Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than mode ....Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than models of practice that take account of local contexts and the challenges involved in achieving effective and sustainable engagement with local people and institutions. This project will show how models of effective crime prevention practice for disadvantaged communities can be developed, tested and implemented on a large scale in an economically efficient way.Read moreRead less
Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crim ....Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crime profiles for the community to analyse environmental and situational factors precipitating violence, crime and injury in their area. The Project is innovative because it integrates multiple sources of information, analyses them and enables prevention programmes to be matched to the social, temporal and spatial idiosyncrasies of any high-crime community.Read moreRead less
Challenges, Possibilities and Future Directions: A National Assessment of Australia's Children's Courts. Children's Courts occupy a unique position in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in responding to often marginalized delinquent youth and vulnerable children and families. Philosophical and structural shifts in Australia and overseas suggest community and legal system responses are often ineffective and contribute to longer-term problems, creating social challenges for governments ....Challenges, Possibilities and Future Directions: A National Assessment of Australia's Children's Courts. Children's Courts occupy a unique position in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in responding to often marginalized delinquent youth and vulnerable children and families. Philosophical and structural shifts in Australia and overseas suggest community and legal system responses are often ineffective and contribute to longer-term problems, creating social challenges for governments and communities alike. This national study will examine how key stakeholders, including, significantly, judicial officers, view the Children's Court's contemporary responses and challenges, their preferred alternatives responses and the viability of suggested reforms, thus offering a unique contribution to informing legal and social policy change.Read moreRead less
The contribution of youth development programs in preventing youth crime, drug and alcohol misuse and suicide. The key question is how much youth organizations (e.g., Scouts) promote positive development in at-risk youth and reduce crime and other problems. The effectiveness of youth programs in achieving this goal will be assessed through an audit of organizational activities, interviews and questionnaires with leaders and young people, and observation. Despite reports that up to 20% of partici ....The contribution of youth development programs in preventing youth crime, drug and alcohol misuse and suicide. The key question is how much youth organizations (e.g., Scouts) promote positive development in at-risk youth and reduce crime and other problems. The effectiveness of youth programs in achieving this goal will be assessed through an audit of organizational activities, interviews and questionnaires with leaders and young people, and observation. Despite reports that up to 20% of participants are at-risk young people, there is no evidence to support claims of positive outcomes for this group. This project will measure how much risk factors for youth crime are reduced and participation in school, family and community organizations is enhanced through involvement in youth programs, and analyse the ways in which positive outcomes are achieved.Read moreRead less
Preventing child sexual abuse by understanding perpetrators’ motivations. This project aims to investigate, for the first time, the experiential motivations of child sexual abuse perpetrators. Using a novel theoretical and methodological approach, it expects to discover new knowledge about the motivations of child sexual abuse perpetrators. Expected outcomes include new theoretical explanations for child sexual abuse perpetration and transformed policy and practice measures to prevent and respon ....Preventing child sexual abuse by understanding perpetrators’ motivations. This project aims to investigate, for the first time, the experiential motivations of child sexual abuse perpetrators. Using a novel theoretical and methodological approach, it expects to discover new knowledge about the motivations of child sexual abuse perpetrators. Expected outcomes include new theoretical explanations for child sexual abuse perpetration and transformed policy and practice measures to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in Australia and beyond. This should provide significant benefits, such as reduction of the widespread, severe and costly impacts of child sexual abuse, and an evidence base to support and enhance government initiatives such as the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse. Read moreRead less
Restorative justice and re-offending. Restorative justice conferences are meetings between young offenders and their victims to discuss crimes and negotiate ways of responding to conflict. Restorative justice advocates claim that because young offenders leave conferences with a better understanding of how their behaviour has affected others, they are less likely to re-offend. This research project will directly test this claim. It will show, for the first time, what young offenders know and u ....Restorative justice and re-offending. Restorative justice conferences are meetings between young offenders and their victims to discuss crimes and negotiate ways of responding to conflict. Restorative justice advocates claim that because young offenders leave conferences with a better understanding of how their behaviour has affected others, they are less likely to re-offend. This research project will directly test this claim. It will show, for the first time, what young offenders know and understand about conference events and how this relates to future offending. This project is the first scholarly analysis of restorative justice conferencing that examines how and why conferencing works to reduce crime.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101466
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$442,723.00
Summary
Violent offenders in the night-time economy: Building the evidence. Alcohol-related violence in entertainment precincts is a significant community safety problem. This project aims to improve knowledge on individuals that are violent in entertainment precincts. It is expected to be the first study globally to use linked data to develop multi-system informed offending trajectories of violent offenders in these settings, examine the impact of patrons bans on offending trajectories, and apply situa ....Violent offenders in the night-time economy: Building the evidence. Alcohol-related violence in entertainment precincts is a significant community safety problem. This project aims to improve knowledge on individuals that are violent in entertainment precincts. It is expected to be the first study globally to use linked data to develop multi-system informed offending trajectories of violent offenders in these settings, examine the impact of patrons bans on offending trajectories, and apply situational action theory to alcohol-related violence. Results are expected to inform a critical knowledge gap and assist in the development of targeted violence preventive responses which reduce harm and make communities safer.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100359
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,960.00
Summary
Preventing crime in public spaces: everyday guardianship & territoriality . Safe public spaces are the cornerstone of liveable cities. Everyday users of public spaces are vital crime prevention guardians because they are frequently present in the absence of formal regulators like police. This project will investigate factors that enhance active guardianship and facilitate crime prevention in public spaces. It aims to generate new knowledge on the extent to which everyday users of public spaces d ....Preventing crime in public spaces: everyday guardianship & territoriality . Safe public spaces are the cornerstone of liveable cities. Everyday users of public spaces are vital crime prevention guardians because they are frequently present in the absence of formal regulators like police. This project will investigate factors that enhance active guardianship and facilitate crime prevention in public spaces. It aims to generate new knowledge on the extent to which everyday users of public spaces develop a sense of territorial control leading to conscious monitoring of public spaces and intervention in social problems. The project aims to inform crime prevention strategies that facilitate active guardianship leading to less crime, reduced fear of crime and enhanced opportunities for pro-social use of public spaces. Read moreRead less
Community variations in crime: A spatial and ecometric analysis. Collective Efficacy (CE) is a new theoretical construct (that has never been investigated in Australia). It is a task-specific process for mobilising social capital to tackle specific neighbourhood problems. Research in Chicago finds that communities with high levels of CE experience lower levels of violence regardless of poverty levels. We will conduct a spatial and ecometric analysis of CE and crime using a survey of 3000 residen ....Community variations in crime: A spatial and ecometric analysis. Collective Efficacy (CE) is a new theoretical construct (that has never been investigated in Australia). It is a task-specific process for mobilising social capital to tackle specific neighbourhood problems. Research in Chicago finds that communities with high levels of CE experience lower levels of violence regardless of poverty levels. We will conduct a spatial and ecometric analysis of CE and crime using a survey of 3000 residents in 50 Brisbane communities. We will compare similar data from Chicago and Stockholm to investigate the Australian contribution of CE to spatial crime patterns and its potential for future crime prevention programs.Read moreRead less
Interactions between Young People and the Police: Developing Strategies for 'Best Practice'. Youth typically hold a negative perception of police producing conflict and problematic interactions. The impact of such negative interactions is greater risk to youth and police, lower confidence in the police, and reluctance to complain about police misconduct. An effective relationship between police and young people is vital to promote efficient and smooth conduct of law and order, and to create h ....Interactions between Young People and the Police: Developing Strategies for 'Best Practice'. Youth typically hold a negative perception of police producing conflict and problematic interactions. The impact of such negative interactions is greater risk to youth and police, lower confidence in the police, and reluctance to complain about police misconduct. An effective relationship between police and young people is vital to promote efficient and smooth conduct of law and order, and to create healthier, safer communities. Our aim is to develop best practice strategies for police service delivery and for the processing of complaints against police. An intervention to promote more successful and positive police-youth interactions will be trialed and evaluated.Read moreRead less