{"title":"Understanding the context for police avoidance: the impact of sexual identity, police legitimacy and legal cynicism on willingness to report hate crime","authors":"Jordan C. Grasso, V. Jenness, S. Vogler","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2023.2168511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2023.2168511","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Developed over decades, a body of research identifies the factors that affect people’s willingness to report crime to law enforcement. In a context in which studies of anti-LGBTQ violence and peoples’ responses to such victimisation are proliferating, a timely question warrants attention: What predicts the willingness of sexual minorities (SMs) (ie, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer) to report hate crime to the police? Utilising original data collected from a multi-site survey, this article assesses factors that shape the probability that young SMs will report bias-motivated crime victimisation to the police. We find that, compared to their non-SM heterosexual counterparts, SMs express a wider range of willingness to report crime as well as more legal cynicism and lower perceptions of police legitimacy. Our multivariate analyses reveal that SM identity indirectly influences reporting behaviour vis-a-vis legal cynicism and perceptions of police legitimacy. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed in the context of a growing body of literature that reveals the plethora of ways in which LGBTQ communities are both over-policed and underserved.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43299437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Threats of fire in the context of domestic and family violence: views on prevalence, forms and contexts from service providers in Queensland","authors":"Joseph Lelliott, R. Wallis","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2161844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2161844","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A perpetrator’s use of fire to coerce, control and punish a current or former partner has been the subject of increased attention in media reporting and research, particularly following several high-profile murders of women in Queensland. Building on this, the study set out in this article examines threats of fire in the context of domestic and family violence. These threats may involve the dousing of persons or property with flammable substances (commonly petrol), as well as purely verbal or implicit threats where there is no use of accelerant. This article draws on interview data with 17 Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) non-government service providers collected in 2021 and analyses participants’ views on the prevalence, forms and contexts of threats of fire. It concludes that such threats take a variety of forms, likely occur as part of an escalation of a pattern of previous abusive behaviour, and can be difficult for law enforcement and other service providers to identify. This article identifies the need for better responses to threats of fire and further research into this manifestation of coercive and controlling behaviour.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41374318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comprehension problems that jurors encounter with expert evidence in online child pornography trials","authors":"Jacqueline Horan, Blake M. McKimmie","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2163752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2163752","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, there has been a massive world-wide increase in the prosecution of charges of possessing online pornography. Digital expert evidence is relied upon in such prosecutions in order to satisfy the charge element of ‘possession’. Little is known about the effectiveness of such expert evidence in proving that the defendant’s computer contained such offensive material. This article provides a qualitative analysis of how effective such expert evidence is by analysing three illustrative contemporary Australian online pornography trials where the authors interviewed some of the jurors and other trial participants about their perceptions of the digital expert evidence. We found that jurors had difficulty with the way some experts presented information rather than the complexity of the information. Practical suggestions to improve digital expert evidence are discussed, including the need for more and better use of visual aids.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44887346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘You, of all people’: the inappropriateness of imputing knowledge of victim harm onto sexually abused child sexual offenders during sentencing","authors":"Bronwyn Arnold","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2160225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2160225","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The law presumes that children who are sexually abused will experience long-term physical and/or psychological harm. The research suggests that child sexual abuse can cause cognitive distortions and may reduce the victim’s ability to empathise with others. Despite this, when it comes to sentencing child sexual offenders who were also victims of childhood sexual abuse, some judges impute knowledge of the victims’ harm onto the offenders. This article examines 13 sentencing remarks made in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria between 2005 and 2018 containing these imputations and discusses whether these statements are appropriate when considering the empirical evidence. The sentencing remarks show that the victims’ lived experiences align with the literature. This article argues that it is inappropriate for sentencing judges to impute knowledge of the victims’ harm onto offenders, and similar statements should be avoided in future.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45353838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to special issue on criminal law","authors":"Andrew Dyer, A. Loughnan","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2161729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2161729","url":null,"abstract":": jury","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46847662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A case study of state-corporate crime: Crown Resorts","authors":"P. Crofts, Honni Van Rijswijk","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2144899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2144899","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The concept of state-corporate crime has emerged in criminological discourse to explain the nexus of political and economic decision-making by states and corporations, and the ways this cooperation can have socially injurious impacts (Michalowski, R. J., & Kramer, R. C. [2006]. The critique of power. In R. J. Michalowski & R. C. Kramer (Eds.), State-corporate crime. New Brunswick: Rutgers, p. 15). This ‘cooperation’ can include corporations engaging in illegality with the tacit approval of state organisations, states failing to prevent crime, and even states colluding with corporate illegality. In this article, we use state-corporate crime theory to situate the recent wrongdoing at Crown Resorts (henceforth ‘Crown’). We explain how this wrongdoing emerged within a politico-economic environment of neo-liberalism, particularly through the recent deregulation of casinos in New South Wales (NSW). We argue that the organisational decisions within Crown that breached laws and caused harms are best understood as a case of state-corporate crime.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47195546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Act now: raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility","authors":"Thomas Crofts","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2139892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2139892","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There has been a long-standing debate throughout Australia about the age at which a child should be subjected to criminal proceedings for wrongful behaviour. In February 2019, an Attorneys-General Working Group was formed with the task of reviewing the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) and making recommendations for reform across Australia. So far, no decision has been made about whether and to what age the MACR should be raised. Now individual jurisdictions are pushing for change rather than waiting for a uniform national approach. This article examines the ongoing debate in Australia and considers what reforms should be undertaken in relation to the MACR. It endorses states and territories acting individually to raise the MACR to at least 14 but preferably higher. It also proposes that if the MACR is raised only to 12 or 14 there is a need for doli incapax or some other defence for older children.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44063682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Skipping straight to the punishment: criminal infringement notices and factors that influence police discretion","authors":"E. Methven","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2132810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2132810","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Australian criminal justice system has witnessed a shift towards out-of-court justice in the form of police-issued penalty notices. The exercise of police discretion in such instances has largely escaped critique, in part due to insufficient executive and judicial oversight of this early stage of decision-making. This article sheds light on factors that influence police decision-making regarding whether to issue a penalty notice for suspected criminal offending. It critiques a unique dataset of interviews conducted with Western Australia police officers to inquire into how police structure their discretion around considerations that include: alleged offender characteristics and attitudes, the purposes of punishment and concerns about resourcing, efficiency and productivity. The article advances scholarly understandings of how the legal and policy structure governing police-issued penalty notices encourages police to differentiate between suitable and unsuitable candidates for fines.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45821783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Same but different? Assessing reforms to mental incapacity in criminal law","authors":"A. Loughnan","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2126577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2126577","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In a field typically marked by stasis over long periods of time, in recent years, there have been significant changes in NSW regarding the way in which criminal law deals with mental incapacity. Taken together, these reforms represent a move away from reliance on the common law toward legislation that is posited as modernising and streamlining this part of criminal law. With a focus on Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW), this article offers an assessment of the reforms relating to criminal responsibility. I argue that, while some of the reforms are positive, some represent missed opportunities, and some may even have negative consequences. In particular, the enhanced role for victims of crime that underscores several reforms may not achieve the outcomes desired by defendants/patients, victims or others. Overall, the changes encode a fundamental recasting of mental incapacity in criminal law. Stepping away from the specifics of the Act, this article also offers some brief reflections on this recasting. In particular, I suggest that change in this area is hooked on a dilemma, around similarity and difference and the place of the forensic system within criminal justice more broadly.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46386689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When criminal diversion is a temporary solution: rethinking drug rehabilitation policy in Thailand","authors":"Srisombat Chokprajakchat, Wanaporn Techagaisiyavanit, Tongyai Iyavarakul, Attapol Kuanliang","doi":"10.1080/10345329.2022.2133379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2133379","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article reflects on the need for Thailand to re-evaluate its criminal diversion policy for people who use drugs (PWUD). Although studies have examined the impact of criminalising drug use through social and economic perspectives, the issue of how a punitive legal scheme interplays with PWUD's perceptions of drug use and motivation to seek treatment has not received wide scholarly attention in Thailand. This study's primary objective is to shed light on the adverse effects of legal pressure on motivation among PWUD within Thailand's drug rehabilitation systems to assist in shaping its future policy. The study employed a qualitative methodology: in-depth interviews with 69 participants who received drug treatment under the voluntary and compulsory drug diversionary systems in Thailand, as well as 50 government officials and personnel at the administrative and operational levels within the Thai criminal justice system and rehabilitation agencies. The study found that criminalisation schemes can impede system-level rehabilitation goals by failing to recognise the personal needs of participants, with PWUD entering treatment programs only to avoid criminal prosecution.","PeriodicalId":43272,"journal":{"name":"Current Issues in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42443933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}