Sydney Institute of Criminology
CrimNet
11 November 2020
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The CrimNet newsletter is sponsored by the Sydney Institute of Criminology. CrimNet provides regular communication between criminal justice professionals, practitioners, academics and students in Australia and overseas. Share CrimNet with your peers and help grow the network.
We acknowledge the tradition of custodianship and law of the Country on which the University of Sydney campuses stand. We pay our respects to those who have cared and continue to care for Country.
Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this issue of CrimNet contains images and names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.
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Join the conversation: Protest in a time of pandemic
Exploring the tension between the COVID-19 Public Health Order and the right to protest
11am – 12.30pm AEDT, Friday 13 November 2020 via Zoom
This University of Sydney online event is hosted by the School of Social and Political Sciences, the Sydney Law School, the Sydney Institute of Criminology and Sydney Health Law.
During the pandemic, there has been an intensified policing of protests both on and off campus, including protests concerning Black Lives Matters and higher education.
Our panel of experts will explore the human rights, health and legal aspects of recent protest events in Australia and the appropriate scope of police power. They'll address a range of questions, including: is there a right to protest during a pandemic; what are the health risks of protest during a pandemic; what are the limits to freedom of expression under the current PHO; is there space during a pandemic for peaceful resistance to legal limits; how can we express grievances during a pandemic and what channels are available to students and staff given the current reforms to higher education; and what does this mean for social justice?
The speakers for the online event include:
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill, Political Economy, University of Sydney
- Associate Professor Anna Boucher, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney
- Felicity Graham, Barrister in Commissioner of Police v Taylah Gray
- Taylah Gray, activist at University of Newcastle and respondent in the case Commissioner of Police v Taylah Gray
- Professor Roger Magnusson, Health Law and Governance, Associate Dean Student Life, Sydney Law School
- Professor Simon Rice, Kim Santow Chair of Law and Social Justice, University of Sydney
- Georgia Carr, PhD candidate in linguistics, University of Sydney.
The event will be chaired by Professor Danielle Celermajer, Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney.
IMAGE: Leetona Dungay, mother of Aboriginal man David Dungay Jr who died in custody, shown protesting. Photo taken by Aman Kapoor .
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I can’t breathe: Open letter to the NSW Government seeks justice for David Dungay Jr
The family of David Dungay Junior is seeking support from members of the legal profession and academy to sign an open letter calling on the NSW Government to pursue accountability for the death of David Dungay Jr.
David Dungay Jr was a Dunghutti man who tragically died in custody at Long Bay Prison on 29 December 2015.
The open letter is calling on the NSW government to ensure the matter is properly investigated and prosecuted. The open letter is also calling on the NSW Parliament to establish an independent, First Nations-led body to investigate First Nations deaths in custody.
Speaking about the open letter, Professor Thalia Anthony said, "David Dungay Jr’s family have been waiting almost five years for justice for Junior, who died while screaming “I can’t breathe” and held down by prison officers. They have received advice from one of Australia’s most respected criminal lawyers, Phillip Boulten SC, that there is ample evidence to consider a prosecution."
Professor Thalia Anthony is a Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney and a member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology’s Advisory Committee.
"Junior’s family believes that accountability for First Nations deaths in custody will only occur where the law is dispensed evenly for officers. Referring David Dungay Jr’s death to the NSW ODPP to consider grounds for prosecutions is one step in this direction," Professor Anthony said.
There have been at least 440 First Nations deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
The open letter may be viewed online here. To add your signature to the open letter, email Timothy Ginty from the National Justice Project at timothyg@justice.org.au before Friday 27 November 2020.
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Stream: Dr Charles Perkins Oration and Prize
University of Sydney and the ABC
8pm – 9pm AEDT, Thursday 12 November 2020
Join us online for the Dr Charles Perkins Oration and Prize, live and livestreamed from the Great Hall at the University of Sydney.
The event is a celebration of the Oration's 20-year history and of the legacy of Dr Charles Perkins AO; a man who drove the conversation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous race relations in Australia and for the self-determination of his people.
Hosted by Stan Grant and Isabella Higgins, the event will include performances from Paul Kelly and the Barayagal Choir.
The ABC is proud to be the Host Broadcaster of the University of Sydney’s 20th anniversary of the Dr Charles Perkins Oration event.
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Institute members awarded DECRA fellowships!
The Australian Research Council this month awarded prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowships to Dr Carolyn McKay and Dr Rosemary Grey, both of the Sydney Institute of Criminology.
Dr Carolyn McKay was awarded a DECRA fellowship for research into digital justice and its impact on vulnerable users. Dr Rose Grey was awarded a DECRA fellowship for her research on responses to reproductive crimes by the international community and courts. Details below.
The Institute congratulates Dr McKay and Dr Grey on this tremendous achievement - and what will undoubtedly be important contributions to criminological research and understanding.
About Dr Carolyn McKay's DECRA project: Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the criminal justice system, with audio visual links replacing physical presence in courtrooms and direct human communication. But are these technologies delivering fair criminal justice? This project aims to examine the scope and impact of digital justice on vulnerable users. It expects to generate new knowledge on digital justice and vulnerability using comparative law, interviews and observations across three countries. Expected outcomes include a model of digital vulnerability and strategies to address digital inequality. This should significantly benefit policy-makers, practitioners and public confidence in the justice system during this period of digital transformation.
About Dr Rose Grey’s DECRA project: This project aims to critically examine the international community’s response to forced pregnancy and other crimes that violate reproductive rights, through a case study of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. By analysing court documents and interviewing Tribunal lawyers, it expects to identify legal and practical barriers to prosecuting these crimes. It also seeks to provide the first comprehensive account of Khmer Rouge era reproductive crimes, to be made available on a public database that will shed light on this largely overlooked aspect of Cambodian history. Other expected outcomes include formulating new strategies for prosecuting reproductive crimes in international courts, thus contributing to the global push for gender justice
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Recognising pregnancies lost to criminal acts
The NSW Government yesterday released an Exposure Draft of the Crimes Legislation (Offences Against Pregnant Women) Bill and seeks community views on reforms to improve recognition of the loss of an unborn child as a result of a third party criminal act.
The Crimes Legislation (Offences Against Pregnant Women) Bill proposes the following reforms:
- Amendments to the Crimes Act 1900 to provide a specific circumstance of aggravation for offences committed against a pregnant woman, which causes the loss of an unborn child. The maximum prison sentence for the offence will be increased by an additional three years, specifically recognising the pregnancy loss.
- Expanding the eligibility for making a Victim Impact Statement to the immediate family members of a pregnant woman whose unborn child was lost, and enabling family members to express the impact of the loss on them. The statements are taken into account by the court when sentencing offenders.
- Criminal procedure amendments allowing the name of an unborn child lost as a result of a criminal offence to be included on an indictment in the particulars of a criminal charge. The indictment is the information about the alleged offence and is read out in court.
- Allowing grieving families to receive funeral expenses where an unborn child is lost as a result of a motor accident.
An administrative payment scheme will also be developed to provide bereavement payments to families who lose an unborn child due to a criminal act.
The NSW Government has advised that the proposed amendments do not affect existing laws on abortion.
Comments on the Exposure Bill are sought by 29 January 2021.
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BOCSAR evaluation of Social Impact Investment in criminal justice
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) today released its evaluation of Australia's first social impact investment in criminal justice, Social impact investment and recidivism: A field experiment with high-risk parolees.
BOCSAR did not find evidence that participation in the On TRACC (Transition, Reintegration, and Community Connection) Social Impact Investment program led to a reduction in parolee recidivism in comparison with existing services provided by NSW Community Corrections. Despite this, BOCSAR found that the On TRACC program demonstrates that it is possible for the public, private, and NGO sectors to work in partnership and inform evidence-based policy.
Social impact investment is an initiative that raises capital from the private sector to finance non-government organisations (NGOs) to deliver social services. Investors are remunerated by the government based on results achieved. The On TRACC program was Australia's first Social Impact Investment in criminal justice. The program aimed to reduce recidivism among people leaving prison by providing additional support services to assist reintegration into the community.
On TRACC commenced in NSW in September 2016 and was delivered by two NGOs who entered into a payment for results contract with the NSW Government.
The impact of On TRACC was tested by BOCSAR through a Randomised Controlled Trial, which compared reoffending among 1,147 parolees who received On TRACC services and existing supervision services provided by Corrective Services NSW, with reoffending among 732 parolees who received Corrective Services NSW supervision only.
No significant differences were detected between the two groups on any of the reoffending measures examined in the study. On TRACC ended by mutual agreement in January 2019.
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Court Responses to Domestic and Family Violence in NSW
Women’s Safety NSW has released a position paper on court responses to domestic and family violence in NSW. The paper examines the processes, facilities and common practices in place in local courts across NSW, and the impacts they have on women’s experiences when attending court for a domestic violence matter. Women’s Safety NSW proposes that immediate reform of key aspects of the local court system be undertaken to effectively address domestic and family violence in NSW.
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Podcast: When police charge the victim
A new report collating the experiences of hundreds of frontline workers has revealed how criminal and judicial systems are failing victims of family violence.
Rick Morton speaks with Women’s Safety NSW CEO Hayley Foster about how we’re still letting down survivors and what needs to change.
The 7am podcast series is daily show from The Saturday Paper and The Monthly.
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Media: ‘NSW police strip-searched 96 children in past year, some as young as 11’
Michael McGowen, 2 November 2020, The Guardian
Extract: “New data obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre via state freedom of information laws revealed that in the past year, NSW police conducted 96 strip-searches on children. A disproportionate number of those – about 21% – were Indigenous, including one case in which an 11-year-old was strip-searched by police. The new data also revealed Indigenous Australians of all ages continue to be disproportionately subjected to strip searches by police.”
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Legal Aid NSW: Special cautions factsheet
Legal Aid NSW has created a factsheet on the special cautions under section 89A of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW).
Legal Aid NSW advise that all practitioners should be aware of the special caution provision and the safeguards contained therein: the safeguard to keep top of mind is that an adverse inference can only be drawn if the special caution was given in the presence of a legal practitioner acting for the client.
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Media: Minister pushes for 'eight-fold' increase in penalties for animal cruelty offences as COVID-19 sees surge in 'unscrupulous' breeders
Danuta Kozaki, 8 November 2020, ABC News
Extract: “Proposed increased penalties: Cruelty — fine increased from $5,500 to $44,000 and/or 12 months' imprisonment for individuals and $220,000 for corporations for each individual act of cruelty; Aggravated cruelty — fine increased from $22,000 to $110,000 and/or two years' imprisonment for individuals and $550,000 for corporations for each individual act; and Fail to provide shelter — fine increased from $5,500 to $16,500 and/or six months' imprisonment for individuals and $82,500 for corporations for each individual act.”
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Improving the Response of the Justice System to Sexual Offences: Issues papers
The Victorian Law Reform Commission has published eight short issues papers for its inquiry, Improving the Response of the Justice System to Sexual Offences. Issues papers canvas: issues in the criminal justice system; the report to charge process; the trial process; sexual offences; restorative justice; and civil responses.
The Commission wants to hear from anyone with experience and interest in this area, including people whose work involves responding to sexual harm, people working in the justice system, family violence and child protection workers, people who have experienced sexual harm, counsellors, academics and researchers. Submissions on the various issue papers close on 23 December 2020.
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Contribute to a publication on the history of the Australian Institute of Criminology, led by Russell G Smith
After almost 25 years at the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), Russell G Smith has retired from his role as Principal Criminologist. Russell came to the AIC in 1996 from the University of Melbourne and, during his time at the AIC, specialised in research on fraud, cybercrime and organised economic crime.
His first retirement project as an Honorary Fellow at the AIC, and as a Full Academic Status Professor in the College of Business, Government and Law at Flinders University, will be to write a book to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in November 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the AIC. Entitled Public Sector Criminological Research: The Australian Institute of Criminology, 1972-2022, the work will explore the issues surrounding the conduct of criminological research in dedicated government agencies in Australia and overseas, and will use the AIC's history as an illustrative case study.
Russell would be very happy to hear from anyone who has views on the topic, gained either through experience of working at the AIC or by contributing to its activities and publications since 1972. Contact: russell.smith@flinders.edu.au or russell.smith@aic.gov.au
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In the High Court of Australia: GBF v The Queen [2020] HCA 40
HCA Judgment Summary: On 4 November 2020, the High Court unanimously allowed an appeal from the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland ("the QCA"). The appeal concerned whether a statement made by a trial judge to a jury about an accused's failure to give evidence occasioned a miscarriage of justice.
An indictment presented in the District Court of Queensland charged the appellant in seven counts with sexual offences alleged to have been committed against his half-sister ("the complainant") when she was aged 13 and 14 years. The prosecution case was wholly dependent upon acceptance of the complainant's evidence. The appellant did not give or call evidence. The trial judge directed the jury in unexceptional terms with respect to the presumption of innocence and the onus and standard of proof, instructing the jury that the appellant's silence could not be used as a makeweight, to fill gaps in the prosecution's evidence or to strengthen its case. However, later in the trial judge's charge, after referring to the complainant's evidence, his Honour instructed the jury to: "bear in mind that [the complainant] gave evidence and there is no evidence, no sworn evidence, by the [appellant] to the contrary of her account. That may make it easier" ("the impugned statement"). The jury returned verdicts of guilty with respect to six counts.
The appellant challenged his convictions in the QCA, contending that, in effect, the impugned statement was a direction to the jury that the absence of evidence from him might make it easier to find him guilty. The QCA acknowledged that the impugned statement should not have been made but found that there was no real possibility: (1) that the jury may have misunderstood the earlier correct directions; and (2) that the appellant had been deprived of a real chance of acquittal. Their Honours held that the impugned statement had not occasioned a miscarriage of justice. This conclusion took into account the fact that neither the prosecutor nor defence counsel applied for any redirection arising from the making of that statement.
By grant of special leave, the appellant appealed to the High Court. The Court accepted his submission that the effect of the impugned statement was to invite the jury to engage in a process of reasoning that was contrary to the earlier correct directions. The impugned statement encouraged the jury to find it easier to accept the complainant's allegations because the appellant had not given sworn evidence denying them. Such a process of reasoning is false because it proceeds upon a view that an accused may ordinarily be expected to give evidence, which is insupportable in an accusatorial system of criminal justice. It followed that the QCA was wrong in finding that the impugned statement was not an irregularity amounting to a miscarriage of justice. Further, as the impugned statement had the capacity to affect the jury's assessment of the complainant's evidence it was not open to find, and indeed the respondent appropriately did not contend, that the proviso, which permits the Court to dismiss an appeal against conviction if it considers that no substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred, had been engaged. Accordingly, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the appellant's convictions and ordered that a new trial be had.
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Meet Dr Christopher Rudge
Dr Christopher Rudge is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney, with broad research interests in health and medical law, and a focus on criminal and civil practitioner malpractice in medicine, and particularly psychiatry. Chris also researches the constitutional, policy and legislative issues relevant to social services provided under the so-called benefits power, together with related criminal laws under the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Chris became a member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology this year.
In 2020, Chris was appointed postdoctoral research fellow in Ethics, Law and Social Implications of Stem Cell Science in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne. In that role, he studied the regulation of innovative medical therapies and examined the imposition of both civil and criminal penalties by the Federal Court of Australia for criminal and civil breaches of therapeutic goods legislation.
In 2021 and 2022, Chris will be a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tasmania, where he will focus on the regulation of genomic therapies, such as gene editing. In 2018, he was research officer at the Medical Council of NSW, where he conducted a major review of medical practitioner regulation and disciplinary responses to practitioner misconduct, including in circumstances of serious criminal wrongs.
Chris is a graduate of the University of Sydney (BA (Hons) LLB PhD).
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Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Issue 3 2020
Issue 3 for 2020 of the Current Issues in Criminal Justice (CICJ) journal is out now and full of excellent articles covering youth radicalisation, confidence in community corrections, and corporate liability for bribery.
The opening article by Jane Wangmann, Lesley Laing and Julie Stubbs, ‘Exploring gender differences in domestic violence reported to the NSW Police Force’, addresses the question of whether men and women are equally violent in their intimate relationships. This debate has re-intensified over the past decade with police data from various countries documenting an increase in women identified as domestic violence offenders. The study tracks differences between women and men identified as ‘persons of interest’ to see whether that person was the predominant victim or offender. It highlights the limitations of an incident focus when examining a patterned form of behaviour such as domestic violence.
Contemporary commentary in the CICJ canvasses sex offender recidivism in Australia, surveillance and the state, and a critique of consent reform in NSW. The issue also contains the annual Paul Byrne SC Lecture delivered by Her Honour Judge Dina Yehia SC.
CICJ Issue 3 2020 content:
- Jane Wangmann, Lesley Laing and Julie Stubbs, ‘Exploring gender differences in domestic violence reported to the NSW Police Force’
- Adrian Cherney, ‘Exploring youth radicalisation through the framework of developmental crime prevention: a case study of Ahmad Numan Haider’
- Lorana Bartels and Don Weatherburn, ‘Building community confidence in community corrections'
- Hannah Harris, 'Corporate liability for bribery—in favour of systematic approach'
- Dina Yehia SC, ‘2019 Paul Byrne memorial lecture’
- Rachael Burgin and Jonathan Crowe, ‘The New South Wales Law Reform Commission Draft Proposals on consent in sexual offences: a missed opportunity?’
- Caroline Spiranovic, Anna Ferrante, Marie-Jeanne Buscot, Catherine Griffiths, Alfred Allan, Stephen Wong, Hilde Tubex and Frank Morgan, ‘The promises and perils of developing a national sex offender recidivism database in Australia’
- Julian R. Murphy and David Estcourt, ‘Surveillance and the state: body-worn cameras, privacy and democratic policing’
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Combining Group-based Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators with Comorbid Substance Use: An Australian Study of Cross-sector Practitioner Views
Meyer S, Burley J, Fitz-Gibbon K. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. October 2020.
Abstract: The connection between intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and problematic alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) use has been well established in public health, social work and criminology research. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the correlation between these two problem behaviors, service systems addressing these issues have historically done so in siloed approaches to practice. AOD interventions have frequently been criticized for a lack of IPV focused assessment and practice. Similarly, specialist IPV interventions generally do not address clients’ underlying risk factors, including problematic AOD use, through holistic intervention approaches.
This article examines the views of key stakeholders (n = 10) involved in the funding, development and/ or delivery of different service responses to men who use IPV in an Australian jurisdiction. Drawing on qualitative interview and focus group data, we explore their views around combined, group-based interventions, including the perceived need for such intervention models along with sector readiness and key considerations critical in informing the combining of IPV and AOD focused perpetrator interventions. Stakeholder findings identify the need for holistic responses to perpetrators of IPV with comorbid problematic AOD use. Further, findings provide guidance for funding bodies and community service providers considering combined, group-based interventions for perpetrators of IPV with comorbid problematic AOD use.
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Youth Justice and Penality in Comparative Context
Barry Goldson, Chris Cunneen, Sophie Russell, David Brown, Eileen Baldry, Melanie Schwartz, Damon Briggs. Routledge 2021.
About: This book represents the first major analysis of Anglo-Australian youth justice and penality to be published and it makes significant theoretical and empirical contributions to the wider field of comparative criminology.
By exploring trends in law, policy and practice over a forty-year period, the book critically surveys the ‘moving images’ of youth justice regimes and penal cultures, the principal drivers of reform, the core outcomes of such processes and the overall implications for theory building.
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The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment
Farah Focquaert, Elizabeth Shaw and Bruce N. Waller (ed). Routledge 2021.
About: Philosophers, legal scholars, criminologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists have long asked important questions about punishment: What is its purpose? What theories help us better understand its nature? Is punishment just? Are there effective alternatives to punishment? How can empirical data from the sciences help us better understand punishment? What are the relationships between punishment and our biology, psychology, and social environment? How is punishment understood and administered differently in different societies?
The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment is the first major reference work to address these and other important questions in detail. It covers the major theoretical approaches to punishment and its alternatives. Chapter 21 of the book, ‘Behavioural Genetics and Sentencing’ was authored by Sydney Institute of Criminology member, Dr Allan McCay.
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Towards Human Rights Compliance in Australian Prisons
Anita Mackay. Australian National University Press 2021
About: Prisoned people have always been vulnerable and in need of human rights protections. The slow but steady growth in the protection of imprisoned people’s rights over recent decades in Australia has mostly come from incremental change to prison legislation and common law principles. A radical influence is about to disrupt this slow change. Australian prisons and other closed environments will soon be subject to international inspections by the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT). This is because the Australian Government ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) in December 2017.
Australia’s international human rights law obligations as they apply to prisons are complex and stem from multiple Treaties. This book distils these obligations into five prerequisites for compliance, consistent with the preventive focus of the OPCAT. They are: reduce reliance on imprisonment; align domestic legislation with Australia’s international human rights law obligations; shift the focus of imprisonment to the goal of rehabilitation and restoration; support prison staff to treat imprisoned people in a human rights–consistent manner; and ensure decent physical conditions in all prisons.
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Police on Camera: Surveillance, Privacy, and Accountability
Edited By Bryce Clayton Newell. Routledge 2021.
Professor Murray Lee of the Sydney Institue of Criminology and Dr Emmeline Taylor of City University London have contributed a chapter, ‘The Camera Never Lies? Police Body Worn Cameras and Operational Discretion’ to this new Routledge publication, Police on Camera: Surveillance, Privacy, and Accountability.
The chapter explores the degrees of discretion that officers have to use to operate the equipment. In doing so, it examines the case for automatic functionality, that is, the triggering of recording by certain predefined events, which could potentially offer an alternative to either officer discretion or continuous recording and could potentially satisfy concerns on both sides of the lens regarding fairness, transparency and privacy.
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Webinar: Hate crime and COVID-19
8.30pm – 9.45pm AEDT, Wednesday 11 November 2020
Virtual seminar examining the increase in hate crime following COVID-19, hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University.
Reports in the UK and Australia attest to increases in hate crimes against Chinese and people who look ‘Chinese’; attributed to racist assumptions that they are to blame for the COVID-19 pandemic. This phenomenon and other effects of COVID-19 on hate crime in the UK and Australia will be examined by hate crime researchers Kevin Wong (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Kris Christmann (University of Huddersfield) and guest speakers: Rose Simkins from hate crime charity Stop Hate UK and Matteo Vergani a hate crime researcher at Deakin University, Melbourne.
This virtual seminar is open to policy makers, practitioners, academics and other researchers in the UK, Australia and other jurisidictions.
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Thinkin: Intersections of the Law
Feminist Writers Festival
3.30pm – 4.45pm AEDT, Saturday 14 November 2020
What do our interactions with the law mean and what life pathways do they create? This event explore the pressing issues for women and trans people of all backgrounds in fair and equal access to legal scaffolds, as well as models of change for justice.
Join three inimitable feminists, Fernanda Dahlstrom, Sally Goldner and Monique Hurley as they discuss legal issues for women and trans people, as well as models for change.
Feminist Writers Festival ‘ThinkIns’ take one big topic and essays from two formidable thinkers and bring them together for a digital in-conversation with an expert interviewer. Ticketholders will receive two exclusive, thought-provoking essays before the event, giving participants a chance to get the context and know the speakers. The ThinkIns will take place as interactive Zoom panels and will be Auslan interpreted and live captioned.
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Webinar: Rethinking the role of judicial officers in creating systems accountability
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)
4pm AEDT, Tuesday 17 November 2020
About: In recent years, Australian States and Territories have moved towards increased use of perpetrator interventions as a way of holding perpetrators to account with the aim of stopping violence. The legal system broadly, and judicial officers specifically, play a significant role in achieving perpetrator accountability. As officers of the Court, they play a central role in ‘keeping perpetrators in view’, in making orders and/or mandating MBCP attendance. Despite this, there is little evidence of how judicial officers view or understand perpetrator interventions, and how they use them in their practice.
This webinar will explore the findings of a recent ANROWS National study into judicial views and sentencing practice for domestic and family violence offenders. The panel will reconsider the role of judicial officers in holding perpetrator to account and explore evidence of three different approaches: the judicial role as narrowly defined, the judicial officer as active case manager and the judicial officer as a powerful voice, and their possible impacts. Implications for policy and practice will be considered by the panellists.
The Facilitator will be Dr Heather Nancarrow, ANROWS CEO and the panellists with include: Associate Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor Jane Maree Maher and Magistrate Stella Stuthridge, Supervising Magistrate, Family Violence and Family Law, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria.
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Australian and New Zealand Historical Criminology Network Symposium
19 and 20 November 2020
This is the first event organised by the Australian and New Zealand Historical Criminology Network, a thematic group of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC).
The purpose of this symposium is to experience the breadth of historical criminology work currently underway in (or about) Australia and New Zealand by people in all career stages (including Honours, HDR and ECR). There will also be the chance to hear about what historical criminology is and what the future directions may be in this branch of criminology.
This will be an online event spread over two days to try and prevent Zoom fatigue. So that people from a variety of time zones can join, there will be morning and evening session. Panel themes include: experiences of gender and race in the criminal justice system; policing, governance and reform; convict lives and penal institutions; policing motorcycle gangs; social harms inflicted by historical regimes; gender and homicide in Australia; historical criminology: and theoretical and future considerations.
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Webinar: Diverting justice: How the law is failing people with disability UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion
12pm AEDT Wednesday 25 November 2020
On the back of deinstitutionalisation which began more than 35 years ago, legal measures were introduced to keep people with disability - an overrepresented group in the criminal justice system - out of prison. Court diversion allows a judge to move a defendant out of the court and into mental health and disability services. But disability-specific intervention can mean people who are not sentenced, and might not even be convicted, are moved into a system where violence and control is pervasive.
In her new book, Dr Linda Steele, Senior Lecturer at UTS Faculty of Law, argues that diverting people with disability from criminal justice systems undermines rather than achieves social justice - it continues disability oppression and can facilitate criminalisation, control and punishment of disabled people.
Dr Linda Steele joins an expert panel in reimagining the socio-legal relationship with more just and humane policies and processes for people with disability: Dr Claire Spivakovsky, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Melbourne; El Gibbs, Director of Media and Communications, People with Disability Australia; and Dr Liat Ben-Moshe, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Justice, University of Illinois Chicago. The event will be facilitated by The Hon. Verity Firth, Executive Director of Social Justice at UTS.
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Webinar: Accurately identifying the person most in need of protection'
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)
1pm - 2pm AEDT, Wednesday 25 November 2020
“He was all calm and collected by the time they got there; I was the one that was going off smashing everything and all the rest of it and that’s why I had the orders put on me because that’s what they walked into, but I had marks all over me … [but] they came into me being the one that was screaming and me—yeah.” (Woman, focus group participant.)
The 2017 Annual report of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board found that a high proportion of female victims, and nearly all Aboriginal victims, of domestic and family violence (DFV)-related deaths had been recorded by police as a perpetrator of DFV on at least one occasion. The Advisory Board specifically recommended research on how to best identify and respond to the “person most in need of protection” (Rec 16).
Recognising the national significance of misidentification of victims as perpetrators of DFV, ANROWS conducted the research reported in ‘Accurately identifying “the person most in need of protection” in domestic and family violence law’. The research report focuses on the gap between the intent of the law and its application, factors that contribute to women being misidentified as perpetrators of DFV, and areas for improvement through procedural guidance and professional development for police and courts.
These themes will be addressed in a panel discussion facilitated by Ms Sam Mostyn, Chair of the ANROWS Board with: Dr Heather Nancarrow, CEO ANROWS and author of report; His Honour Terry Ryan, State Coroner and Chair, QLD Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board; and Inspector Ben Martain, Manager, State Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit, QLD Police Service. The panel discussion will be followed by a live Q&A.
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Webinar: Death, injury and other workplace violations against migrant workers – A sector level analysis
12pm - 1pm AEDT, Friday 27 November 2020
Presenter: Associate Professor Anna Boucher, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney
This webinar is hosted by the University of Sydney Business School’s Sydney Employment Relations Research Group (SERRG) and the Migrants@Work Research Group.
Abstract: In 2009, a group of migrant workers were working on a construction site in downtown Toronto, rushing to complete a project before Christmas. Unharnessed, they fell from a swing stage, and four were instantly killed. A fifth was rendered quadriplegic. The owner of the company, Metron Construction, sustained a large civil fine. However, after considerable protest, one manager received a prison sentence for industrial manslaughter. Subsequent government inquiries revealed endemic safety concerns in the construction sector in Toronto.
This presentation explores the issue of workplace violations committed against migrant workers and the particular risks to body and mind posed by the sector of employment. Alongside qualitative interviews with police and unionists involved in the Metron case, it also presents findings from a new Migrant Worker Rights Database that develops an innovative method to trace the nature and extent of migrant worker rights violations on the ground.
It tracks violations in 907 published cases brought by such workers before courts and tribunals in Australia, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario), the State of California and England over a twenty-year period (1996 through to 2016). Drawing upon these data, the presentation demonstrates that injury and sector of employment are correlated: occupations viewed as low or semi-skilled are more likely to see actions for such infringements and this is particularly the case in the Province of Ontario.
The qualitative data from the Metron case also reveals some of the particular challenges faced by migrant workers in bringing claims around workplace injury and for the police in prosecuting related crimes.
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Online: Traumatised Bodies
Wollongong Writers Festival
1pm AEDT, Saturday 28 November 2020
What are the challenges of testifying to traumatic experience? How does one write about individual trauma versus collective trauma? How do we both honour individual experiences and acknowledge structural trauma, considering questions of gender, race, class and (dis)ability? What is the role of reading and writing in wrangling with trauma?
This online panel event will be chaired by author Meera Atkinson and includes: Amani Haydar, a writer and artist based in Western Sydney; Gemma Carey, an author and researcher; Jess Hill, an investigative journalist and author; and Natasha Dennerstein, a writer and poet.
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Lecturer in Criminology, Swinburne University
Full time, ongoing position at our Hawthorn campus. Academic Level B $98,744 - $116,904 + 17% superannuation.
About the Job: Criminology is a rapidly growing area at Swinburne University of Technology within the Bachelor of Arts offered by the Department of Social Sciences. It also forms a component of the newly launched Bachelor of Criminal Justice and Criminology administered by the Faculty of Business and Law.
Swinburne is looking for an emerging leader within the field of Criminology. In this position, you will play a key role in enhancing research, teaching, and industry engagement for Criminology and for related university programs in law, criminal justice, forensic psychology, forensic mental health, and forensic behavioural science. The Lecturer will be integral in enriching the student experience, teaching quality, quality of student outcomes, as well as directly elevating Swinburne’s reputation for innovation, high quality teaching, and research excellence. Swinburne is particularly interested in applicants with research expertise in cybercrime and digital criminology, policing, gender and crime, and Indigenous crime and incarceration. Application close 1 December 2020.
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Call for Papers: Digital Hate and (Anti-)Social Media
Editor: Professor Mike Grimshaw (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
The terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in spring 2019, brought to the fore the ways social media is used by terrorists and their sympathisers to host and circulate material that promotes their beliefs and activities. This research collection aims to provide a forum in which issues of ‘digital hate’, and related phenomena, such as the proliferation of hate speech by extreme movements, such as the ‘alt-right’, can be interrogated. Submissions will be welcomed up until the end of December 2020.
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