In recent years, legislative reforms have been introduced that seek to restrict the number of weapons in the community. These reforms have centred on knives carried in public places and on firearm ownership and possession. The focus on knives is of particular importance, as according to statistics for both homicides and armed robberies they are...

This paper by Adrian Cherney uses existing literature to highlight the place of problem solving in crime prevention, and the need for flexibility, responsiveness, and an understanding of context in using problem solving techniques. It calls for problem solving to play a greater role in the efforts of criminologists to develop crime prevention programs, and...

Australia’s system for sentencing federal offenders should be significantly overhauled to provide greater consistency, fairness and clarity, according to this report, which includes a detailed analysis of over 25,000 fraud and drug cases handled by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions between 2000 and 2004. The report shows a significant disparity in both the type...

This paper is important for three reasons. The first is that it evaluates the impact of a significant change in the strategic management of police focused on driving down recorded crime rates. The second is that it highlights the continued professionalisation of policing in the willingness of Queensland Police Service (QPS) to contribute to the...

In November 2005, the NSW Attorney General announced that the government would introduce majority verdicts of 11:1 for criminal trials. If the proposed measures pass into legislation, majority verdicts would be available for all criminal offences, provided a minimum deliberation period has passed. Talina Drabsch examines the arguments for and against this change in the...