Library Resources for Criminology & Justice: News and Events

The stories listed on this bulletin are provided for information purposes only. They are included to reflect current events and community opinion relating to issues studied by students at ACAP University College. They do not reflect the views of ACAP University College.

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Whistleblowers sceptical as details of review into NSW Police culture emerge By Lia Harris
ABC, 27/03/25
NSW Police has confirmed that a review into claims of a toxic culture are now underway. Last year, ABC investigations explored claims of widespread homophobia, bullying, sexism and a lack of mental health support with the state's police force.

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Crime Victimisation
ABS, 26/03/25
National and state and territory crime rates for assault, threat, robbery, break-in, theft or stealing, property damage and police reporting rates.

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Academic publishing is a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s not always good for science By Lucy Montgomery, Emilia C. Bell & Karl Huang
The Conversation, 25/03/25
In December 2024, the editorial board of the Journal of Human Evolution resigned en masse following disagreements with the journal’s publisher, Elsevier. The board’s grievances included claims of inadequate copyediting, misuse of artificial intelligence (AI), and the high fees charged to make research articles publicly available.

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What works to prevent violence against women? Here’s what the evidence says By Kristin Diemer
The Conversation, 26/03/25
Journalist and activist Jess Hill’s Quarterly Essay argues Australia’s primary prevention framework to end violence against women isn’t working.

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What makes a good search engine? These 4 models can help you use search in the age of AI By Simon Coghlan
The Conversation, 26/03/25
To make the possibilities clearer, we imagine four search tool models: Customer Servant, Librarian, Journalist and Teacher. These models reflect design elements in search tools and are loosely based on matching human roles.

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‘We don’t have a cultural place for men as victims’: why men often don’t tell anyone about sexual abuse By
Vita Pilkington, Sarah Bendall, & Zac Seidler
The Conversation, 26/03/25
In Australia, it’s estimated almost one in five boys (18.8%) experience child sexual abuse. And at least one in 16 men (6.1%) experience sexual violence after age 15.

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Critical thinking is more important than ever. How can I improve my skills? By Peter Ellerton
The Conversation, 26/03/25
Misinformation is on the rise. We’re told we need to think critically when we read things online, but how can we recognise such situations? And what does it mean to think critically anyway?

Peer review is meant to prevent scientific misconduct. But it has its own problems By Gail Wilson
The Conversation, 21/03/25
There are ways for journal editors to strengthen their journal’s peer review process in relation to the quality of the reviewer pool and the quality of reviews received.

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Peter Dutton wants American anti-mafia laws to take on the CFMEU. Could they work in Australia? By Anna Sergi
The Conversation, 21/03/25
Is Dutton on the right track? Could anti-racketeering laws work in Australia?
They might, but it is critical we clarify some of the confusion around them, starting with the “mafia” reference.

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Victorian crime at highest rate since 2016, driven by car thefts and young offenders
ABC, 20/03/25
Victoria's crime rate has risen to its highest level since 2016, according to the latest crime statistics.
The biggest increase was in property and deception offences, which rose by 21.9 per cent in 2024.

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How can we ethically display the dead in museums? What about resin casts of those who died violently in Pompeii? By Georgia Pike-Rowney
The Conversation, 20/03/25
The collection and display of human remains is a complex topic. Around the world, some museums are choosing to remove human remains from display, with some arguing those who have died cannot consent to being displayed (let alone being collected).

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NSW records a really bad year for murder in 2024
ABC, 18/03/25
Jackie Fitzgerald, executive director at NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, said the number increase was "unusually high".

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Latest release: NSW recorded statistics Dec 2024
BOCSAR, 18/03/25
NSW crime rates are stable, but murder count is the highest in a decade.

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How police around Australia are cracking cold cases using investigative genetic genealogy
By Blake Kagi
ABC, 17/03/25
Thanks to a spike in the popularity of ancestry websites as people look to learn more about their family history, police have access to more DNA data, which they can use to identify familial matches.

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‘One of the best films I’ve seen’: new Australian prison film Inside is an astonishing debut By Ari Mattes
The Conversation, 27/02/25
Every so often a film comes along that’s so good that, as we sit in the dark in the cinema, our whole being seems to become charged with electricity and we find ourselves forgetting to breathe.