Category Archives: Our Research

Research: Study of Women’s Police Stations in Argentina

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Kerry pictured with Superintendent Mabel Christina Rojas, Ministry of Security, Buenos Aries, Argentina (Photo taken by Dr Diego Zysman, a Senior Researcher on the Project)

 

Professor Kerry Carrington was awarded an ARC Discovery Grant (2018-2020) to study the prevention of gendered violence. As part of that study she will be studying the preventative impact of Women’s Police Stations in Argentina with Partner Investigator – Professor Máximo Sozzo Universidad Nacional de Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina. The Buenos Aries province of Argentina has 138 Women’s Police Stations that employ over 2300 personnel.

Little is known in the English speaking academy about how societies in the global south have approached the prevention of gendered violence. Brazil was the first country in Latin America to establish women’s only police stations in 1985.  Since then, women’s police stations have been established in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uruguay, and more recently in Sierra Leone, India, Ghana, India, Kosovo, Liberia, the Philippines, South Africa and Uganda. A 2011 United Nations Women evaluation found that women only police stations in Latin America enhanced women’s access to justice and their willingness to report, increased the likelihood of conviction, and enlarged access to a range of other services such as counselling, health, legal, financial and social support. Of those surveyed for the evaluation, 77% in Brazil, 77% in Nicaragua, 64% in Ecuador and 57% in Peru felt that women only police stations had reduced violence against women in their countries (Jubb et al 2010).  Women’s only police stations emerged historically at a time of re-democratisation in Latin America. They were designed to enhance women’s confidence in the criminal justice system, encourage reporting, prevent re-victimization, and send a message to the community that gendered violence was no longer tolerated and men who abuse women will be made accountable.

A more recent study of WPS in Brazil used female homicides as a proxy measure for assessing their effectiveness. They compared 2074 municipalities from 2004 to 2009 and found that ‘women’s police stations appear to be highly effective among young women living in metropolitan areas’ . The  homicide rate dropped by 17 per cent for all women, but for women aged 15-24 in metropolitan areas the reduction was 50 per cent (or 5.57 deaths reduction per 100,000) (Perova and Reynolds 2017: 193-194).

Kerry now has all the approvals necessary to conduct the research and will commence in July this year.

You can listen to a broadcast about the research project aired Friday afternoon 27 April 2018 on the Multicultural Show – Community Radio Interview 4EB  by clicking the link below.

http://www.4eb.org.au/node/41

Recently published: Resistance and backlash to gender equality: An evidence review

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Crime and Justice Research Centre members Associate Professor Michael Flood and Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz and Deakin University Honorary Professor Bob Pease recently published Resistance and backlash to gender equality: An evidence review Read more

Event: Defending Truth Internet Freedom Hack

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Crime and Justice Research Centre member Dr Monique Mann is speaking at the ‘Defending Truth Internet Freedom Hack’ to be held this weekend (20-22nd of April) across both Brisbane and Melbourne.

The Internet Freedom Hack is a community event that brings technologists with a passion for digital rights together for a weekend to build things that advance the cause of internet freedom.

Dr Mann will be in conversation with Lauri Love about all the terrible things that governments around the world are doing for internet freedom and privacy, with a focus on the ridiculous #waronmaths in Australia and across the Five Eyes alliance more broadly. They will talk through the options of what we can realistically do about it as scholactivists and hacktivists, and drawing from Love’s recent success fighting extradition and 99 years in a US prison, how to fight back against internet apathy, privacy nihilism and the government.

Lauri Love’s extradition case was one of the cases examined in Dr Mann’s recent co-authored article with Dr Ian Warren and Ms Sally Kennedy on ‘The legal geographies of transnational cyber-prosecutions: Extradition, human rights and forum shifting’ published in the leading international (Q1) journal Global Crime.

See attached QUT media release about the event here

You can register to attend the Internet Freedom Hack and the talks here: https://internetfreedomhack.org/

 

 

Research meets art: CJRC member works with photographer selected for National Photographic Portrait Prize

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Crime and Justice Research Member Dr Monique Mann’s research on facial recognition has inspired Anna Sinclair – a photographer based in Sydney – who has been selected as one of 41 finalists in the prestigious National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018, for her work, ‘The Capability’, which brings attention to the creation of the National Facial Biometric Recognition Capability.

Anna discusses the background to her photograph and the inspiration for it:

“Through this work I am trying to bring attention to the creation of The Capability and the risks it poses to the privacy of every Australian that holds a driver’s licence or a passport. Despite what the Federal and state governments have said, the creation of this system that allows government agencies to identify people from a pool of images made up primarily of law-abiding citizens is extraordinary and I find it concerning how little consideration and weight has been given to the privacy implications of it.

Another important aspect of the work is how the creation of a national system of images, combined with facial recognition technology, significantly changes the function of a digital portrait. Portraits have long been objects that both represent and celebrate the uniqueness of individuals, and allow us to reflect on the human experience. With this technology a digital portrait becomes a simple tool by which government agencies can easily identify a person and obtain their biographical information, without their knowledge or consent.

The inspiration for this work came from my research into the broader national security changes that we have seen in the age of counter terrorism, which is feeding into a longer-term project. As part of that research I was in contact with Dr Monique Mann whose work provided a very useful grounding in the use and development of facial recognition technology in Australia. In August 2017, I also attended the Workshop on the Social Implications of National Security co-convened by Dr Mann where the privacy and social impacts of new surveillance technologies, big data and facial recognition technology were discussed and debated by some of the leading experts in the field. It often seems like there are few people watching and getting concerned with the changes that our governments are introducing in the name of national security, so it was really encouraging to be amongst a group of people that are committed to it.”

The National Photographic Portrait Prize is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra until 17 June 2018. The images of all of the finalists can be viewed here: https://nppp.portrait.gov.au/

Dr Monique Mann has recently published a co-authored book on Biometrics, Crime and Security in the Routledge Law, Science and Society Series and as part of her public policy work on this issue has also recently co-authored a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Review of the Identity-matching Services Bill 2018 and the Australian Passports Amendment (Identity-matching Services) Bill 2018 that provides the legislative basis for The Capability.

 

 

QUT’s Graduate Certificate on Domestic Violence featured on ABC Focus

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ABC Focus will run an episode on domestic violence education in Australia on 27 March 2018 at 12:00pm QLD time. The episode features JS12 Queensland University of Technology’s Graduate Certificate in Domestic Violence and JSB286 Queensland University of Technology’s interdisciplinary undergraduate elective Domestic Violence.

Listen to the episode here 

Links to resources from the episode can be found here.

New Publication – Understanding Romance Fraud: Insights from Domestic Violence Literature

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 Cassandra Cross, Molly Dragiewicz and Kelly Richards have recently had an article published in the British Journal of Criminology. The article is the first to examine romance fraud from within the framework of psychological abuse, as established in domestic violence research.

 Abstract

Romance fraud affects thousands of victims globally, yet few scholars have studied it. The dynamics of relationships between victims and offenders are not well understood, and the effects are rarely discussed. This article adapts the concept of psychological abuse from studies of domestic violence to better understand romance fraud. Using interviews with 21 Australian romance fraud victims, we show how offenders use non-violent tactics to ensure compliance with ongoing demands for money. This article identifies similarities and differences between domestic violence and romance fraud. We argue that thinking through domestic violence and romance fraud together offers potential benefits to both bodies of research.

 The full article can be found here

 

 

Recently published: 2nd edition of the Routledge Handbook of Critical Criminology

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The 2nd edition of the Routledge Handbook of Critical Criminology, edited by CJRC Adjunct Professor Walter S. DeKeseredy and CJRC Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz was published on 17 March 2018. The updated edition includes forty chapters and more than a dozen contributions by CJRC staff and adjunct professors such as:

Left realism: a new look (Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz)
Southern criminology (Kerry Carrington, Russell Hogg, and Maximo Sozzo)
Masculinities and Crime (James W. Messerschmidt and Stephen Tomsen)
Queer criminology (Carrie Buist, Emily Lenning, and Matthew Ball)
Critical Green criminology (Rob White)
Green cultural criminology (Avi Brisman and Nigel South)
Towards a Criminology of War, Violence and Militarism (Ross McGarry and Sandra Walklate)
Terrorism. The Problem with Radicalization: Overlooking the elephants in the room (Sandra Walklate and Gaybe Mythen)
Thinking critically about contemporary adult pornography and woman abuse (Walter S. DeKeseredy and Amanda Hall-Sanchez)
Antifeminism and backlash: a critical criminological imperative (Molly Dragiewicz)
A critical examination of girls’ violence and juvenile justice (Meda Chesney-Lind and Lisa Pasko)
The future of a critical rural criminology (Joseph F. Donnermeyer)
Violence and social policy (Elliott Currie)
Confronting adult pornography (Walter DeKeseredy)

An Author meets critics session will be held at the American Society of Criminology meetings in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2018.

Research Showcase – Queensland Police Service

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On the 8th March the Crime and Justice Research Centre was invite to deliver a Research Showcase at Queensland Police Service. The event, hosted by Frontline Research and information, Organisational Capability Command at QPS and facilitated by our QUT Police Fellow, Inspector Chris Emzin.

Four CJRC members: Professor Kerry Carrington, Dr Cassandra Cross, Dr Claire Ferguson and Associate Professor Mark Lauchs presented their work to the QPS cohort, to highlight and share work conducted at QUT.

Professor Carrington discussed the policing of gendered violence in the Global South, focusing on the innovative approach of women’s only police stations in Latin America and possible applications in the Australian context. Her ARC Discovery project with Professor Maximo Sozzo will explore the prevention of gendered violence; lessons from the Global South.

Dr Cross reflected on her work with online fraud which she began while working for the Queensland Police Service, and her Churchill Fellowship which extends this work and the challenges police and victims face when responding to fraud. She also outlined her current projects and future research directions in the field of cybercrime, digital crime, fraud and romance fraud.

Dr Ferguson spoke on her fascinating research and consultancy in the field of forensic criminology, offender evidence manipulation at homicide scenes, how police can combat these efforts and processes of determining death in complex cases. She outlined her research in Australian jurisdictions and beyond, on strategies offenders use and features police can use to combat these efforts.

Associate Professor Mark Lauchs’s presentation covered his work on organised crime and outlaw motorcycle groups. He summarised strategies researching these fields in Australia, with limited data in the public domain; how to redress knowledge gaps and explore the ‘organised’ component of crime as well as impacts on the community.

Thank you to the team and to Chris for facilitating what was, we hope, the first of a series of research events with Queensland Police. We look forward to exploring future research collaborations and initiatives with QPS.

 

Professor John Scott keynote at Indian National Justice Conference

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Professor Scott is presented with gifts by Professor Sibnath Deb, Dean of Law, Pondicherry University.

Professor John Scott has recently returned from Puducherry (a part of French India until 1954), India where he presented a keynote conference paper on the theme of ‘Southern criminology and cognitive justice’.  The two day conference, organized by the School of Law, Pondicherry University (A Central University), examined The Role of Law Enforcement Authorities and Government in Upholding Justice. Distinguished presenters at the national conference included Justice N. Santosh Hegde (Former Judge, Supreme Court of India), Justice Indira Banerjee (Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Chennai), Justice Ravi R. Tripathi (Law Commission, Government of India) and Mr. V. Narayanswamy (Chief Minister, Puducherry Union Territory).  Scott made the case for a globally inclusive criminology noting that Australian, US and British textbooks ignored crime in the Subcontinent. This was especially striking in the case of Australia and Britain given the shared legal, social and political history. He argued that the extent of neglect exposed a bias in the way in which criminological knowledge was produced and disseminated and discussed the historic development of criminology in India and its growth over the last few decades. Major themes of the conference included access to justice, human rights, the role of police and political corruption. Approximately 200 people attended the conference.

 

Associate Professor Michael Flood contributes to ANROWS public forum and training

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Michael Flood at ANROWS Community of Practice Workshop

Michael Flood at Evidence to Action & Action as Evidence Forum

Associate Professor Michael Flood contributed to two Sydney events on violence prevention hosted by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS).

The first event was a forum on violence prevention, Evidence to Action & Action as Evidence, intended to showcase the successes and challenges encountered by local communities working to end violence against women. The event highlighted projects and findings from the Building Safe Communities for Women (BSCW) Grant Projects and the ANROWS Action Research Support Project. A report of findings from associated action research was launched at the forum where 130 participants from communities across Australia gathered for the full day event. Download the report here. Dr Flood spoke on his impact evaluation of the ‘Working Together With Men’ project in Melbourne, and hosted a panel with five speakers on engaging men in preventing violence against women.

Associate Professor Flood also presented a workshop as part of an ANROWS Community of Practice Workshop on February 22. These workshops are for ANROWS staff and ANROWS-supported projects to develop their understandings of and skills in violence prevention. Dr Flood’s three-hour, interactive workshop focused on effective ways to engage men in the prevention of men’s violence against women.