Inaugural issue: Law, Technology and Humans

Posted by Brigid on 5 December, 2019

The inaugural issue of Law, Technology and Humans is now online.

Law, Technology and Humans is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing original, innovative research concerned with the human and humanity of law and technology.

In his introduction to the new publication, General Editor Professor Kieran Tranter notes:

Law, Technology and Humans aims for something different from the mainstream of technology law scholarship. Rather than repeating analysis born from the dominant narrative, it boldly presents itself as a portal to the multiverse of stories and methods through which to understand, dream, critique, build and live well in the technological present as it, with every planetary rotation, moves towards the technological future.

The foundation issue is in two parts. The first is a collection of papers aligned to the recent symposium: Automation and Disruption in the Legal Profession and includes articles related to the future of the legal profession, a new curriculum approach to learning within the legal academy, interpretations of NewLaw practice in Australia, the utilisation of technologies in the community legal sector and experiential ethics for the lawyer/AI hybrid.

The second part of this issue is dedicated to general articles examining law and technology on a broader scale including the use of robo-advisors in the financial services market and the legal consequences of social media use by employees. The Journal also includes a review of Virginia Eubanks recent book Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by journal book review editor Faith Gordon.

Submissions are now being accepted for Volume 2, Issue 1 to be published in May 2020

Follow Journal announcements on Twitter @LawTechHum

QUT Workshop: Gender Violence and the Global South

Posted by Kerry on 4 December, 2019

The QUT Centre for Justice co-hosted a two day workshop on Gender Violence and the Global South on 2-3 November in the beautiful surroundings of the Botanic Gardens Café.

The workshop heard from leading scholars on gender violence from Brasil, Victoria, NSW, Qld, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and PNG. Outcomes include plans to edit a special edition of the Journal, a Handbook on Feminism and Gender Violence in the Global South, a co-hosted conference in Port Alegre, Brasil, November 2020; an international network, and international reading group. Key note speakers included Carmen Hein de Campos, Soraia Mendes, Camila Magalhaes, and Thiago Peirobom from Brasil, Heather Nancarrow, CEO of ANROWS; Professor Heather Douglas, Law UQ; and Rowina Maguire, QUT Law

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy – Volume 8 Issue 4 2019

Posted by Brigid on 2 December, 2019

A new issue of International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy is now available. This final issue for 2019 features a variety of topics and authors from Mexico, US, Australia, Turkey, Zimbabwe and Thailand.

Included in the issue is a mixed-methods study examining how criminologists in Australia and New Zealand have employed social media to engage in public criminology. Mark Wood, Imogen Richards, Mary Iliadis and Michael McDermott (from the University of Melbourne and Deakin University, Australia) note that social media has and continues to change the terrain for researchers facilitating new forms of news making within the discipline of criminology. Women’s prison reform is explored in North-Eastern Thailand with an application to international human rights standards. With one of the highest incarceration rates of women in the world, practitioners from Mahidol University, Thailand discuss the implementation of ‘Bangkok Rules’ finding that despite extensive reforms areas for improvement remain.

Policing and organised crime are the topics of four articles: The Colombian National Police and the Politics of Crime Control Evaluations, Kenneth Sebastian León; Community Policing and Crime Prevention: Evaluating the Role of Traditional Leaders under Chief Madliwa in Nkayi District, Zimbabwe, Whitehead Zikhali; Police Officers’ Fear of Crime: An Analysis of Interviews with Officers in Trinidad and Tobago, Lee Michael Johnson, Danielle Watson and Nathan Pino, and; Local Elections and Organised Crime: The Case of Michoacán, Mexico, Jerjes Aguirre Ochoa, Hugo Amador Herrera Torres.

Another highlight of the issue is Sandra Walklate and Kate Fitz-Gibbon’s examination of coercive control within the legal context. Intimate partner violence has long been seen through the lens of coercive control and the authors suggest that the criminalisation of coercive control only serves to fail those it is intended to protect.

Any enquiries regarding the Journal should be forwarded to Tracy Creagh, Journal Manager – crimjournal@qut.edu.au

Centre for Justice DECRA success 2020

Posted by Brigid on 22 November, 2019

Congratulations to Centre for Justice members, Dr Bridget Harris and Dr Helen Berents who have both been awarded a DECRA to commence in 2020. This is an outstanding result, not just for QUT and for the Faculty but for both of these exceptional researchers.

The DECRA success rate for 2020 was 16% nationwide. Across Australia just only 21 grants were allocated to the FoR code 16 (Studies in Human Society). These were the only HASS DECRAs awarded to QUT this year which again speaks to the calibre and standing of the researchers and their projects.

Bridget’s project is titled: Building State responses to technology-facilitated domestic violence
This project aims to investigate one of Australia’s most pressing social problems: domestic violence and the emerging use of digital technology to enact and escalate abuse and stalking. Technology-facilitated domestic violence threatens psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing and safety (and signifies risk of homicide), and so warrants attention. Justice systems have a crucial role to play in preventing technology-facilitated violence and safeguarding and empowering victim/survivors. This timely project seeks to assess existing State responses to and regulation of such harms. It expects to provide an evidence base to enhance and develop innovative policing and judicial policy and practice, with benefits to communities and economies.

Helen’s project is titled: Youth Leadership and the Future of Peace and Security
This project aims to investigate the roles youth play in building inclusive and durable peace at local and international levels. It advances one of the first detailed studies of youth-led peacebuilding in three post-conflict contexts in order to generate new insights into best practice for including youth in peace and security policies. Expected outcomes contribute to growing global recognition of youth peace advocacy by providing richer understandings of how to support and empower youth in conflict-affected contexts. The project seeks to strengthen Australia’s leadership in peacebuilding initiatives and enhance policy efforts towards regional and global security and prosperity.

Congratulations Helen and Bridget.

Publication: Centre for Justice Research Report Series, Vol1/2019

Posted by Brigid on 8 November, 2019

QUT Centre for Justice launched its first edition of the Centre for Justice Research Report Series. This series will publish reports up to 6 times a year on current research relating to crime and justice.

This first edition outlines the findings of the ARC-funded research of Professor Kerry Carrington and her multi-country team of researchers into how women’s police stations in Argentina have helped to prevent domestic family violence

Read the full Research Report titled, “The Role of Women’s Police Stations in Responding to and Preventing Gender Violence: Buenos Aires, Argentina: Final Report of Field Research” here.

International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy ranks 14th

Posted by Brigid on 29 October, 2019

Last week was International Open Access Week 2019 (October 21-27). As an open access publication the Journal is committed to democratising quality knowledge production and the dissemination of criminological research. The Journal’s achievements in open access are reflected in the latest Scimago journal rankings. Of the top 50 open access law journals ranked internationally, the International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy ranks 14th. The Journal is ranked as the top open access law journal in the Pacific Region. The Scimago Journal and Country Rank is a publicly available portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.). Citation data is drawn from over 34,100 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers and country performance metrics from 239 countries worldwide.

Alignment to open access practices in academic publishing has not been an arbitrary consideration and compliments emerging global practices and trends in academic publishing. Open scholarship and open access publishing maximises the sharing of knowledge. For the author the benefits of publishing in open access include: increased citation and impact; improved visibility in terms of public engagement and interest, and; the reduction of prohibitive publishing barriers related to costs. Universities benefit from wider dissemination of research and by access to a wider range of educational resources.

Achieving best practice in open access is a cumulative result of the Journal’s ongoing support from QUT Library, the QUT Faculty of Law, QUT’s Centre for Justice and the sustained attention to good practice from the editorial team, authors, reviewers and the the International Editorial Board

Engaging men in the Pacific in violence prevention

Posted by Brigid on 9 October, 2019

Photo credit: UN Women/Natalie Garrison

Associate Professor Michael Flood leading discussion at the Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls (Fiji)
Photo credit: UN Women/Natalie Garrison

In countries throughout the Pacific, there is growing interest in the roles men can play in stopping violence against women. At the Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women, Associate Professor Michael Flood contributed to the facilitation of the first three days of the workshop. He focused on how to engage men in primary prevention, exploring international best practice in this work and the practical and political challenges of engaging men.

The Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls gathered more than 40 participants from seven Pacific countries’ governments, civil society organizations, faith-based organisations, and communities of male advocates for women’s human rights. The Regional Dialogue was formally opened by Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete. Participants came from Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

The Regional Dialogue, led by the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women, was a collaboration between the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office. It took place over 16–20 September 2019 in Sigatoka, Fiji. More information on the event is available in this media release.

‘Toxic masculinity’ at GOMA

Posted by Brigid on 8 October, 2019

GOMA Talks: Toxic Masculinity discussion, held during the ‘Quilty’ exhibition / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane / September 2019 / Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / Photography: Chloe Callistemon

Associate Professor Michael Flood was one of the panellists in a recent event on ‘toxic masculinity’ at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane, on September 23. The event was hosted by ABC Radio National host Paul Barclay (Big Ideas), and featured Michael Flood, Catharine Lumby, Joe Williams, and Tarang Chawla.

Flood contributed to a lively discussion on ‘toxic masculinity’. What does the term mean, and is it useful? What impact do dominant norms of manhood have, both among boys and men and those around them?

About 360 people attended the event, across four locations, and another 304 viewed the live stream online during the session. Audience members were able to send in questions and comments live as the event proceeded, with 149 people doing so. Twitter reach during the program included 68,000+ accounts and 295,000+ impressions. A recording of the event is available on YouTube.

Crime and Justice Briefing Paper Series

Posted by Brigid on 6 September, 2019

We welcome Dr Laura Vitis as the new co-editor of the Crime and Justice Briefing Paper Series, replacing Dr Monique Mann who is leaving QUT. Laura joins our current co-editor, Associate Professor Michael Flood.

The Crime and Justice Briefing Paper Series provide short, accessible accounts of topics and issues related to crime and justice. This open access publication features research undertaken by staff, students and affiliated researchers for the QUT School of Justice (formerly Crime, Justice and Social Democracy Research Centre), and are blind peer reviewed.

Our first Briefing Paper was released in July and is titled, “The Case for Decriminalisation: Sex Work and the Law in Queensland”. A copy of the Briefing Paper can be found here.

We welcome Laura to this new role.