Despite increasing research on online child sexual exploitation, limited research compares female and male perpetrators. This study examined 116 females and 116 age-matched males known to police for online child sexual exploitation on group characteristics and risk of reoffending. Some differences emerged, with females co-offending and experiencing violent victimisation more often than males. However, several similarities were also apparent, including that females and males had similar risk of recidivism. These findings have implications for policy and highlight several important avenues for future research.
This study examined associations between out-of-school suspension from primary school and early contact with police (by the age of about 14 years). Longitudinal data from the New South Wales Child Development Study were used to determine the prevalence, pattern and association of suspension and police contact among 68,121 children. The odds of suspended children experiencing any contact were three times those of non-suspended children (controlling for multiple covariates) and the odds of contact as a person of interest were six times those of non-suspended students. Dose-response relationships were evident with increasing suspension severity. Systemic intersectoral reform to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by enacting effective alternatives to suspension is required.
The 'Stories that Matter' project aims to build a better understanding of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's experiences with the criminal legal system are different, using yarning sessions with Indigenous people with lived experience and service providers working in this field in Western Australia. Our findings confirm the lasting impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma, which create the conditions that lead Indigenous people into engagement with the criminal legal system. Findings also demonstrate ongoing systemic bias and discrimination throughout the criminal legal system, undermining the trust of Indigenous people. The project delivers a strong and shared message that penal reform is only possible by, and with, Indigenous people and shows the need for government agencies and researchers to support and contribute to Indigenous self-determination.
Psychosis is commonly associated with an elevated risk of violence. This population-based study of people diagnosed with psychosis in New South Wales (n=126,198) found that 15.2 percent committed a violent offence, most commonly within four years following diagnosis. Those who had offended tended to have histories of non-violent offending, to have been diagnosed at a younger age, to have substance-related psychosis and to have several risk factors associated with criminal behaviour. Being subject to a community treatment order was generally associated with a higher risk of violence, but results suggest a delay in violent offending for those subject to these orders.
We used data from interviews with police detainees (n=2,249) to measure the extent to which their offending was related to illicit drugs or alcohol. We then used these findings to estimate the total number of principal offences attributable to different substances. In 2019, 45 percent of all detainees attributed their offending to substance use. Offending was most commonly attributed to methamphetamine (27.6%) and alcohol use (16.5%). Alcohol attribution was more common for violent crimes, while methamphetamine featured prominently among both violent and property offences. Applying these attributable fractions to recorded crime data for 2019, we estimated that substance use contributed to approximately 156,760 principal offences in Australia. This included 95,990 offences attributable to methamphetamine and 56,627 attributable to alcohol use.
