1,721,001 research outputs found
Independent review of ACT Corrective Services\ud Alexander Maconochie Centre [Interim Report]
No full textUnder a Services Agreement dated 16th April 2010 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) engaged Knowledge Consulting Pty Ltd to conduct an independent review of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) in the ACT. The Review was commissioned following a motion passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly as follows:\ud
“That this Assembly:\ud
(1) notes:\ud
(a) concerns regarding the operation of the AMC;\ud
(b) the unanimous findings of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety report, Inquiry into the delay in the commencement of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre; and\ud
(c) the Government’s intention to have a review into the operation of the AMC after its first year of operation; and\ud
(2) calls on the Government to:\ud
(a) commission an independent reviewer to conduct the one year review into the AMC;\ud
(b) ensure that the review be open and transparent and public, and include input from community and non-government groups with an interest or involvement in the AMC, including on the terms of reference for the review;\ud
(c) ensure the review is completed in a timely manner and be tabled in the Legislative Assembly immediately upon completion; and\ud
(d) report upon the progress of the review in August 2010;
Sociopathic attitudes to road safety
No full textInjuries and deaths due to unsafe driving practices are a substantial health and socioeconomic burden to the community. Young socially disadvantaged males who are involved in a lifestyle of risky behaviour, crime and motor vehicle accidents seem unaffected by educational campaigns to improve safer driving. The aim is to develop a driving and social behavioural profile that may explain the lack of effectiveness of road safety advertising and suggest ways to refine educational strategies to reduce the risky lifestyle and associated harms among those most vulnerable, the 15-25 year olds. The procedure involved a quantitative and qualitative analysis through questionnaires, surveys and focus groups involving a comparison of populations (n = 668) by age, gender and socioeconomic status in three discrete Australian sites. Information gathered included issues related to road safety awareness, knowledge of advertising, personal and peer group attitudes as well as driving and life style history. The results indicate that within the community a highly visible profile of strong anti-social road safety activities by an educationally and economically disadvantaged sub-culture exists and this group seem impervious to road safety advertising and education initiatives. As the overall unsafe driving and risky antisocial behaviour is significant among 15-25 year olds within the community the solution is seen to be community based. A long-term (five to ten year) program has been posited; promoting community partnerships through consultative and local action committees at all levels creating locally designed formal and informal educational and mutual support programs
Habituation of deviant sexual arousal in sex offenders: The role of cognitive processes
No full textHabituation of sexual arousal to deviant fantasy in a sample of sex offenders was examined. In addition self-reports of attentional and affective states were monitored to observe if changes in these states parallelled shifts in sexual arousal. Eight male sex offenders were presented with a constant deviant erotic fantasy described on audiotape. The same fantasy (habituation stimulus) was presented for 18 trials within a session followed by a different fantasy (novel stimulation) and then the habituation stimulus was presented again. Penile tumescence and subjective reports were used to measure sexual arousal. Skin resistance was recorded, as well as self-reports of how vivid the images were and how absorbed participants became in the depicted fantasy. A repeated measures analysis of variance showed that penile tumescence was the only dependent variable to vary significantly across habituation trials. Penile tumescence increased over trials and was higher at the end of the series than at the beginning. Attentional and affective responses did not change significantly or parallel the shifts in penile tumescence across the 18 trials of repeated stimulation. There were no increases in penile tumescence during novel stimulation or following the reintroduction of the original fantasy. These results contrast with those reported by Kounkounas and Over (1993) for nonoffenders of decreases rather than increases in sexual arousal paralleled by shifts in attentional and affective states. The discrepant findings are discussed with reference to the role of cognitive processes and the possibility that there are fundamental differences in the way sex offenders and nonoffenders process the information in erotic fantasy
Drink driving after the first offence: Characteristics of offenders who continue to drink and drive
No full textDrink driving remains a significant problem on Australian roads, with about a quarter to a third of fatal crashes involving drivers or riders who have a BAC of 0.05 or greater. Last available data in the state of Queensland (2003) of the major factors involved in road fatalities and injuries indicated that alcohol and drugs were noted as one of the contributing factors in 38% of fatalities and 11% of all crashes, making it the highest single contributing factor to road fatalities. Until this point, there has been little information about first time offenders as a group, but it is known that offenders typically are not first time drink drivers but rather ‘first time apprehended’, in that most have engaged in drink driving in the years leading to the first offence. This paper follows 89 first time drink driving offenders who were interviewed at the time of court mention and followed up around 6 months following the court hearing. Of the offenders, 27% reported to have driven over the limit in the time between initial contact and follow up. The paper demonstrates the characteristics and offending patterns of first offenders who engaged in drink driving following conviction and those who didn’t, providing suggestions on how to target those at high risk for the behaviour and subsequent offending
The feasibility, delivery and cost effectiveness of drink driving interventions : a qualitative analysis of professional stakeholders
No full textMany intervention programs have been designed to decrease the rate of drink driving by altering the behavioural characteristics that may lead a person to drink and drive. However, most programs target high risk and repeat offenders. There is very little research on the feasibility and effectiveness of first offender programs. This project is part of a larger program of research that focuses on first time offenders, in order to reduce the rate of subsequent drink driving which may result in a repeat offence. A number of professional stakeholders were approached and interviewed with a view to capturing and reflecting current drink driving related concerns while developing an intervention in the context of Australian drink driving related legislation. The qualitative interviews involved open ended questioning which led to the themes discussed in the analysis. Included in the interviews were senior representatives from the Magistrates Court, Queensland Transport, Probation & Parole, Queensland Corrective Services, Royal Automobile Club Queensland (RACQ), Intraface Consulting (drug & alcohol EAP), Brisbane Police Prosecution Corps, Queensland Police Service and private practice psychology. Issues such as delivery of interventions, feasibility and cost-effectiveness were discussed, as were potential content and design. It was generally agreed that a tailored online intervention imposed as a sentencing option would be the most effective for first time offenders in terms of cost, ease of delivery and feasibility. The development of an online intervention program for first offenders is widely supported by professional stakeholders
Perspectives on the effectiveness of the late night liquor trading lockout legislative provision
No full textPurpose – A quantitative and qualitative investigation into the impact of a lockout policy on levels of alcohol-related offences in and around licensed premises in a major Australian region. \ud
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative analysis was initially employed to examine the incidents in and around late night liquor trading premises that required police attendance. First response operational police (n= 280) recorded all alcohol and non alcohol-related incidents onto modified police activity logs before and after the lockout policy was introduced (Gold Coast n = 12,801, Brisbane/Fortitude Valley n = 9,117). Secondly, a qualitative analysis approach was adopted to explore the perceptions of key personal among the various stakeholders (e.g., Hotel Owners, Security Staff & Taxi Drivers) involved with, or affected by the lockout policy (n = 24).\ud
Findings – Chi-square analyses of the prevalence of incidents before and after implementation of the lockout policy demonstrated that the number of alcohol-related offences requiring police attention was significantly proportionally lower for some policing areas and offences. The qualitative analysis revealed that while Hotel and Nightclubs Owners/Operators were initially opposed to the lockout policy they now report some benefits. Some of the benefits include, improved patron safety and the development of better business strategies to increase patron numbers. Originality/value - The findings of the study provide supportive evidence that this novel problem oriented policing lockout initiative can be beneficial for public safety and in reducing some types of offences in particular areas in and around late night liquor trading premises
Policing and preventing alcohol-related violence in and around licensed premises
No full textThis paper reports on the impact of a lockout policy on levels of alcohol-related offences in and around licensed premises. The lockout policy prevents patrons from entering or re-entering late night trading licensed premises for a specific period prior to closure. A modified police activity log was utilised by all first response operational police to record their attendance at incidents in and around licensed premises. Chi-square analyses of the prevalence of incidents before and after implementation of the lockout policy demonstrated that the number of alcohol-related offences requiring police attention was significantly proportionally lower following the liquor trading changes. Alcohol-related offences, particularly those related to disturbances and sexual offences were significantly reduced following the introduction of the lockout policy. However, while offences related to property, stealing and assault experienced a reduced trend, these did not reach significance. In contrast, traffic offence rates were unchanged. The findings of the study provide supportive evidence that lockout initiatives have potential as a major crime prevention technique to reduce specific types of alcohol-related offences
Parliamentary inquiry into alcohol-related violence
No full textAlcohol consumption has been a popular leisure activity among Australian since European Settlement. Australians currently consume 7.2 litres per capita pure alcohol and Australia in regards to alcohol consumption is ranked as the 22nd highest country of 58 countries. Although the alcohol industry has provided leisure, employment and government taxes, alcohol use has also become associated with chronic health problems, crime, public disorder and violence. Drunken and disorderly behaviour is commonly associated with Pubs, Clubs and Hotels, particularly in the late night entertainment areas.\ud
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Historically, drunkenness and disorderly behaviour has been managed by measures such as floggings, jail and treatment in asylums. Alcohol has also been banned in specific areas and restrictions have applied to hours and days of operation. In more recent times alcohol policies have included extended trading hours, restricted trading hours and bans in some Aboriginal communities in order to reduce alcohol-related violence. Community and business partnerships in and around licensed premises have also developed in order to address the noise, violence and disorderly behaviour that often occurs in the evenings and early mornings.\ud
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There is an urgent need for the government to be more robust about implementing effective alcohol control policies in order to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of alcohol
Developing a uniform national approach to managing drink driving offenders
No full textAlthough the need for uniform national laws in a number of areas has been well recognized (e.g. commercial transactions, consumer credit and gun control), drink driving penalties, police enforcement and drink driver rehabilitation/education programs vary across Australian states and territories. Given the national success of breath analysis concentration limits (BAC) and random breath analysis (RBT) in reducing crash fatalities it may be possible to further reduce alcohol-related driving deaths by developing a uniform national approach based on best practice to manage drink driving offenders. The current drink driving legislation, penalties and rehabilitation programs across Australia will be discussed in this paper as a preliminary step towards examining the most effective drink driving prevention model
A comparative analysis of the nature and extent of traffic offences and their relationship to other non-traffic offences
No full textThis study examined the relationship between traffic offences and other types of crime through a comparative analysis of their characteristics and temporal/spatial dynamics. The results suggest that serious traffic offences, disturbances and offences against the person share similar characteristics and occur in concentrated places at similar times. This gives credence to the notion suggested by other studies (Broughton 2003; Rose, 2000; Sugg, 1998) that there is an association between serious traffic offending and general criminality. The findings demonstrate the value of place based theories of crime and indicate that targeting specific criminal offences at times and places through problem oriented policing may have potential for reducing serious traffic offences. The authors suggest a more comprehensive model to explain the relationship between traffic offending and criminality
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