State border closures enacted in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic reinvigorated colonial boundaries, with significant impacts for communities residing near the border. For some, border controls were interpreted as emblematic of entrenched racial divisions in rural communities drawn on a deep history of racial segregation. This article contributes to literature examining how government interventions – particularly those implemented in response to COVID-19 – impact “race” relations and community solidarity. It expands upon existing literature that highlights how the racialisation of colonial structures (e.g., colonially imposed borders) embeds Indigenous disenfranchisement, creating reiterative and disruptive ripples through modern policy decisions. Thus, though we acknowledge that race is socially constructed, racial categories continue to produce tangible, lived consequences – dynamics this article examines. Focusing on the residents of “Smithville”, 1 Queensland, through a series of semi-structured interviews ( n = 35) this article identifies how COVID-19 border restrictions, which saw borders between Australian states closed, had unanticipated racial consequences, reinforcing pre-existing racial divisions. Narratives associated with perceived crime rates and policing during and after COVID-19 border restrictions tended to reflect racialised “us/them” tropes, positioning the hardened border as crime preventative and protective against the racialised “other”. Furthermore, the interpretation of future “threats” was routinely formulated on racial tropes emanating from historical understandings of the border and stereotypes around a connection between Indigeneity and crime. Fissures in rural communities around issues of race and crime portend lower social cohesion, whilst also creating the pre-conditions for racist sentiments to be fomented. Given this, our findings underscore the critical need to anticipate and address such consequences when designing responses to future crises.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are substantially overrepresented in Australian prisons, and their unique needs have often been overlooked when establishing rehabilitation programmes. The Explore, Question, Understand, Investigated, Practice, Succeed (EQUIPS) suite of behaviour change programmes, offered by Corrective Service New South Wales (CSNSW), aims to reduce recidivism in custodial and community settings. This study examines the individual- and operational-level factors associated with completion of EQUIPS programmes amongst Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people (hereafter Aboriginal) completing correctional orders. Using CSNSW administrative data, four cross-classified stepwise logistic regression models were used to analyse EQUIPS referrals across custodial and community corrections settings from 4,666 Aboriginal participants. Individual-level factors affecting completion varied by correctional setting, with family/marital criminogenic needs and age influencing programme completion in custodial settings, and age, sex, relative social advantage, remoteness, criminal history, number of programme commencements and cumulative time in prison influencing programme completion in community settings. Operational-level factors affecting completion for custodial populations included having at least one other Aboriginal person in the programme group (odds ratio = 1.94), employment at referral, and timing of referral. In a community setting, operational factors included parole attached to sentence, needing to move location, and EQUIPS programme type. Understanding these factors, and implementing cultural considerations to enhance cultural safety, can enhance EQUIPS programme completion for the overrepresented and vulnerable Aboriginal population completing orders.
Australian policing has expanded hybrid governance arrangements, yet investigation into minor, high-volume incidents remains largely police bound. As serious and complex matters absorb capacity, many low-harm theft, vandalism, and public order reports receive limited follow-up, weakening confidence in accessible and fair everyday justice. This article proposes a regulated civil enforcement pathway for a defined subset of minor offences. It argues that reclassifying specified conduct as civil infractions can improve proportionality and reduce the collateral consequences of conviction, while preserving the option to escalate to criminal investigation when risk indicators arise. The proposal does not privatise coercion: search, arrest, compulsion, and force remain exclusive to sworn police, and statutory hand-back triggers return cases requiring such powers. Licensed private investigators may undertake bounded, auditable fact-gathering under conflict controls, information-governance duties, and independent oversight. Public authorities determine liability and outcomes through transparent review and appeal. Design choices address net-widening, incentive distortion, equity impacts, and procedural fairness through tight eligibility criteria, public oversight, and accessible review.
Over recent decades, encouraged by austerity politics and a sustained process of responsibilisation, citizen-led policing has experienced a resurgence. The scale of their involvement has led some to argue that citizen volunteers are now a ‘vital' resource in meeting the many challenges facing contemporary policing. After a long period of neglect, a recent ‘wave' of empirical research shows academic interest is again growing. However, even this expanding body of research remains limited with just one side of the police/citizen ‘partnership' typically in focus. The overwhelming majority of studies have explored the experiences of citizen volunteers, while research foregrounding the perspectives of the other key partner, the police, have received scant attention. This article presents research findings on New Zealand Police's perspective on its partnership with Community Patrols of New Zealand, Aotearoa's largest and most established form of citizen-led policing. Drawing on a nationwide survey and follow-up focus groups with Police Liaison Officers (PLOs)-who act as the primary interface between NZP and community patrols and hold responsibility for sustaining a partnership involving over 4,500 volunteers-the research reveals the partnership yields substantial benefits but also faces serious challenges. The findings underscore the need for more consistent organisational support, clearer role expectations, and better integration of PLOs into NZP’s broader strategic approach. As the first study of its kind in Aotearoa, it sheds light on a hitherto hidden but critical aspect of citizen policing.
Researchers have increasingly explored the negative consequences of Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images (NCSII) for victims, though less work has considered the factors associated with offending, particularly among youth populations. Few have explored offending using criminological frameworks, calling to question how well existing models of offending may account for this behaviour. This study attempted to address this gap in the literature through an assessment of youth participation in non-consensual sharing of images in a sample of 864 South Australian youth. Using binary logistic regression modelling, this study examined the relationship between self-control, opportunity and youth involvement in NCSII. The implications for our understanding of both image abuse and criminological theory were examined in detail.
Incarcerated mothers typically interact with multiple government agencies on their journey into and out of prison. Each agency has its own rationale, processes, and terminology, which can lead to confusion and conflicting requirements being placed on the mother. Yet effective system navigation is the key to accessing support and services crucial to addressing the deep history of victimisation and vulnerability that many mothers in prison and their children have experienced. A knowledge of mothers' criminal justice pathways is also important for agency staff, with many struggling to understand system complexities outside their own organisation. Improving system navigation, coordination, and integration can reduce the stress and trauma of criminal justice contacts and contribute to better outcomes for mothers and families. A threshold issue in achieving better integration is understanding how organisations are connected at a system level, rather than as a collection of stand-alone agencies. System-level approaches consider the dependencies and connections between organisations, and how they operate collectively to influence outcomes for individuals. This approach is not often applied to criminal justice agencies, despite their common designation as a "criminal justice system." This article uses stock-and-flow modelling to capture the complexity of that system in one Australian jurisdiction. We do this by mapping how mothers move through different criminal justice agencies, and how each agency can affect mothers' future pathways either detrimentally or beneficially. In particular, we examine the impact of different pathways on the likely connectedness between mothers and their children. By highlighting how actions and decisions taken by one agency can impact the subsequent pathways of mothers and children, we aim to better understand system complexity and how this affects individuals. Ultimately, this can lead to better coordinated responses for mothers and children, and the overcoming of system silos, complexity and fragmentation.
Many jurisdictions have introduced offences specifically tailored to address the range of behaviours that constitute intimate image abuse. These offences are designed to provide better protection for victims by facilitating the reporting, policing and prosecution of intimate image abuse. Based on a thematic analysis of 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with legal and service provider stakeholders, this article explores perceptions about whether the four new offences enacted in Hong Kong in 2021 have improved the policing of intimate image abuse. Themes explored include the factors that impact victims' willingness to report and those that shape police responses to complaints of intimate image abuse. A key finding is that while there is a perception that police responsiveness to complaints of intimate image abuse has improved since the enactment of the new offences, there is still room for improvement. An implication of this research is that there is a need for greater training and education of the police. Such training should cover not only the content of the new law and how to gather evidence to support prosecution, but also the nature of intimate image abuse and how police can engage effectively and sympathetically with complainants.
Contemporary case reports, such as the 2020 quadruple homicide of Hannah Clarke and her three children in Queensland, Australia, have brought renewed attention to the use of fire as a lethal weapon in Domestic and Family Violence (DFV), particularly in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) contexts. Despite high-profile incidents, criminological literature has not empirically examined recent trends in fire-related homicides in Australia. Prior studies, using data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP), compared periods between 1989-2005 and 2005-2010, which highlighted a 44% increase in fire-related homicides between 1991-2000 and 2001-2010, but trend analysis has not been completed post 2010. This study updates the evidence across 1989-1990 to 2022-2023 with a specific focus on cases where fire is used as the primary weapon, referred to as Primary Fire Homicide (PFH). The study pays particular attention to incidents occurring within DFV and IPV environments, where emotional motivation and power dynamics are key drivers to violence. Using NHMP data, this research provides updated insights into national trends and patterns of PFH, which can be used to inform policy formulation as well as investigative procedures for fire-related homicide.
Coordinated police-social service responses involving embedded social workers are a key strategy for addressing recidivist family violence. Through an anonymous mixed-methods online survey, this study examined 18 high-risk victim-survivors' perceptions of a police-social services response in Australia. Most victim-survivors reported that the embedded social workers helped to connect them and/or their family to a range of relevant support services, and the coordinated response helped to reduce family violence in their lives. From victim-survivors' perspectives, the most helpful aspects of the coordinated response involved safety planning, emotional support, and tailored advocacy. Their suggestions for improvement centred on two themes: help not handcuffs, and consistent communication. Allied with prior studies involving victim-survivors' perspectives, there is mounting evidence that specialist social workers are an effective addition to police units responding to family violence.
The Western-centric nature of comparative criminology has been widely acknowledged, promoting a growing call for increased attention to be given to Asia within the field. However, there is a lack of comprehensive quantitative assessments of the extent of Western domination and the contributions of Asian research material in existing literature. To fill this gap, this study conducts a quantitative literature review of English-written journal articles in the Social Sciences Citation Index Criminology & Penology category. The objective is to provide an overview of the degree of Western domination in global comparative criminology and to examine how Asia contributes to rectifying this domination. Additionally, the study explores the substantive contributions of Asia to helping to ease the over-centring on Western perspectives in this field. The findings reveal a prevailing Western domination and highlight the leading role of Asia among non-Western regions in comparative criminology. Based on these findings, the article concludes by discussing some implications for the development of global comparative criminology.
As increasing numbers of young people engage online there has been a concomitant rise in Online Child Exploitation (OCE) crime. When considering prevention approaches, the essential role of parents and carers (i.e., parental guardians) is often not prioritised. This study explored how three categories of moderators: perceptions (myth endorsement, perceived risk of victimisation), attitudes (sense of responsibility, confidence in protective ability), and emotions (level of concern), influenced the relationship between knowledge of OCE prevention strategies and their use. One hundred and eight four (N = 184) parental guardians of children aged between 11 and 17 years, recruited through social media platforms using a snowball sampling strategy, were surveyed via an online quantitative survey. Linear regression and moderation analyses revealed that knowledge of OCE prevention strategies had a significant, positive relationship with online protective behaviour use. Moderators of myth endorsement, personal responsibility and concern had significant direct relationships with behaviour use, but victimisation risk and confidence did not. No moderation effects were found. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that beyond increasing knowledge, additional elements should be added to education curriculum targeting parental guardians. These include debunking myths about OCE, fostering stronger concern, reinforcing a personal sense of responsibility for children's online safety and reducing reliance on third parties or solutions. This more comprehensive approach to prevention education will mobilise parental guardians in protecting their children when online.
Compared to the well-established phenomenon of repeat victimisation (experiencing the same crime type repeatedly), poly-victimisation (experiencing multiple crime types) is poorly understood. We argue that advancing understanding of poly-victimisation requires focusing on characteristics that transcend single crime events; the time-stable "flags" that explain why some people experience victimisation across contexts. Given the significant impact of poly-victimisation on wellbeing, this study aims to inform crime prevention policies by identifying personal characteristics associated with poly-victimisation risk within a 12-month period in Aotearoa New Zealand. We used binary logistic regression and Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC) to examine responses to the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey. Poly-victimisation risk was rarely attributable to a single characteristic but was instead shaped by interactions between them. Consistent with prior studies, psychological distress frequently co-occurred with poly-victimisation, highlighting that victimisation often affects those least equipped to endure it. The case-oriented approach of CACC can provide critical insights into the complex risk dynamics associated with victimisation. Identifying and supporting poly-victims requires targeted interventions that recognise the cumulative impact of multiple vulnerabilities on victimisation risk.
This article explores the criminological risk factors for incarcerated veterans who have served in the Australian Defence Force. We conducted an international rapid evidence assessment of incarcerated veterans' risk factors, and 51 life history interviews capturing each person's journey through military service, pathways into crime, and experience of incarceration. A survey on the needs and experiences of incarcerated veterans was also conducted. In this article, we reflect on the interview data. Key themes indicated that this group of veterans experienced childhood adversity, negative military experiences, abrupt separation from the military, and difficulties reintegrating into civilian society. Most veterans described the military in very positive terms and lamented their separation. We argue for a whole-of-government approach to disrupt associations between military service and incarceration.
Over-reliance on police by Out-Of-Home Care (OOHC) service providers is a key contributor to the criminalisation of children in care. Drawing on interviews across judicial, legal, youth justice and children's advocacy sectors in New South Wales, Victoria, and England and Wales, we propose a conceptual model which explains the criminalisation of trauma via policing and residential care policies that emphasise risk mitigation, and which are currently devoid of therapeutic practice. Criminalisation of trauma is contingent on surveillant assemblages positioning vulnerable children as risks to themselves, others, and property. This approach justifies criminalising responses with deleterious impacts on children and staff within both systems. We discuss the need for systemic reform that shifts from perceptions of children in residential care as "risks" that need to be managed via carceral logics. We argue the case for a system that instead emphasises the importance of therapeutic responses for vulnerable children and families involved in child protection and OOHC systems.
Frontline officers play a valuable role in the collection of witness evidence through interviews. Whilst there is some acknowledgement of the complexities of the environment where this takes place, little is known about the challenges these officers face. This article examines New South Wales frontline officers' perceptions of why they interview witnesses and what is challenging when they do. This research finds the purpose of frontline interviews is to collect adequate information to fulfil evidentiary requirements as accurately and efficiently as possible, not to obtain as much detail on incidents as feasible. Findings also suggest a variety of challenges affect police-witness interviews including witness characteristics, the nature of the frontline role and context of investigation. These challenges act both singularly and simultaneously, and accordingly make the interview process complex. Finally, officers view on-the-job experience best prepares them for meeting these challenges.
Drawing on data from the Life in Australia™ panel (ANUpoll Wave 31; n = 1,911), this study investigates the factors that shape individuals’ perceived increase of cybercrime victimisation risk and how these perceptions influence their online disclosure behaviour. Using ordered probability and partial proportional odds models, we examine the role of personal attributes, individual safety concerns, perceived capability to avoid cybercrime, and perceived capability of institutional guardianship. The study provides a unique contribution by employing recent nationally representative data from all Australian states and territories to analyse multiple dimensions of cyber-related concerns. We also use a detailed categorisation of specific cybercrime types to predict both the perceived increase of risk and preventative behavioural adaptations. Guided by Ferraro’s risk interpretation model and Beck’s risk society paradigm, we find that personal attributes and concern factors differentially shape individuals’ perceptions of increasing cybercrime risk. Concerns about identity crime and misuse, online goods fraud, banking fraud, and malicious software significantly heighten perceived increases in risk. These perceptions are further influenced by trust in online security systems and public data guardianship, consistent with the broader concept of institutional guardianship. Overall, the findings show that diminished confidence in digital and institutional safeguards predicts stronger perceptions of increasing cybercrime risk and greater caution in personal information disclosure.
