Children's 'witnessing' or exposure to domestic violence has been increasingly recognised as a form of child abuse, both in Australia and internationally. Although it is difficult to accurately assess the scope of the problem, research has demonstrated that a substantial amount of domestic violence is witnessed by children. As this paper outlines, witnessing domestic violence...

Research suggests that individuals with a mental illness and/or intellectual disability are over-represented at all stages in the criminal justice system. As such, it appears that traditional criminal justice responses may not be as effective with this offender group. Alternative criminal justice processes that have attracted the attention of policymakers are specialist mental health courts...

A review of the recent Australian data indicates an increase in the use of knives for homicide offences, while their use decreased or remained steady in relation to robbery, sexual assault and kidnapping/ abduction. The limited academic research on this issue reveals two discrete groups—young people who carry knives and generally ‘grow out of it’...

A new AIC report where 824 police detainees across the nation were interviewed about their knowledge of emerging and less commonly used illicit drugs, shows different patterns of knowledge and drug use across Australia. Mephedrone, also known as meow meow, drone and MCAT, was the least known of the four drugs. Key findings In recognition...

This study is a step towards having national data on juvenile recidivism that are both meaningful and comparable across Australia's jurisdictions. Performance measurement (the use of empirical indicators to measure outcomes that government services are supposed to achieve) has emerged in recent years as a strategy to assist governments assess the impact of their operations...