Public perceptions of intimate partner homicide victims are influenced by how the news media frames incidents, often perpetuating gendered stereotypes. In particular, research has found that victim blaming is common in the reporting of intimate partner homicide. However, the way the public engages with news media has changed, as social media platforms allow audiences to engage in news creation by posting comments. Despite this shift, limited research has examined the impact of gender and media frames on victim blaming comments. This study used an experimental vignette design to examine whether victim blaming comments made by Australian survey respondents ( n = 537) were influenced by the gender of the offender/victim pair and the framing of a media report, controlling for respondents’ media usage, attitudes, and demographics. Survey respondents were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes presenting a news report on an intimate partner homicide, which varied by the gender of the offender/victim and media frame (victim blaming/bad offender). Respondents were asked to leave a comment as if they were on a social media platform. Analyses revealed that respondents more commonly blamed the victim where there were female offender/male victim pairs compared to male offender/female victim pairs. Respondents also more commonly blamed the victim when there was a victim blaming frame compared to a bad offender frame. Finally, the analyses showed an interactive effect of the gender of the offender/victim pair and the media frame on respondents’ comments. Respondents were more likely to blame victims when the victim was male (female offender) and there was a victim blaming frame. The insights from this study have significant implications for policy and practice. Specifically, there is a need for enhanced training and resources for media professionals, as well as the creation of safer online communities through effective comment moderation.

Objectives 1. To assess the extent of the victim-offender overlap during early adulthood among people who use substances preceding substance use treatment (SUT) admission in Chile. 2. To analyse the within-individual temporal ordering of criminal victimisation and offending patterns across subgroups, referred to as ‘sequence profiles’. 3. To examine the characteristics of these sequence profiles. Methods Our study used a retrospective cohort design with linked nationwide administrative data, focusing on a cohort of 1965 individuals born in 1992, who received SUT and were observed from ages 18 to 27. We used multichannel sequence analysis to explore the temporal ordering of victimisation and offending. Results A considerable degree of victim-offender overlap exists among our cohort. We found no clear temporal ordering between criminal victimisation and offending in early adulthood. We identified five sequence profiles with different patterns of offending and victimisation in early adulthood. Social disadvantage indicators were more prevalent among the profile of high-rate offending and persistent victimisation. Conclusion During early adulthood, many people who use substances have ongoing involvement with the criminal justice system as both victims and offenders. The lack of evidence for temporal ordering of this involvement may be partly due to our reliance on criminal records.

This study examines the association between perceived school climate and self-reported youth offending among adolescents in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on social control theory, we investigate whether students' perceptions of fairness, support, and respect within their school environment are linked to lower levels of delinquent behaviour. Using previously collected survey data from 540 Year 9 students and using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis, we find that more positive perceptions of school climate are significantly associated with lower youth offending scores, even after accounting for gender, cultural background, family structure, parental employment, and family attachment. The strength of the school climate-youth offending association compares in magnitude to other strong predictors of youth crime such as gender. Attachment to both mother and father also emerged as strong independent correlates of youth offending and partially attenuated the school climate/youth offending association, suggesting overlapping influences. These findings contribute to a growing body of research identifying school climate as a modifiable context for youth development. While the cross-sectional nature of the data limits causal inference, the results underscore the importance of school and family environments in shaping adolescent behaviour. Implications for theory and educational policy are discussed.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Substance use treatment (SUT) has shown to be effective in reducing self-reported offending; however, the association between SUT completion and criminal justice system (CJS) contact has been underexplored, especially in Latin America. This study aimed to estimate the association between SUT completion status and (1) any subsequent CJS contact and (2) CJS contact leading to imprisonment, at 1, 3 and 5 years post-discharge, in Chile. DESIGN:Retrospective cohort study using multivariable survival analysis based on linked administrative data from 2010 to 2019. SETTING:This study took place in Chile, where SUT is available at no cost through Chile's publicly funded health-care, and is provided in outpatient and inpatient modalities in public and private centres. PARTICIPANTS:A total of 70 854 individuals received their first SUT from 2010 to 2019. They were mainly males (76.3%), and their main substance used at admission was cocaine paste (39.2%). MEASUREMENTS:SUT completion status included completion, late dropout (≥ 3 months) and early dropout (< 3 months). Outcomes were (1) any CJS contact and (2) CJS contact leading to imprisonment after baseline treatment. We estimated the association between treatment completion and CJS contact through flexible parametric Royston-Parmar models while adjusting for several covariates. FINDINGS:Those who completed SUT (27.2%) were less likely to have any CJS contact at 5 years post-SUT compared with those who dropped out late [with a gap of -9.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -8.7, -10.3] and early (-11.2%, 95% CI = -10.1, -12.3). Also, those who completed SUT were less likely to have CJS contact leading to imprisonment at 5 years post-SUT compared with those who dropped out late (-2.6%, 95% CI = -2.2, -3.1) and early (-4.0%, 95% CI = -3.3, -4.6). These differences were also observed at 1 and 3 years post-SUT for each outcome. CONCLUSIONS:In Chile, completion of substance use treatment appears to be associated with lower probabilities of both any criminal justice system contact and contact leading to imprisonment.

While conduct problem behaviour initiated in early childhood often escalates in frequency and seriousness through adolescence, a notable deceleration is typically seen by mid-adolescence. It has been hypothesised that prosocial behaviour, characterised by acts like sharing and comforting, may play a role in this deceleration. However, there is a distinct gap in the current literature when it comes to understanding the temporal dynamics between the acceleration of prosocial behaviours and the deceleration of conduct problem behaviour. This study seeks to bridge this gap. Using a General Cross-Lagged Panel Model (GCLM) and data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), we investigated temporal dynamics and sequence of how the acceleration of prosocial behaviour influences the deceleration of conduct problem behaviour between ages 4 and 15. Results indicate that increases in prosocial behaviour facilitate the deceleration of conduct problem behaviour, with increases in prosocial behaviour preceding decreases in conduct problem behaviour. Further, we show a cumulative effect of increases in prosocial behaviour on decreases in conduct problem behaviour over time. This knowledge provides a foundation for understanding how timely prevention and intervention strategies that include the mechanisms for increasing prosocial behaviour may interrupt the conduct problem behaviour trajectories of children and adolescents.

Natural disasters and extreme weather events are increasing in both intensity and frequency. Emerging evidence suggests that there is a relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and natural disasters. However, there is a scarcity of methodologically sound research in this area with no systematic review to date. To address the gap, this paper systematically assesses the quantitative evidence on the association between IPV with natural disasters between 1990 and March 2023. There were 27 articles that meet the inclusion criteria for the data extraction process. A quantitative critical appraisal tool was used to assess the quality of each study and a narrative synthesis approach to explore the findings. The review found an association between IPV and disasters, across disaster types and countries. However, more research is needed to explore the nuances and gaps within the existing knowledge base. It was unclear whether this relationship was causal or if natural disasters heightened existing risk factors. Further, it is inconclusive as to whether disasters create new cases of IPV or exacerbate existing violence. The majority of studies focused on hurricanes and earthquakes with a dearth of research on "slow onset disasters." These gaps represent the need for further research. Further research can provide a more thorough understanding of IPV and natural disasters, increasing stakeholders' ability to strengthen community capacity and reduce IPV when natural disasters occur.

The focal concerns perspective was developed to understand differential sentencing outcomes for minority defendants in the United States. Although the focal concerns perspective dominates empirical sentencing research, its application in Australia has limitations in understanding sentencing disparities of Indigenous defendants, especially around cultural and customary contexts. In Australia, this limitation is exasperated by jurisdictional nuances and that certain sentencing - like for domestic violence - requires consideration of cultural factors. Using content analysis, we examined the extent to which cultural and customary contexts were acknowledged within the sentencing remarks of 72 Indigenous spousal domestic violence defendants sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court between April 2015 to April 2016. We found limited acknowledgement of culture and customary practices for Indigenous defendants. Around a third of transcripts referred to Indigenous cultural factors. When cultural factors were identified, the impacts on sentencing were absent, superficial, or applied in a way to remove cultural meaning. Consequently, there was little evidence that sentencing courts adequately accounted for the unique experiences of Indigenous people. This can further marginalise Indigenous people, decrease the capacity for healing and rehabilitation at sentencing, and increase sentencing disparities. We consider plausible strategies for judicial decision-making processes that ensure cultural and customary contexts.

Purpose New ways of perpetrating relational aggression have been facilitated by the increased availability and adoption of technology for communication, resulting in growing cyberaggression rates over the past few decades. Few studies have examined whether perpetrators of cyberaggression are more likely to target friends or romantic partners (or both) and whether this differs across the gender of the perpetrator. This is the key focus of the current study. Design/methodology/approach Participants completed an online survey which assessed three types of cyberaggression (threatened to share secrets, shared secrets and posted embarrassing pictures) against friends and then also against romantic partners. The sample included 678 undergraduate university students who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the survey (72.6% female and 27.4% male, age range 18–50 years, average 21.7 and SD = 4.5). Findings The results of this study showed that a significantly higher proportion of males than females perpetrated cyberaggression against friends and romantic partners. In addition, a significantly higher proportion of males engaged in “general” cyberaggression (targeting both friends and romantic partners), whilst a higher proportion of females engaged in “selective” cyberaggression (targeting either friends or romantic partners). Originality/value Collectively, this study tells us that whilst there has been wide examination of cyberaggression more broadly, very few studies explore who perpetrators target (i.e. the victim–offender relationship), especially across gender of the perpetrator. The current study is original in that it asks perpetrators to report who they target and then examines gender differences in perpetration rates across victim–offender relationships.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) police liaison programs were established around Australia from the late 1980s onwards to ameliorate discriminatory relationships between LGBTIQ people and police. With specialized training to better understand LGBTIQ issues, police liaison officers can provide support to LGBTIQ people as victims, offenders, or witnesses. Interestingly, very few LGBTIQ people seek support from these officers, even though many know they exist. This paper reports the results of a survey of a sample of LGBTIQ community members across two Australian states (Queensland and New South Wales) that explored why LGBTIQ people seek support from LGBTI police liaison officers. An online questionnaire asked LGBTIQ people about their perceptions of, and experiences with, police generally, and LGBTI police liaison officers specifically. Similar to past research, our analysis primarily found high levels of awareness of liaison officers, but very few participants accessed them. Further, and concerningly, the participants were generally reluctant to seek them out for support. Key implications of our findings for policy and practice development in police and LGBTIQ community services are discussed.

This study examined public perceptions of sentencing severity for males convicted of domestic violence assault compared with non-domestic violence assault. Over the years, surveys have reported changes in community attitudes toward seeing domestic violence as a more serious issue and an increased understanding of what acts constitute a domestic violence offense (Carlson & Worden, 2005). This study aimed to (a) examine whether public perceptions of sentencing severity differ between domestic and non-domestic violence assault offenses committed under similar circumstances; and (b) whether these perceptions remain after adjusting for personal attitudes, victimization experiences, and sociodemographic factors. After reading vignette scenarios depicting domestic and non-domestic assault, 284 undergraduate students responded to a survey about their perceptions of appropriate sentence outcomes and length. Results found that regardless of participants’ punitiveness (and other factors), the manipulation of the victim–offender relationship was a significant predictor for judgments of sentencing severity. Notably, the results highlighted a leniency effect in the perceptions of participants toward perpetrators of domestic violence when compared with those who received the non-domestic violence scenario. These findings imply that undergraduate students judge domestic violence as less serious and hence not warranting as severe sentencing as non-domestic violence assault perpetrators. The study indicates that public perceptions of sentencing severity for domestic violence perpetrators are not consistent with the reported shift in public perceptions toward seeing domestic violence as a serious public issue. These findings highlight the importance of continued community education about domestic violence as well as the need to take care when considering engaging public opinion in sentencing practices for domestic violence perpetrators.

There is considerable debate in the literature about the nature and strength of the association between low empathy and aggression. This research aimed to contribute to this debate by comparing empathy as measured by the Basic Empathy Scale, a validated measure of both cognitive empathy (i.e. the ability to understand the emotions of others) and affective empathy (i.e. the ability to experience the emotions of others) to multiple forms of aggression, using a sample of 765 second-year Australian university students (mean age 21.5, SD = 4.6) enrolled in a criminology theory course. The results showed that males had significantly higher levels of physical and online aggression compared to females, but males and females did not differ in their levels of relational forms of aggression. However, females scored significantly higher on cognitive and affective empathy and also showed significantly greater self-control. For both males and females, most forms of aggression were independently predicted by low levels of self-control and low cognitive empathy, with a further suggestion that the interaction between these may be an important contributor. These findings suggest that approaches to reduce all forms of aggression may benefit from addressing the key components of low self-control (e.g. self-centredness, impulsive and risk-taking behaviour), and limitations in the ability to understand the emotions of others (i.e. cognitive empathy).

In this paper we seek to review the rapid rise in remand in custody rates in Australia. In particular, and in response, we ask and discuss three specific questions: 1. To what extent do defendants applying for bail have vulnerabilities? 2. To what extent can risk analysis tools that seek to predict breach of bail terms be relied upon? 3. To what extent can the emerging pre-trial services programs in Australia reduce remand in custody populations?