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Introduction To Criminology & Criminal Justice - Lecture notes

- Exam Notes - Lecture notes, lectures 1 - 13

Introduction To Criminology & Criminal Justice (Griffith University)

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Introduction to Crime and

Criminal Justice
Module 1: Introduction

Criminology

 Scientific, multidisciplinary field

- Sociology, psych, geography, law, political science
 Study of;
- Characteristics of criminal law
- Extent of crime
- Effects of crime on victim and community
- Crime prevention
- Attributes of offenders
- Characteristics of CCJ
 Define crime as acts/omissions that cause public harm, forbidden by law or punishable by
law
 Crime is a social construction: varies across time and place

Sources of Crime Knowledge

 Formal
- Official stats, research studies, administrative data
 Informal
- Personal experience, experience of relatives and friends, media
 Inconsistencies between official research and media portrayal

Criminal Justice System

 Function: bring offenders before court for adjudication and sentencing

 Aims of Sentencing:
- Retribution: pay back
- Restitution: compensation
- Deterrence: specific vs general deterrence
- Incapacitation: restrict offenders access to victims
- Rehabilitation: therapeutic programs
 Components:
- Policing
- Courts
- Corrections
 Legitimisation
- CJS control behaviour defined as unlawful and has a power of citizens
- Power is legitimised as the vast majority of citizens approve the power and restrictions in
freedom in return of social stability and regulation
- Maintain balance of civil liberties and social control

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- Formal mechanism of social control only in cases where informal agencies have
inadequately socialised people

Module 2: Perception, Facts and Fallacies

Crime News

 Volume of crime news varies over time and place and is influenced on how crime is defined
- If crime defined narrowly, less crime news
- If crime defined broadly, more crime news
 Media is the primary source of indirect knowledge
- The way crime is reported influences the perception of crime
- Selectivity of media
 Crime news is for profit
- Government media: SBS, ABC
- Community media: channel 31 (funded by government and content by unpaid
volunteers)
- Commercial media: Murdoch (newspapers), Fairfax (newspapers and radio), Kerry Stokes
(channel 7), Packer (Channel 9 and 10) and Gordons (regional TV stations)

Selectivity

 Newsworthiness
 Focus on certain types of crime and portray as a greater threat
 Agenda Setting: presenting crime to increase urgency in policy makers
 Moral Panic: condition, person or group of people emerge as defined threat to societal
values and interest

Newsworthiness

 Prominence: more prominent individuals/organisations, more news worthy (famous

people/organisations)
 Timeliness: recent crimes reported more and present crimes as an isolated event
 Impact: stories with greater impact on audience and greater range of people
 Proximity: geographically and/or emotionally close to the audience
 Novelty: bizarre and unusual events, portrayed as more common
 Conflict: conflict between 2+ parties
 Contemporaneousness: fits in with current events or public interest and links unrelated
stories
 Human interest: highlight positive aspect of human behaviour

Media Influence

 Effects model: people directly influenced by media

- Passive/uncritical consumers
- Unquestionably believe
 Functionalist model: active participants of media consumption
- Consume media for gratification
 Institutionalist model: subjective interpretation mediated by experience and perception

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- View media as powerful institution of social control (shapes social views and reinforce
community attitudes)

Crime Media Frames

 Framing: set point of views and assist in presenting news stories in a limited time/space
- Organising a news story
- Define problem, diagnose cause, make moral judgement and suggest remedies
- Easy to understand view of the problem
 Faulty Criminal Justice frame: people commit crime due to an ineffective CJS, lenient CJS or
the CJS is too focussed on offenders rights
 Blocked opportunities: crime result of people not being able to participate in society due to a
lack of opportunities
 Social Breakdown: crime result in a breakdown of social and moral values
 Racist system: crime result of racial/ethnic discrimination
 Violent media: crime result of consuming violent media
- Represented along other frames

Module 3: Defining and Measuring Crime

What is Crime?

 Crime varies across time, culture and belief

 Socially, politically and morally constructed
 Agreement on core crimes, less agreement on political and moral crimes
 Some crimes lack public legitimacy
- Under enforced
 Definitions of crime
- Dictionary based: cause public harm, forbidden by law or punishable by law
- Legal: acts of commissions or omissions
- Human rights: cause harm and infringe on human rights (broad)

Categories of Crime

 Hierarchy
- Indictable: serious
- Non indictable: less serious (Summary offence)
 Regulatory/administrative offences
- Enforced by police: traffic, drugs
- Enforced by other agencies: tax, environment, corporate, copyright
 Private offences
- Car accident, negligence, trespass

Criminalisation

 Over criminalisation
- Street crime, public order offences, process offences
- Anti-bikie laws
- Anti-terrorism
 Under criminalisation

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- DV
- White collar
- Environmental

Harms

 Harms criminal and enforced

- Core crimes, street crimes, money laundering, sex offences etc.
 Harms criminal and under enforced
- DV, corporate crime
 Harms regulated but not criminal
- Misleading consumer practise, tobacco and alcohol, legal drugs
 Harms not regulated
- Political misuse of entitlements, workplace bullying, military atrocities

Administrative Data

 Police data: reflect reported offences

- Results in a dark figure of crime: unreported/undetected crime
 Court data: how people are arrested and flow through the CJS and penalties they receive
- Magistrates: less serious offences and penalties less severe
- Number of matters lodged and finalised in a given period
- Counts prosecution
- Difference in metrics (number of defendants and number of charges)
 Corrections data: characteristics and sentences of offenders
- Custodial sentences only

Alternative Sources

 Victim surveys: how many people victims, repeat victimisation and whether they reported
 Offender self-report: quantifying unreported/undetected offences
 Population survey: how many people commit crime, type and frequency and characteristics
of offender
 Observational study: observing crime under investigation in a natural setting

Module 4: Prevalence

History

 Feudalism  capitalism  industrialism

 High levels of crime in Britain, overflow in prisons so worst sent to Sydney
 19th century: high level of conventional crime (declined after)

Violent Crime

 20% crime in Australia (declined since 19 th/18th century)

 Homicide: 1.2 per 100, 000 (stable)
- 2013: 273 homicides in Aus., 91% murder and 9% manslaughter
 Sexual assault: increasing (increased reporting)
 Robbery: declining
 Kidnapping/abduction: 2.6 per 100, 000

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Property Crime

 Increased in 70s/80s, stable in 90s and declined in 2000s

- Increase in propensity, decrease in unemployment, increase in crime prevention
 Unlawful entry with intent (UEWI): 879 per 100, 000
 Motor vehicle theft: 229 per 100, 000
 Other theft: 2007 per 100 000

International Rates

 Comparison is difficult
- Different definitions, counting rules and victim reporting rates
- Changes of law
 Homicide
- Mexico (highest): 18 per 100 000
- Iceland (lowest)
- Australia (middle): 1.2 per 100 000
- Mean: 4 per 100 000
 Rape
- Australia (highest): 90 per 100 000
- Japan (lowest)
 Burglary
- Denmark (highest)
- Estonia (lowest)
- Australia (highish): 1000 per 100 000

Financial Costs

 Medical costs: victims (not mental health) – low

 Lost output: work, property – high
 Intangible costs: pain, suffering, lost quality of life – high
 Transfer of resources: stolen from victim, insurance claims – high
 Crime in proportion of crime
- Fraud (highest): 81%
- Violence: 14%
- Burglary: 13%
- Violent crimes: higher cost, less incidents
- Property crimes: lower cost, more incidents
 Dealing with crimes
- CJS (highest)
- Provision of victims (low)
 Harm perspective
- Terrorism: 0 fatalities and injuries, financial cost $6.3b, heavy law enforcement
- Traffic: 16k fatalities and 432k injuries, financial cost $196b, light law enforcement

Offender Characteristics

 Age: 15-19 yrs. highest (juvenile) – property offences mainly

 Sex: male (4X more than female)
- 92% prison population is male
- Female offending: higher for fraud and financial crimes (on rise due to equality changes)

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 Drug
- 61% detained for violent offences tested pos for drugs
- 81% for property offences
 Race
- Minorities more likely to be incarcerated
- Indigenous Aus. over represented in the criminal justice system: public offences and
assault
- Colonisation, desperation and declining cultural heritage
 Class
- 50% prisoners were unemployed at time of offence
- Prisoner education lower than general population
- Low SES: street offences and property offences
 Youth
- Most offending in mid-late adolescents and subside early adulthood
- Rebelliousness and mischief
- Between 12-18 parental influence wanes and peer influence increases
- Occur in public places (street crime) and not serious
- Persistence offenders (rare): more serious
- Young people also more likely to be victims as engage in risky behaviours

Victim Characteristics

 1.5mill households of household crime: mostly one incident (some repeat)

 Men main victims
- Female main victim of sexual assault
 Significant proportion committed by family member
- Assault: 9.3% male and 30.9% female knew perpetrator
- Sexual Assault: 72.3% male and 70.6% female
 Age: mid to late teens
- In riskier situations and places
 Personal crime (equal for male and female) victimisation
- Physical assault: once
- Threat/assault: 3+
- Robbery: once
 Repeat victimisation
- Small number of repeat offender which account for disproportionate percent of crimes
- Small number of repeat victims which account for disproportionate percent of crimes
- Risk increases following victimisation: repeats swift with limited opportunities for
intervention, hot spots, offenders tell other offenders, same offenders return, victim
looks vulnerable
- ¼ victims victimised 3+ times
- ½ male assault victims 2+ times; 60% female assault victims 2+ times
- Lower for property crime
 Risky places
- Home: 67.3% sexual assaults and 65.1% murders
- Community: 20.7% murders
- Transport nodes: assault
- Residential areas: break and enter
- Crime mapping

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- Hot spots: highlight crime prone areas

Module 5: Street Crime VS Violent Crime

Street Crime

 Non serious offending (more common)

- Graffiti/vandalism
- Prostitution
- Common assault
- Street level robbery
- Low level drugs
- Good order offences
 Consume a significant amount of police time and resources
 53% prisoners serving time for street offences
 Cluster in spatial and temporal hot spots
- Night and weekend
- Street assaults: nightclub, transit stations
- Result of environmental, situational and social features
- Police target hot spots: problem orientated approaches

Violent Crime

 Negligent, intentional or reckless acts against a person

- Can be physical or non-physical
 Types
- Homicide
- Sexual assault
- Assault
- Robbery
- Kidnapping/abduction
- Domestic violence
 Homicide is a good indication on level of violent crime as it is always reported/recorded
 Risk Factors
- Indigenous 4X more likely
- Male 20-24
- Vulnerable (young or elderly)
- Unemployed
- Male: single; Female: partnered
- Residential setting
- Majority victimised by someone they know
- Cultural attitudes

Domestic Homicide

 Death of a family member or other person from a domestic relationship

 39% if all homicides are from domestic relationship
 Types
- Intimate partner homicide

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- Parricide: victim is a parent

- Siblicide: siblings
- Filicide: victim is a child
 Number of victims
- IPH: highest (60-80 of homicides)
- Filicide: 20-30
- Parricide: 10-20
- Siblicide: lowest
 Filicide
- Parent offender: 69% of child homicides (custodial), 15% of child homicides (non-
custodial)
- Neonaticide (<1 day): offended by biological mother (young, unmarried, and unwanted
child); fear, concealment, isolation, denial, dissociation and panic; occurs by asphyxiation
- Altruistic: mother believes death of child is in its best interest; presence of mental illness;
lack of social support; intent
- Fatal child abuse: perpetrated by fathers or stepfathers; impulsive acts; history of child
abuse; no intent; shaking/blunt force/throwing
- Spouse revenge: anger towards spouse displaced on child; control/power; intent

Intimate Partner Homicide

 Prevalence
- 23% of all homicides (Aus.); 14% of all homicides (worldwide)
- 7.9% victims male; 45.6% victims female
 Risk Factors (Partner)
- History of domestic violence: increasing in severity and/or frequency
- Criminal history
- Alcohol and substance abuse
- Jealousy
- Controlling
- Suicide threat
 Risk factors (Victim)
- Isolated (no social support)
- Fear
- Actual/pending separation (child custody issues)
 Risk assessment: assess degree of harm likely to ensue
- Improve protection and intervention
- Predictive validity: accuracy with which a test predicts a particular outcome
- Predicted outcome vs actual outcome

Module 6: White Collar Crime

Definitions

 30s-40s: term first used when studying offending by business men

- Defined as crimes committed by a person of respectability and high social status in
course of occupation

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 Elite deviance: difference between crime committed by the powerful and upper class
opposed to street crime
 Can breach criminal and regulatory law
 Types
- Occupational
- Corporate
- State
- Financial
- Environmental
- Workplace safety
- Computer and tech
- Consumer scams
 Based on three things
1. Legitimate occupation
2. Financial/status gain
3. No direct violence

Extent

 Hard to determine
- Invisible crime
- No single agency responsible for collecting and reporting data
- Many forms not classified as a crime
- A lot goes unreported

Impact

 1997 (US): 3-4b on street crimes VS 40b on white collar crime

 2004: true cost in US estimated $250b
 Indirect costs most significant and effect large number of people
- Illness
- Loss of families and economy
- Loss to tax payers
- Loss of consumer savings
- Loss of consumer confidence

Response

 History
- White collar largely ignored
- Past 30 yrs. increase in public protection and addressing white collar crime
 Smart Regulation
- Strategies to identify and stop white collar crime
- Agency performance evaluated
- Increase in powers to detect, prevent and deter: public prosecution, proactive auditing
and providing assistance and advice

Issues

 Tension between protecting customers and too much regulation

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 What proportion of regulatory should focus on consumer complaints versus proactive

prevention strategies
 Under resourcing and extensive workload

Internet Crime

 Types
- Computer focuses: only can commit crimes due to existence of internet (hacking,
viruses)
- Computer enabled: internet assists crimes which can be done with or without computers
(fraud, theft)
- Online version of old crimes
 Policing
- Crimes don’t fit traditional definitions
- Internet changes quickly so laws can’t keep up
- Need specialised areas
- Cross jurisdictional boundaries
 Reporting
- Most goes unreported
- Victims don’t realise, embarrassment or don’t know who to report to
- Aus. cybercrime Survey 2015: 45% didn’t report (60% no benefit, 22% person wouldn’t
get caught and 22% didn’t want negative reporting)
 Reporting Agencies
- AFP and state police
- CERT
- ACCC – scams
- Aus. cybercrime security centre: raise awareness of cyber security, nature and extent of
cyber threats, encourage reporting, analyse cyber threats
- Aus. cybercrime online reporting network: collate all data together
 Cost
- $234mill of self-reported financial loss by victims of cybercrime in Aus.
- Global: $375b - $575b annually
- Aus.: $1.2b annually in DIRECT costs
 Extent
- 2013: 5mill Aus. victims of cybercrime in 12 months
- 2014: 57% of Aus. businesses (2nd most common economic crime)
- 2015: 50% businesses recorded at least one incident in 12 months and 5% reported
more than 10 incidents
 Scams
- Dating and romance (number 1): $27m (41% lose money)
- False websites: $2m (65.4% lose money)
 Victim characteristics
- No gender variance
- Age: 20-39 (40%) and 40-59 (40%)
- People under 20 lost most money; people 20-29 lost least
 Offender characteristics
- Largest threat overseas
- Increase in Australian based criminals
 Prevention

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- Increased efforts by government and industry to disrupt internet scams

- Minimise reputable platforms and services for scam activity
- Prevent scammers from communicating to their targets
- Interrupt sending funds
- Educate consumers that use illegitimate services

Module 7: Psychological Theories of Crime

Rule of Theory

 Scientific method: testing theories

 Provides explanations and predictions for criminal behaviour
 Testable

Theory types

 Set of Law: set of rules which are widely accepted

- Extensive testing
 Axiomatic: based on a statement that describes a phenomena
 Causal process: causal mechanisms for a theory
- Cause and effect
 General: explain crime for general public
- Underlying cause
 Typological: typical precursors of offending

History

 1870s – 1920s: single factor reduction approach

- Internal characteristics for criminal behaviour
 1940s – 1960: multiple factor approach
- What factors predicted offending
 1950s – 2000: sustending reductionism
- Reduce explanation of crime to single disciplinary system
- Sociological theory
 21st century: integrated theories
- Input from multiple disciplines

Psychology

 How an individual think, feel and behave

 Intrapersonal characteristics and environment – situation interaction model
- Individuals and situations vary in crime
- Intrapersonal characteristics vary
- Instability leads to change in situational violence
- Instability and situational crime

Biological Theories

 Heredity: genetic variance link to criminality (genetic)

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- Twin adoption studies: compare identical twins to fraternal twins

- Concordance rate: if twins exhibit same characteristic
- Intergenerational transmission: crime in family tree
- Limitation: environmental factor
 Neurobiological development: change in life increase/decrease involvement in crime
- Adolescents: physical development faster than neurobiological development
 Neurological impairment: (brain injury)
- Substance abuse
- Toxins
- Brain injury: certain areas damaged increase hostility and aggression
 Evolution: species designed that genes survive (survival of the fittest)
- Archaic theory: characteristics with antisocial behaviour and mate with many so genes
survive
- Stable: fewer partners but invest heavily in genes to ensure survival

Behavioural Theories

 Classical conditioning: accidental association leads to learned behaviour

- Unconscious behaviour phobia and food intolerance
- Unconditioned stimulus leads to an unconditioned response
- Neutral stimulus: no special response can be detected
- Neutral and unconditioned: neutral triggers unconditional response
 Operant conditioning: reinforcement and punishment
- Reinforcement: increase likelihood behaviour repeated
- Punishment: decrease likelihood behaviour repeated
- Negative: removal of stimulus
- Positive: response after behaviour (punishment or reinforcement)

Social Learning theory

 Behavioural and cognitive theories

 Response mechanism: stimulus provided and person responds
 Modelling behaviour: watch behaviour and respond with feedback
 Aggressive modelling (Bandura)
 Vicarious learning: people pay attention to consequences of behaviour
- Reward or punishment – operant
- Internalisation and self-reinforcement – justifications
 Limitations: doesn’t interpret individual factors

Situational Theory

 Based in situation in which people find themselves

 Rational choice theory, situation indicators and typologies
 Rational choice theory: weigh up costs and benefits
- Crime occurs when benefit outweigh cost
 Situational precipitators: situations put pressure on people to behave a certain way
- Prompts
- Pressure: social pressure, conformity
- Permission: situation gives permission to act a certain way
- Provocations: situations arouse and provoke people

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 Typologies: characteristics of person which will react in a situation

- Antisocial predictors: actively seek opportunities to offend (constantly weigh up benefits
vs costs)
- Mundane: resist temptation to offend but will take opportunity if presented
- Provoked: response to situational provocation

Social Ecological Theory

 Influenced by systems where we are located

- Social
- Personal
- Socioeconomic
 Proximal systems exert more influence
 Dependant on age/stage of development
 Youth Offenders
- Personal: impulsivity
- Social: family conflict, antisocial friends
- Socioeconomic: social disadvantage/disorganisation

Mental Disorders

 People with mental illness more at risk of being a victim than offender
- More likely risk to themselves than others
 Psychopathy: behavioural and personality features
- Behavioural: antisocial, pathological lying, parasitic
- Personality: callous, lack empathy, lack remorse

Module 8: Sociological Theories of Crime

Durkheim and Anomie (breakdown of social norms)

 Durkheim 1800s: rapid social change

- Societies placed along a continuum of organised societies (mechanic) to complex
disorganised (organic)
- Mechanical (primitive): small isolated social groups who are self sufficient
 Social order (solidarity)
- Mechanical: conformity of members
- Organic: law regulates interactions and crime occurs when regulation is weak
 Anomie: breakdown of social norms
- Social norms are weak and lose control of people
- Leads to problems and deviance
 Functionalism: crime is normal in society and has benefits
- Makes it clear what behaviours are unacceptable
- Highlights social causes of crime
- Create solidarity

Social Ecology (crime mapping)

 Concept of anomie to explore social disorganisation

 Shaw and McKay: effect of mass immigration on disorder of crime

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- Crime mapping: concentric zones

- Central zones 1 and 2 (CBD and transition): highest level of crime
- Outer zones: law abiding and crime less prevalent
- Immigration disrupted processes of social control and resulted in social disorganisation

Structural Strain (goals and means)

 Social system and social norms

 Society emphasises goals (wealth) which are attained by legitimate means (education and
employment)
 Imbalance of societal goals and means result in strain and deviance
 Members response
- Conformity: accept goals and means (common)
- Ritualism: accept means and reject goals (lower standards)
- Retreatism: reject goals and means and become socially marginalised (homeless,
outcast)
- Rebellion: reject goals and means and replace with new ones
- Innovation: accept goals but not means (crime)
 Describes economic crime rather than violent ones
 Social structural strain: inequality in society discrimination against lower class

Social Control Theory (attachment to society)

 Asks why people don’t commit crime

 Hirchi: society places restraints on behaviour by social norms
- Norm breakdown results in crime (anomie)
- People tightly tied to society, less likely to commit crime
- Offending when bonds to society is weak or broken
 Social Bonds
- Attachment: members of society, internalisation of social norms
- Commitment: to cultural goals (work, religion, school)
- Belief in society’s rules: increase likelihood of obeying
- Involvement: frequently engaging in conventional activities and social institution

Conflict Theory (competition of different groups)

 Based on functionalist theory

 Various groups in society have conflicting interests, needs and values
- Conflict arise when competition for power and resources
 Marx group of theories
- Pluralist: society composed of different groups which compete to advance their own
interests
- Class: society composed of powerful (capitalist) and powerless (workers); pyramid view
of society with small powerful at top and majority powerless at bottom; majority must
compete for resources
 Low SES class arrested for visible street crime where high SES commit less visible crimes
 Discriminatory enforcement of law

Feminist Theory

 70s: importance of gender to criminology

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 Women afforded less power in society and disadvantaged

 Understanding of DV, sexual violence and gendering of social control
 Strands
- Radical feminism
- Literal feminism

Symbolic Interactionism

 Locate cause of crime in group interactions

- Interactions influence perception
- George Mead: behaviour is a product of social circumstances and perception of the
circumstances
 Differential Association (Sutherland) – white collar crime
- Criminal behaviour is learned by interaction with other people
- Learn techniques and specific direction (moral codes: favourable or unfavourable)
- Crime occurs when excess favourable in violation of the law
 Social Learning Theory (Acers)
- Examine content and process of what is learned
- Operate and classical conditioning
- Criminality seeks out other criminals and learns from them
 Labelling (Becker)
- Negative social reactions to criminal behaviour
- Primary deviance: random criminal behaviour
- Secondary deviance: negative reaction to primary deviance becomes a stable behaviour
(person labelled with negative terms)
 Neutralism (Shyse and Matza)
- People engage in crime when they drift and neutralise social expectations
- Learned techniques of neutralisation by other delinquents
1. Denial of responsibility
2. Denial of injury
3. Denial of victims
4. Condemnation of condemners
5. Appeal to higher loyalties

Integration theory

 Integration approaches: more than 2 theories account for greater amount of criminal
behaviour
 Agnew: combine structural strain, social control theory and social learning theory to explain
why offending occurs at adolescence

Module 9: Policing

History

 Prior to 1829: private and poorly paid

 1829: introduction to paid police (New Police)
- Crime prevention, detection and punishment
- Visible, patrolled on foot, unarmed

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 Detective units and specialist groups

 Australian policing
- Own police agencies for each state and AFP
- Males with height and weight restrictions
- 2010-2011: 51000 police officers

Purpose

 Deter crime
 Alternative to military
 Gatekeepers for the CJS

Roles

 Attend disturbances
 Patrol
 Traffic control
 Crime investigation
 Maintain public relation

Discretion

 Decision making: professional autonomy to make decisions about the right course of action
 Conflicting views
- Necessary fairness and justice
- Bias, unfairness and inconsistencies

Occupational culture

 Long process of socialisation before and after joining the service – anticipatory socialisation
 On the job influences
 Adapting to work: stress, deal with people and unclear boundaries
 Making sense of operational style
 Cope with adjustment to pressure and tensions

Portrayal

 Hero
 Lover
 Social and ideological truths

Political Volatility

 Police in liberal democracy

 Government on good terms with police unions
 Face of state authority

Models of Policing

 Community policing (1980s)

- Building partnerships between police and community to reduce crime
- Neighbourhood watch etc.
 Problem orientated policing
- Target and solve specific problem

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- Utilising research evidence to analyse the problem and develop evidence based
strategies
 Intelligence led policing
- Effective intelligence gathering to identify high risk people and places
- Risk based models: police resources directed at riskiest people

Specialist agencies

 Conventional policing: crime detection

- Aus. customs and border protection
 Facilitative functions: information sharing, training and research
- Crimtac
 Financial regulation and consumer protection
- ACCC
 National
- ACC, ACBP
 Jurisdiction specific
- Crime and corruption commission QLD
 National crime authority 1984
- Organised crime
- Independent skilled agencies with special powers
 Parliamentary and intergovernmental committees
- Oversee and coordinate activities between agencies

Public and Private Security

 Private: security
- Number of security greater than police
- Same power as general citizens and power derived from property owner
- Licences, training and history checks
- Financial goals
 Public: police
- Additional powers
- State government recruits

Police Misconduct

 Greater in policing due to extensive powers and potential for corruption and abuse of power
 Criticism for failing
- Neglect victims of DV, discriminatory, over policing subgroups

Module 10: Criminal Courts

Function

 Factual: facts of matter via evidence

 Legal: apply law to evidence
 Operative: ensure court operates effectively

Hierarchy

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 Magistrates (minor matters – max 3 yrs. imprisonment)  district (serious matters) 

supreme (most serious matters – murder/manslaughter)  court of appeal (appeals from
district and supreme)  high court
 Federal circuit court  federal court of Aus.  high court

Processing Offenders

 Charge: summons, arrest, bail

 Pre Trial
 Adjudication: determination of guilty
- Ave time spent determining guilt: 23.6 seconds
 Sentencing
- More time on sentencing than determining guilt

Sentencing purposes

 Retribution: receive just desserts

 Restitution: compensate
 Deterrence: specific and general
 Rehabilitation: change offender
 Denunciation: certain behaviour deemed unacceptable
 Incapacitation: prevent offender from continuing offence

Powers

 Direct people: provide evidence, bail

 Forbid people: conditions of bail
 Order punishment: fines, community service etc.
 Order mentally ill to be detained and assessed

Adversarial process

 System in Aus. (derived from UK)

 Prosecution (state) vs accused (barrister)
- Higher courts: director of public prosecution
 Unbiased 3rd party: judge
 Prosecution wins if accused pleas or found guilty
 Accused wins if found not guilty
 Fairness
- Safeguards: presumption of innocence, prosecution has onus and burden of proof, prima
fascia (indictable offences initially in magistrate to determine evidence), right to jury
 Europe: civil legal system
- Judge controls proceedings
- Lawyers assist judge

Research

 Doctrinal: how law interpreted and made

 Law in practise
 Evidence based: practise and impact
 Types of data
- Administrative (secondary)

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- Questionnaire and interviews

- Observations
- Pre-sentencing reports and sentencing transcripts
 Challenges
- Access: process, consent, needs of researchers vs needs of admin
- Stakeholders and actors: negotiations and different expectations
- Ethical requirements
- Complexity
- Too little vs too much data

Specific and Problem Orientated Courts

 Therapeutic juris prudence: people wellbeing and needs

- Court diversion: young offenders, drug offenders, referral and diversion
 Specialist: limited and exclusion jurisdiction on law
- Presided by a judicial officer with experience in specific field
- Aboriginal courts: for aboriginal defendants and victims to build trust in court
 Problem orientated: use authority of courts to address underlying problems of individual,
structure of justice system, and social problems
- Family violence court: link with medical, treatment and social services
 Drug courts: specialist and problem orientated court
- Monitor offender with treatment
- Reward for complying and sanction for noncomplying
- Life skill programs
 Court interventions
- Adjourn proceedings to enable offender for treatment/intervention to address behaviour
(taken into account when sentencing)

Module 11: Corrections

Penalties

 Fines, good behaviour bond, community service, probation, intensive correction, suspended
sentence and imprisonment (punishment is lack of freedom)
 Penalties and Sentencing Act
 Administration
- QLD corrective services: governs policies and procedures
- Corrective services act 2006 (QLD)
- Probation and parole
- Custodial Operation
 Penalties not checked up on
- Suspended sentence
- Good behaviour bond

Community Corrections

 Community based orders

 Reduce cost
 Based on seriousness of offence: low risk, less serious offender

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Prison Statistics

 Between 1984 to 2013, twice as many people have been sent to prison
 2003-2013 has increased by 9.3%
 Increased imprisonment rates function of increased punitiveness
 Sex
- Men (92%) – 12X female
- Male imprisoned for violent offences
- Imprisonment of women increasing at a rate greater than men (drug offences)
 Age
- 20-44 (77%)
- Number of prisoners aged over 50 increasing (entering prison later in life, serving longer
sentences)
 Indigenous
- 28% prison population
- 2.5% general population
- 14X higher than non-indigenous
- Socially and economically marginalised
 Low level education and employment skills
 History of drug use and health problems
 Women: history of abuse
 ¼ prisoners un-sentenced
- On remand
- Awaiting conviction
 Length
- 1-5 yrs.
- 3% serving life

Effectiveness

 2/3 previously sentenced

 ¼ prisoners recidivism within 3 months
 35-41% recidivism within 2 yrs.
 Therapeutic programs
- Cognitive behaviour program addresses needs
- Increase education and employability
- Prison dilutes effect of programs

Privatisation of Prisons

 Increasing in US and Aus. (Aus. 19% of prisons)

 Borollen Correctional Centre (1st)
 Model
- Construction
- Management and provision
- PPP model
 Improve efficiency
- Cheaper
- Commercial business
 Cons

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- In hands of company shareholders

- Interest in maintaining and increasing prison numbers

Community Based Corrections

 Non-custodial penalty
- Self-regulated: good behaviour bond
- Financial: fines, restitution, compensation
- Supervisory (most common): probation, community service, home detention
 De-carciration theory
- Increase use of community based correction will decrease use of custodial sentences
- Desire for tough penalties at lower cost
- All states more frequent (except WA)
- Prison population still increasing (community based order in addition to imprisonment)

Module 12: Victims and Restorative Justice

Victimology

 Extent, nature and causes of victimisation and its consequences for victims and reactions of
society
 Focus attention onto victim
- Victims role
- Prevent victimisation
- Typologies
- Repeat victimisation
- Impact and effect on victim
 Levels of Victimisation
- Primary: suffer direct affect
- Secondary: financially and emotionally dependant on victim
- Tertiary: bear cost of crime or lifestyle impacted by fear
 Victim definition
- Decrease in wellbeing
- Violation of criminal law resulting in harm
 Support
- Family, friends, police and victim services
- Practical help: legal, financial and medical assistance
- Service referral maze: impede readjustment and ability to cope

History

 History
- 60s: victim movement and civil rights
- 70s: feminist movement (woman and children)
- 80s-90s: victim orientated legislation
 Private prosecutions made available
- Private injury/public wrong (Kings Peace)
 Development of professional CCJ isolate victim
 Aus. inherited the English CCJ model which doesn’t focus on victims

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 70s: victim movement

- Excess victim rights undermine fundamental elements of CJS
 93: national victims charter
 2000+: guides and principles to protect victims

Victim rights

 Right to info on progress of investigation

 Safety concerns
 Informed on charges
 Participate in sentencing
 Compensation
 Input in parole hearing

Victims in CJS

 Police
- Initially satisfied in response
- Police keep informed with progress in CJS
- Support services
- Not sympathetic enough – assault, DV, hate crimes
 Prosecution
- Majority satisfied
- Most jurisdictions have witness service to be kept informed
- Don’t get to participate in pleas
 Court
- Victim dissatisfied/distressed by what happens in court
- Lack of safe waiting areas and facilities separating accused and defence witnesses
- Resent waiting time to give evidence
- Difficulty following court proceedings due to insufficient info
- More victims make victim impact statement than testify
- Victim participation threaten due process
- Victim feel sentence to lenient
- Court can order compensation but not mandatory (eligibility criteria and max payments)
 Corrections
- Right to know offender classification, escape, release date, patrol application and return
to custody

Symbolic Interactionalism

 Differential association: person becomes delinquent due to excess of favour to violation of

law over unfavour to violation of law
 Social learning: differential reinforcement (consequences)
 Labelling theory: negative labelling leads to a person action consistent to label
- Self-concept – looking glass theory
 Neutralisation: justifying offence
- Denial responsibility
- Denial injury
- Denial victim
- Condemnation of condemners

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- Appeal to higher loyalties

 Restorative justice
- Reduce neutralisation and labelling
- Focus on act not actor

Restorative Justice

 Parties with a stake in the offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of
offence and implications for the future
- Victim and offender discuss offence, impact and how harm is repaired
- Victims involve in the process and collective negotiation and resolution
- More time to address (90min)
- All participants negotiate outcome
- Offender actively engaged – focus of offender fixing wrong
 Forms
- Sentencing circles
- Mediation
- Transformative justice
- Victim offender conferencing – AUST and NZ
 Youth Justice Conferencing
- Legislative in all states
- Impartial convenor, police (reads details of offence), offender and their support persons
and victim and their support persons
 Phases
- Introduction: reorientate participants and roles, what’s to be achieved, legal weight and
respectful dialogue
- Storytelling: offender tells why they did they offence and their feelings and motivations;
victims explains impact (learning experience for both)
- Negotiate: agreement on what offender can do to repair harm
 Aims
- Meet needs for victims (not involved in court process)
- Hold offender accountable (offender must admit to offence to be eligible)
- Reparation: repair relationships
- Restoration: victim restore security and offender restores self-worth
- Crime reduction: if it meets 4 above it should theoretically have a positive outcome
 Developments
- Growth of family group conferencing (NZ children, young persons and families act 1989)
- 1991: first trial in Aus. – police run
- 1993: Young Offenders Act – adopt NZ model (not police run)
- RJ legislature in all states and most run NZ model (except ACT, Tas and NT)
- Conferencing in QLD can be referred to be police or youth court – Jan 2013 amendments
to Youth Justice Act 2006 removed court as referral
 Success
- Sincere apologies: vast majority apologetic
- Forgiveness: victims accepts apology
- Information on progress on agreement
- Cost effective
- Offender and victims satisfied
- Reduced recidivism – mixed evidence

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Module 13: Crime Prevention

Developmental

 Stop/prevent development of crime

 Risk focused prevention
- Identify risk factor, target and mitigate
 risk factors: identified by longitudinal studies
 protective factors: protect from risk factors
 bridge gap between what is needed and resources required
 Programs
- Preschool education
- Developmental day care
- Home visitation
- Parent training
 Savings made by reduce crime higher than cost of program

Community

 Crime is social and requires social solutions

- Social disorganisation
 Techniques
- Mass mobilisation
- Powerful organisations
- Public advocacy
- Education
- Improve local services
 Effectiveness
- Difficult to determine
- Collective efficacy: capacity of residents to act collectively to tackle issues (poor areas
with high CE less violence)
- Communities that care: target risk factors at community level

Situational

 Emphasis on specific offence and manipulation of environment

 Immediate effect to target and stop offence
 Opportunity reducing measure
- Direct specific offence
- Manipulate environment in systematic and permanent way
- Make crime more difficult and risk/ less rewarding
 Categories
- Increase effort
- Increase risk: increase formal and natural surveillance
- Reduce rewards
- Reduce provocations
- Remove excuses
 Action research

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- Identify problem, analyse to understand, select and implement measure to address and
monitor (modify if required)
 Outcomes
- Displacement: shift of crime to another target
- Diffusion: benefits of intervention spread
- Successfully reduced repeat victimisation

Criminal Justice

 Focus on CJS to prevent offending and reoffending

- Deterrence: fear of punishment
- Rehab: treat
- Incapacitation: remove offender from society and prevent offending
 Success
- Increase offending: scared straight, boot camps, coercive treatment
- Limited affect: traditional policing methods (increase patrol, decrease response time and
increase police number)
- Increase deterrence: hotspot crackdowns, RBT, assistance of 3 rd parties

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