Welcome – QUT School of Justice – Dr Alissa Macoun

Posted by Brigid on 21 January, 2020

We welcome Dr Alissa Macoun as a Lecturer in the School of Justice, Faculty of Law.

Alissa is interested in the politics of race and contemporary colonialism. Alissa’s work in Australian Indigenous politics and policy explores ways race is used to legitimise colonial approaches, institutions and regimes. She is interested in policy logics, political structures, academic and social knowledge production practices, as well as the connections between these processes. Her work draws on scholarship from public policy, political theory, settler colonial studies, sociology, critical race and critical Indigenous studies.

Alissa was a Lecturer at the School of Political Science and International Studies at University of Queensland from 2015-2019. Although non-Indigenous, she was a Research Fellow for the Australian Research Council’s National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN) based at QUT from 2013 – 2015.

Alissa has a PhD (Political Studies) and BA (Honours, first class) from the University of Queensland. Her PhD thesis explored the political justification of the Commonwealth’s 2007 Intervention in Northern Territory Indigenous communities and won the 2013 APSA PhD Prize.

We have three new staff who have commenced with QUT School of Justice in 2020 and we will be profiling each of them this week. Keep an eye out!

Beware of bushfire scams – Dr Cassandra Cross

Posted by Brigid on 17 January, 2020

The recent Australian bushfires are presenting the latest opportunity for fraud.

QUT C4J member, Dr Cassandra Cross, has written an article for The Conversation about how this fraud can happen, how you can safely donate and how you can think long term about protecting yourself from fraud.

Cass researches on various aspects of fraud including the policing, prevention and support for online fraud, including romance fraud and cybercrime. In 2011, she was awarded the Donald Mackay Churchill Fellowship, which enabled her to travel to the UK, USA and Canada to examine how these jurisdictions respond to online fraud.

In 2013, Cass was awarded a Criminology Research Grant (CRG) to undertake the first Australian study examining the reporting and support needs of online fraud victims. In 2015, she was awarded a second CRG to examine the process of identity restoration for victims of identity theft, in partnership with iDcare. In 2016, she was awarded a third CRG to examine the policing of cybercrime in Australia.

In 2019 Cass was appointed Senior Research Fellow to the Cybersecurity CRC, delivering industry-led cyber security research outcomes.

The article is well worth a read – read here

Fulbright Scholar Award – Associate Professor Kelly Richards

Posted by Brigid on 17 January, 2020

Our heartfelt congratulations to Associate Professor Kelly Richards on her recent Fulbright Scholar Award for 2020.

Kelly will use her Fulbright Scholar Award to further her research on victim/survivors of sexual violence and Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) at California State University-Fresno and the University of Vermont.

Kelly’s research focuses primarily on sexual offending against children, and especially on the reintegration of those who perpetrate sexual violence. In 2010 Kelly was awarded the ACT Government Office for Women Audrey Fagan Churchill Fellowship to investigate CoSA around the globe. Kelly is a member of a wide range of professional and community organisations in the fields of criminology and sexual violence. She is a Member of the Queensland Government’s Child Death Case Review Panels, the Queensland representative on the After Prison Network, a Committee Member of the Queensland chapter of Restorative Practices International, a member of the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors’ Support Centre Research and Reference Group, and a member of the Bravehearts Foundation Expert Research Advisory Panel, among others.

Vice-Chancellors’s Award for Excellence – Dr Cassandra Cross

Posted by Brigid on 19 December, 2019

Congratulations to Dr Cassandra Cross, member of QUT Centre for Justice, on her recent Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence. This award is conferred to individuals or teams in recognition of exceptional performance that aligns with the university’s vision and strategic goals.

Cass’ award was based on excellence in Partnerships and Engagement for forging transdisciplinary research partnerships and enhancing engagement within and beyond the QUT community.

Cass has built strong partnerships and engagement in the areas of fraud and cybercrime with SUNCORP, several Australian Police agencies, PCYC Queensland, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Self-Managed Independent Superannuation Funds Association (SISFA)

Congratulations Cass.

Workshop: Youth and Peace in the Indo-Pacific: Policy, Practice, Action

Posted by Brigid on 17 December, 2019

Public Panel – 27 November Workshop day 2

Helen Berents – Workshop Welcome

On the 28th and 29th of November, QUT Centre for Justice hosted a workshop funded by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), ‘Youth and Peace in the Indo-Pacific: Policy, Practice, Action’.

The workshop was co-convened by School of Justice Senior Lecturer, Dr Helen Berents, along with Dr Caitlin Mollica (Griffith University) and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia Professor Jacqui True (Monash University).

On Wednesday 27, November there was a public evening panel event including Dr Helen Berents, on ‘Agents of Change: What Can Youth Offer Peace and Security?’ held at the Ship Inn, Southbank.

The workshop on the 28th and 29th brought together invited academics, advocates, and civil society representatives from across Australia to consider how policy responses and scholarship can better engage with the peace and security challenges facing young people in the Indo-Pacific region.

Over half the world’s population is under 30 years old; and almost half of the world’s youth live in the Indo-Pacific. Young people in the region face multiple, intersecting challenges including the impact of conflict and insecurity, economic insecurity, and growing environmental risks. Yet they are often marginalised or excluded from the institutions tasked with implementing peace and security. This workshop aimed to facilitate a critical policy dialogue, which examines post-conflict practices that have sought to meaningfully engage with the experiences of youth in the region.

The workshop drew on the established work and leadership of feminist scholars and practitioners, which has brought about gender inclusive policy making, and encouraged the development of similar practices for those individuals aged between 18-29 years old. In doing so, it contributed critical scholarship that considers the contributions of youth participation to the creation of more inclusive and holistic peace practices; and Australia’s role in the development of youth mainstreaming policies and practices in conflict-affected contexts.

Further information about the workshop can be found here.

The Final Report of ARC Field Research on Women’s Police Stations, Buenos Aires, Argentina is now published in English and Spanish

Posted by Kerry on 13 December, 2019

The Final Report of ARC Field Research on Women’s Police Stations, Buenos Aires, Argentina is now published in English and Spanish, and free to download from the project page

Summary of the Report
Women’s Police Stations are unique innovations that emerged from nations of the Global South in the second half of the 20th century to address violence against women. This report presents the results of a world first study of the unique way these stations called Comisaría de la Mujer (CMF) prevent gender-based violence in the Province of Buenos Aires Argentina. In Spanish and Portuguese these stations are called Police Stations for Women, for the sake of ease in this article we call them Women’s Police Stations. Little is currently known about how this distinctive multi-disciplinary model of policing (that includes social workers, lawyers, psychologists and police) prevents gender violence.
First, we outline the background to the emergence of Women’s Police Stations in the societies of the Global South designed explicitly to respond to and prevent gender-based violence. These stations are distinguished from the women only police units that existed in most parts of the Global North that restricted women in law enforcement to caring for women and children in custody (Cartron 2015, 9). The main substance of the report presents the results of our empirical study on the role of Women’s Police Stations in responding to and preventing gender violence in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The province established its first women’s police station in 1988 and now has 128. They account for one in five of all police stations in the province and since 2009 have had a legislated mandate to prevent gender violence which distinguishes them from other Women’s Police Stations. We interviewed 100 employees from ten of these unique multi-disciplinary stations.
The final section critically reflects on the virtues and limits of Women’s Police Stations as a model for addressing and preventing gender-based violence. The report compares traditional policing versus specialist policing approaches to the prevention of gender-based violence. While not without limitations, we conclude that specialised Women’s Police Stations in the societies of the Global South widen access to justice, empower women to break the cycle of domestic violence, and engage in a form of community policing that challenges the social norms that sustain gender violence. As a by-product they also provide a career in law enforcement for police (male and female) who specialise in responding to gender violence. The study is framed by Southern Criminology which reverses the notion that ideas, policies and theories can only travel from the Global North to the Global South. The study is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and includes a multi-country team of researchers whose contributions we gratefully acknowledge.

Citation

English

Carrington, K. Sozzo, M. Puyol, M. V. Gamboa, M. Guala, N. Ghiberto, L. Zysman, D. (2019) The Role of Women’s Police Stations in Responding to and Preventing Gender Violence: Buenos Aires, Argentina: Final Report of Field Research. QUT Centre for Justice: Brisbane. Research Report Series 1.

Spanish
Carrington, Kerry , Sozzo, Maximo , Puyol, Maria Victoria , Gamboa, Marcela , Guala, Natacha , Ghiberto, Luciana , & Zysman, Diego (2019) El rol de las Comisarías de la Mujer en la prevención y el abordaje de la violencia de género, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Informe final de trabajo de campo. QUT Centre for Justice: Brisbane. Research Report Series 1.

For more information about the ARC project click here

Bridget Harris: ANZSOC New Scholar Prize 2019

Posted by Brigid on 12 December, 2019

Congratulations to QUT C4J member, Dr Bridget Harris, on her recent award of ANZSOC New Scholar Prize for 2019. The New Scholar Prize is given each year for the best publication in criminology (or a related area) written by a member of the Society who qualifies as an early career researcher.

The article, co-authored with Delanie Woodlock , was published in British Journal of Criminology and is titled, “Digital Coercive Control: Insights From Two Landmark Domestic Violence Studies”. The authors present their recent studies on harmful and invasive behaviours enacted through technology. Bridget applies her research focus of domestic and family violence (DFV) and spatiality, and the unique ‘spaceless’ features of technology-facilitated DFV.

The full article is available through open access and can be found here.

Congratulations to Bridget on a very successful year pioneering and further developing research into this very important area, both in Australia and internationally. A well deserved award.

2nd International Congress on Southern Criminology: Conflict, Power and Justice, Bogotá, Colombia

Posted by Kerry on 10 December, 2019

QUT Centre for Justice co-hosted the 2nd International Congress on Southern Criminology: Conflict, Power and Justice, Bogotá, Colombia, November 6-9 2019.

The event was attended by around 150 delegates from around the world. The majority of participants came from across Latin America, but also participants from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, University of Essex, University of Northumbria and University of Leicester, UK; the University of Oslo, Norway and of course QUT Centre for Justice.

Papers were grouped into the following themes: Indigenous Knowledges and Southern Criminology; Gender Violence and Southern Criminology; Punishment and Southern Criminology and Eco-Crimes and Southern Criminology.

Academic knowledge about conflict, power and justice has traditionally come from a select number of countries belonging to the Global North; whose magazines, conferences, editors and universities exercise dominion over the global intellectual landscape. In recent decades, substantial efforts have been made to mitigate these colonized ways of generating new knowledge in the area. This three-day congress held in Colombia sought to contribute to the task of democratizing and building a knowledge of the South.

The first International congress on southern criminology, took place in November 2018 at the National University of the Litoral (Argentina). This second congress was co-hosted jointly between it and the Queensland University of Technology, Australia; the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); the Catholic University of Colombia; the University of Essex (United Kingdom); the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Argentina); the University of Northumbria (United Kingdom) and the University of Oslo (Norway).

The event had simultaneous translations. Selected articles will be published in a special edition of the journal Critical Criminology.

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