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Foreword | Another Trends & Issues paper (Prenzler 2011) identified key dimensions of welfare fraud in Australia and some of the social issues associated with efforts to reduce fraud. The present paper makes a more detailed examination of detection and prevention strategies, reporting on a range of initiatives that have been introduced progressively over the last three decades. These initiatives appear to be consistent with trends in comparable jurisdictions.

Foreword | Children's 'witnessing' or exposure to domestic violence has been increasingly recognised as a form of child abuse, both in Australia and internationally. Although it is difficult to accurately assess the scope of the problem, research has demonstrated that a substantial amount of domestic violence is witnessed by children. As this paper outlines, witnessing domestic violence can involve a range of incidents, ranging from the child 'only' hearing the violence, to the child being forced to participate in the violence or being used as part of a violent incident.

Foreword | As part of a global effort to fight mass-marketed consumer scams, each year consumer protection agencies in 33 western countries participate in a month of fraud prevention activities to raise awareness of the problem and to provide advice to consumers on how to avoid being victimised. In Australia and New Zealand, 19 government agencies comprise the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT), which conducted a campaign in March 2007 with the theme 'Scams target you - protect yourself'.

Foreword | Bushfire arson is an important issue in Australia, but studies analysing its prevalence and distribution are sparse and have focused on isolated areas or specific data collections.

Foreword | Carjacking literature is limited, and perceptions vary about the level of violence involved, diverse scenarios and the motivations of offenders. The media tends to overrepresent carjackings involving weapons and violence, although these are relatively rare incidents. Motivations range from instrumental triggers (where the car is used in some other crime) to acquisition for onselling the car or its parts. Similarly, methods vary from opportunistic to organised theft involving support.

Foreword | People who have been victimised by interpersonal violence have an increased risk of mental illness, and associated hospitalisation costs burden the Australian population. A paucity of data makes it difficult to develop appropriate preventative initiatives. This paper outlines a population-based study in Western Australia investigating mental illness in hospitalised victims due to interpersonal violence. Groups at risk of interpersonal violence include young people between 20 and 29 years old and Indigenous females.

Foreword | Investigating missing persons cases is a complex field. There is no single service responsible for the investigation or the provision of support to those who are found, or to the family and friends of missing persons. However, police services across Australia play a crucial role in responding to reports of missing people, complemented by non-government search agencies such as The Salvation Army and the Australian Red Cross.

Foreword | To examine factors affecting juror satisfaction with the jury experience and confidence in the criminal justice system, exit surveys were administered to 628 empanelled and 1,048 non-empanelled jurors in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Overall, empanelled jurors reported higher levels of satisfaction with the experience of jury service than non-empanelled jurors, while jurors in Victoria were significantly more satisfied with the comfort of the physical faculties than jurors in New South Wales or South Australia.

As of July 1, 2011 legislative changes to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and the Criminology Research Council (CRC) saw the AIC assume the responsibility for the annual CRC research grants which were re-named as the Criminology Research Grants program.

The AIC, through its Director (Chief Executive) is responsible for the annual Criminology Research Grants program – taking into account the advice and recommendations of the Criminology Research Advisory Council.

Foreword | Conferencing and cautioning are used as diversionary alternatives in the juvenile justice system and there is evidence to suggest they reduce reoffending. As Indigenous young people are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, an important question is whether they are as likely to be diverted as non-Indigenous young people.

Foreword | This paper examines the causes of wrongful imprisonment, the nature of losses and the applicability of international approaches and conventions. Definitions of wrongful conviction vary internationally, as do the circumstances and amount of compensation. Australian states and territories can make discretionary ex gratia payments, although determination of compensation amounts is unclear. Compensation levels for wrongful conviction in Australia are not as generous as tortious claims.

Foreword | In recent years there has been increasing concern about the prevalence of drug driving in Australia. Over the past four years, the majority of Australian states have introduced legislation that makes it an offence to drive with the presence of a range of drugs in the blood or saliva. Using data from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, this paper examines the prevalence of drug driving among a sample of police detainees in key sites in 2005 and 2006.

Foreword | This paper is the second in a series that examines the different components of the criminal justice response to trafficking in persons. Specifically, this paper seeks to identify some of the practical issues that may affect trafficking prosecutions, such as unclear legal frameworks, the transnational nature of trafficking, and reliance on often traumatised victims as witnesses who may also be unwilling or unable to participate in prosecutions.