Servile marriage involves a person being sold, transferred or inherited into marriage. New offences in the Criminal Code 1995 recently passed by Parliament are designed to protect adults as well as children who are forced into marriage by either the person they are marrying, or another person such as a parent. These offences apply to...

This report presents the findings of a project funded by Victim Support ACT and ACT Policing to examine the experiences of victims referred by police to support services and the operation of the referral process in the ACT. Since the completion of the report in 2009, Victim Support ACT and ACT Policing have used it...

The National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) has been compiled and analysed now for 21 years – since 1989. Through it, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) monitors trends and patterns in homicide across Australian jurisdictions. NHMP data are the most comprehensive collection on homicide in Australia, providing details of victims, offenders and circumstances of incidents...

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system...

Poor mental health among people in the Australian criminal justice system is increasingly being identified and targeted for remediation. This is evidenced by Australian and international governments establishing specialist services for prisoners with mental disorders such as forensic hospitals, forensic units within prisons and specialist drug treatment programs within correctional environments (eg Birgden & Grant...