel approaches, to improve the targeting, collection, extraction and typing of trace amounts of biological samples. These results will significantly improve our ability to fight crime, especially high volume crime, act as a deterrent, and assist in disaster victim identification.Read moreRead less
Restorative Justice for Victims and Serious Offenders. This project investigates how to reduce the human costs of serious crime through Restorative Justice (RJ) processes that can help victims recover from the trauma of serious crimes and hold offenders accountable for their actions. The project will (1) provide an independent and rigorous assessment of the RJ program for the industry partner, (2) contribute to an evidence-based national debate on policy responses to serious crimes through ident ....Restorative Justice for Victims and Serious Offenders. This project investigates how to reduce the human costs of serious crime through Restorative Justice (RJ) processes that can help victims recover from the trauma of serious crimes and hold offenders accountable for their actions. The project will (1) provide an independent and rigorous assessment of the RJ program for the industry partner, (2) contribute to an evidence-based national debate on policy responses to serious crimes through identifying the strengths and limitations of RJ and showing how RJ can be optimally practised to maximise benefits for all participants and the wider community, and (3) contribute significantly to the theory and practice of RJ, enhancing Australia's international reputation as a leader in this research area.Read moreRead less
Extraction of Electronic Evidence from Telephone Conversations Carried by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The national benefits of this project are that it meets the National Priority of Safeguarding Australia and the results of this project can serve as a major input into a current Australian Government and Defence initiatives in electronic evidence and intelligence collection. It will play a significant part in satisfying the Australian community that steps are being taken to develop ....Extraction of Electronic Evidence from Telephone Conversations Carried by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The national benefits of this project are that it meets the National Priority of Safeguarding Australia and the results of this project can serve as a major input into a current Australian Government and Defence initiatives in electronic evidence and intelligence collection. It will play a significant part in satisfying the Australian community that steps are being taken to develop techniques for monitoring the criminal use of the Internet for communication and transfer of information. It will serve to develop niche Australian research expertise in this very specialized international field.Read moreRead less
Silent witness: New analytical approaches to advance and enhance the forensic value of human hair. The Australian criminal justice system is under ever-increasing scrutiny with recent threats to national security. Courtroom evidence is expected to carry an objective indication of its value, largely as a result of the success and widespread application of DNA evidence. This is problematic for conventional human hair evidence which has traditionally been presented as the expert opinion of a hair e ....Silent witness: New analytical approaches to advance and enhance the forensic value of human hair. The Australian criminal justice system is under ever-increasing scrutiny with recent threats to national security. Courtroom evidence is expected to carry an objective indication of its value, largely as a result of the success and widespread application of DNA evidence. This is problematic for conventional human hair evidence which has traditionally been presented as the expert opinion of a hair examiner who has conducted a microscopic comparison. A recent wrongful conviction in Canada and an associated Royal Commission has highlighted these problems. A comprehensive new hair examination sequence employing objective techniques will increase the forensic value of human hair, one of the most common evidence types found at crime scenes.Read moreRead less
Establishing Guidelines for Coronial Best Practice Use of Internal Autopsy. Last year in Queensland 2700 Coronial internal autopsies were conducted at a cost of $5.3 million. In addition to the economic cost, other relevant concerns include few qualified personnel, public health risks, and cultural and religious sensitivities associated with internal autopsy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for a number of these deaths, the internal autopsy was not necessary to establish cause or circumstance ....Establishing Guidelines for Coronial Best Practice Use of Internal Autopsy. Last year in Queensland 2700 Coronial internal autopsies were conducted at a cost of $5.3 million. In addition to the economic cost, other relevant concerns include few qualified personnel, public health risks, and cultural and religious sensitivities associated with internal autopsy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for a number of these deaths, the internal autopsy was not necessary to establish cause or circumstance of death. The purpose of this research is to create guidelines to enable coroners to weight all sources of evidence before ordering internal autopsies The purpose is to decrease the number (and associated costs, risks and distress to families) of unnecessary internal autopsies being performed without compromising the finding as to cause and circumstance of death.Read moreRead less
Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditiona ....Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditional paramilitary responses to terrorism that centrally locates diverse communities/policing relationships at the heart of the counter-terrorism policing effort. With cross jurisdictional application, the qualitative and quantitative data, will inform a broad scholarship with wide ranging policy implications at both the state and federal level.Read moreRead less
Developmental pathways to health, education and delinquency outcomes in Western Australia children: a holistic approach to inform early intervention strategies. This project will pioneer population-level data linkages between WA's population health databases and information held by the WA Departments of Education (numeracy and literacy), Justice (juvenile delinquency), Disabilities, and Community Development (child protection). The project will describe temporal, regional, socioeconomic and raci ....Developmental pathways to health, education and delinquency outcomes in Western Australia children: a holistic approach to inform early intervention strategies. This project will pioneer population-level data linkages between WA's population health databases and information held by the WA Departments of Education (numeracy and literacy), Justice (juvenile delinquency), Disabilities, and Community Development (child protection). The project will describe temporal, regional, socioeconomic and racial patterns of developmental outcomes, key risk and protective factors and identify pathways to health and wellbeing, education and juvenile delinquency outcomes among WA children and youth, including those who have had contact with the Child Protection System. Outcomes for specific groups identified as ät risk" will also be examined".Read moreRead less
International Operations and the Australian Federal Police: Devising a legal framework. As a major player in the maintenance of regional peace and security, Australia is increasingly using Australian Federation Police (AFP) in a range of international operations. The extent of deployments and the expectations both governments and communities place on these operations is unprecedented. This project, in collaboration with the AFP, will draw upon recent experiences to provide a clear legal framewo ....International Operations and the Australian Federal Police: Devising a legal framework. As a major player in the maintenance of regional peace and security, Australia is increasingly using Australian Federation Police (AFP) in a range of international operations. The extent of deployments and the expectations both governments and communities place on these operations is unprecedented. This project, in collaboration with the AFP, will draw upon recent experiences to provide a clear legal framework, advancing the capacity for AFP deployments to maintain their high commitment to the rule of law. The project is of international significance and will consolidate Australia's reputation as innovative and influential in the planning, management and conduct of police in international operations. Read moreRead less