Assault is by far the most common type of violent crime in Australia. In 2010, there were 171,083 assaults compared with 17,757 sexual assaults, 14,582 robberies and 260 homicides (AIC 2011). As shown in Figure 1, compared with the rate of offending recorded in 1996–97, assault offending has increased substantially.
Figure 1 Male and female assault offending, 1996-97 and 2009-10, (rate per 100,000 relevant persons) [see attached PDF for graph]
The murder/manslaughter of international visitors in Australia can have significant implications for Australian international relations. In particular, the questions about international visitor safety that can follow after news of murder can have far-reaching consequences for a range of important economic sectors, such as tourism and international student education.
Trafficking in persons is a crime that impacts many countries around the world, including Australia. Internationally, trafficking in persons crimes are prohibited under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (the Trafficking Protocol), supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational and Organized Crime.
The decision to use a firearm in a police operation is one of the most critical a police officer can make and ‘no other single issue has the potential to destroy the relationship between the police and the community like the use by police of deadly force’ (McCulloch 1991: 160).
This handbook was commissioned by the New South Wales Department of Attorney General and Justice and prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Joanne Baker and Emma Worthington from the New South Wales Department of Attorney General and Justice for their valuable input and feedback.
© Crown in right of the State of New South Wales (Department of Attorney General and Justice)
Changes in illicit drug availability have been shown to impact users’ alcohol and other drug consumption. In late 2000 and early 2001, Australia experienced a sudden and dramatic reduction in the supply of heroin which has continued to the present date. This shortage has been attributed to, at least in part, supply-side reduction strategies undertaken by law enforcement (Weatherburn et al. 2003).
Indigenous people (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians) are disproportionately victims and offenders in homicide incidents both in relation to their relative proportion of the Australian population and in comparison with their non-Indigenous counterparts. In 2011–12, Indigenous people comprised three percent of the Australian population (ABS 2009; ABS 2012) yet constituted 13 percent of homicide victims (n=35) and 11 percent of homicide offenders (n=32; Bryant & Cussen 2015).
In 2003, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) published a report that drew attention to the characteristics of domestic/family homicide based on the differing family relationships between victims and offenders (Mouzos & Rushforth 2003). Over the 13 years of data examined for that report (ie 1 July 1989 to 30 June 2002), there were, on average, 129 domestic/family homicide victims each year (between 32 and 47 percent of all homicides annually).
In Australia, random breath testing (RBT) was introduced in the mid-1970s to detect drivers under the influence of alcohol (Baldock & Woolley 2013). This resulted in a reduction in fatal crashes and alcohol-related traffic accidents across Australia (Drummond, Sullivan & Cavallo 1992; Henstridge, Homel & Mackay 1997; Watson & Freeman 2007). The success of RBT can be explained through the classic deterrence doctrine, which suggests that decision-making is influenced by the perception of whether the benefits of the crime outweigh the risks of being caught (Homel 1988).
There has been considerable growth in the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in public spaces as a crime prevention measure and, increasingly, as a tool to detect and identify offenders. In Australia, CCTV systems have become an increasingly common fixture in urban centres, in shopping centres and malls, individual shops and banks, on public transport and in car parks.
Fraud against the Commonwealth is defined as ‘dishonestly obtaining a benefit or causing a loss, by deception or other means’. This definition is set out in the current Commonwealth Resource Management Guide (no. 201) Preventing, detecting and dealing with fraud, issued by the Australian Government Minister for Justice (2014).
The advent of the Internet has created opportunities for the global exchange of information and purchase of goods and services. However, it has also facilitated the creation of online illicit drug markets and forums in which drug-related information can be exchanged between users. Bruno, Poesiat & Matthews (2013) reported that illicit drug-specific search terms (such as cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogens and high) were used, on average, 39,700 times per month in the Google search engine in Australia.
Methamphetamine is of national concern (ACC 2014), but what does this statement mean to frontline police officers? In real terms it means that frontline police are required, on an increasingly frequent basis, to engage with methamphetamine users. This presents a number of challenges to police. First, methamphetamine intoxication and withdrawal can impede an individual’s ability to follow police directions. Second, use is associated with behavioural and psychological disturbances, including aggression, which can increase the risk of harm for the police and members of the community.