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Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) has been in operation in Australia since 1983, with a primary focus on reducing burglary, but its effectiveness has been questioned by both Australian and overseas research. An Australian study found NHW had limited value in combating burglary, leading to only modest decreases or having a displacement effect (Fleming 2005). Recently the Victorian police conducted a review of the program in their state (De Ridder & Johns 2007). NHW coordinators and volunteers were identified and sent terms of reference on six areas.

A Periodic Detention Order (PDO) is a community based sentencing option available to New South Wales courts that allows an offender to live within the community most of the time, keeping their job and family contacts, while serving a two day a week detention period, for up to three years (McHutchison 2006). As part of a PDO offenders may be required to undertake community service activities. PDOs are considered an important sentencing option for the courts as they can offer more reparative and rehabilitative opportunities than full time incarceration (McHutchison 2006).

The term 'youth gang' can refer to a group organised around illegal activity or a more benign group of youths who pass the time together. Although often seen as negative by others, gangs can provide positive experiences for some young people, giving support, security, opportunity for status, group identification and excitement, which they may not be getting otherwise. However, the general public and the local community may experience and fear real or perceived 'gang' activities such as street fighting, drug dealing and use, and violence in general.

The winners of the 2007 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards were announced on 23 October. The annual awards are sponsored by the heads of Australian governments and members of the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management - Police (MCPEMP) to recognise outstanding work in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime. The awards encourage public crime reduction initiatives and assist governments in developing practical projects to reduce crime in Australian communities. The 2007 national award category winners were:

End of school events, such as Schoolies Week, can attract large groups of unsupervised young people and are often accompanied by an increase in antisocial behaviour in an area (OCP 2007). When individuals, particularly young people, congregate, it is often a concern for members of the community and the prevention of group violence can pose policing and management challenges (White 2006). Strategies to reduce group misbehaviour for organised events include:

One of the roles of prisons is to provide an effective environment that reduces the risk of reoffending. Many offenders have education and skill levels well below the Australian average and are more likely to be unemployed, which has an impact on their health and ability to find housing. The introduction of vocational education and training (VET) programs as part of prisoner rehabilitation offers opportunities for offenders to reduce this disadvantage, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful re-integration into the community and reducing the risk of reoffending.

As the recently released government paper on homelessness stated, each night there are about 100,000 homeless Australians, of whom 23 percent are sleeping in temporary accommodation such as boarding houses and another 14 percent are 'sleeping rough', that is, in parks or on the streets. Among this number of homeless people are 10,000 children under the age of 12, over 36,000 young people aged between 12 and 24, and 6,000 people over the age of 65 (Australian Government 2008).

Improving the quality of programs to prevent youth crime is important to enhance outcomes for children and adolescents, to increase community perceptions of safety, and reduce crime. Diversion and community corrections programs are one form of early intervention designed to protect young offenders from the negative effects of incarceration, and to reduce stigma and negative peer influence. However, only high-quality programs will produce the best results.

In the aftermath of highly publicised terrorist attacks, since 2001 terrorism has emerged as a key concern for police and the community, according to a three-year Victorian study on counter-terrorism policing and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities (Pickering et al. 2007). People from CALD or distinct religious backgrounds are often the focus of counter-terrorism strategies. The study showed that the attention paid to CALD communities can make them feel vulnerable to increased police attention.

A Victorian study run over three years found that a community policing framework is essential to counter-terrorism policing (Pickering et al. 2007). This finding was based on consultations with both police and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, as CALD communities are often the focus of counter-terrorism strategies. The study found many challenges in engaging with CALD communities (AICrime reduction matters no. 68), and emphasised the need to build on existing practices and community networks.

The use of geographic information systems (GIS) has emerged as one of the most important developments in crime analysis and investigation in recent years. By combining geographic principles and geocoded (spatial) location data with crime data and criminological theories, GIS allow the analysis of crime incidents across time and space. Crime maps developed using GIS have typically been used for hot spot mapping at a local or jurisdiction level, such as to determine policing priorities and allocate crime prevention resources (Weir & Bangs 2007).

For businesses that operate outside normal trading hours, staff training is a primary strategy for armed robbery prevention, alongside ongoing improvements to technological security measures. Australian police websites provide prevention information based on the 'crime triangle' approach, which addresses the three aspects of an offender's willingness to commit a robbery: a suitable target, a motivated offender and the absence of a capable guardian (Cohen & Felson 1979).

Gamblers can often resort to criminal activity to support their chronic habit, fraud being one means of obtaining funds (Dohley 2000; Sakurai & Smith 2003). In Australia, it is estimated that 10 to 25 percent of problem gamblers commit gambling-related offences (Lahn 2005). A study of offenders on community corrections orders in the Australian Capital Territory found that, of those who reported problem gambling, 26 percent admitted that it contributed to their offending, and 46 percent said they had obtained money illegally to pay for gambling or related debts (Lahn 2005).

As AICrime reduction matters no. 72 highlighted, problem gamblers sometimes turn to fraud to fund their habit. It is therefore likely that early-intervention strategies to prevent problem gambling will prevent some fraud.

The annual Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA) were announced in October 2008 by the federal Minister for Home Affairs. The Awards, a joint initiative of the Australian, state, and territory governments, recognise outstanding community-based projects that prevent or reduce crime and violence. The winning projects, selected from a field of 67 nominated from around Australia, focused primarily on domestic and family violence, youth, and alcohol-related crime. Three national winners from the community sector were: