Library Resources for Criminology/Policing & 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. They do not reflect the views of ACAP.

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An expert reviews the government’s 7-year plan to boost Australia’s cyber security. Here are the key takeaways By David Tuffley
The Conversation, 23/11/23
After lengthy deliberation, the Australian government has released its 2023–2030 Cyber Security Strategy, which aims to make Australia one of the most cyber-secure nations in the world by 2030.

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The Street University giving youths new opportunities, and support to escape drugs and crime in Townsville By Jason Katsaras
ABC, 23/11/23
Far from a traditional tertiary college, The Street University (TSU) aims to improve the lives of young people by engaging them in a range of programs including the arts, mechanics, community service and homework assistance.

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The growing trend of drug use through vaping By April McLennan
ABC, 23/11/23
Anecdotal evidence and posts on social media suggest using vapes to consume illegal drugs is becoming more popular.

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There has been much talk of war crimes in the Israel-Gaza conflict. But will anyone actually be prosecuted? By Donald Rothwell
The Conversation, 23/11/23
The Hamas-Israel conflict has now become the next arena for possible war crimes prosecutions. Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians on October 7 have been followed by the Israeli assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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Is it time to reconsider the idea of ‘the banality of evil’? By Matthew Sharpe
The Conversation, 23/11/23
After attending the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, the philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt claimed what was terrifying about this man was not his moral monstrosity. It was his sheer normality. She subtitled her 1963 book on the subject, Eichmann in Jerusalem, “a report on the banality of evil”.

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Forgiveness or punishment? The government’s proposed ‘safe harbour’ laws send mixed messages on cyber security By Greg Austin
The Conversation, 23/11/23
Should companies experiencing cyber attacks be forgiven if they cooperate with the government to stop such attacks? That’s the idea the federal government is considering with its possible “safe harbour” laws.

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Partner violence
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 22/11/23
Statistics on partner violence, emotional and economic abuse, including socio-demographics, behaviours and relationship characteristics.

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Online companies will be forced to do more to stop AI deepfake child abuse content By Chantelle Al-Khouri
ABC, 22/11/23
The proposed changes come after child safety advocates accused the federal government of not doing enough to keep kids safe.

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ChatGPT was tipped to cause widespread cheating. Here's what students say happened By James Purtill
ABC, 22/11/23
At the start of 2023, experts warned ChatGPT would swamp schools in a wave of cheating. With the academic year wrapping up, we asked students what really happened.

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Australia’s secrecy laws include 875 offences. Reforms are welcome, but don’t go far enough for press freedom By Peter Greste
The Conversation, 22/11/23
In 2019, the New York Times declared that “Australia may well be the world’s most secretive democracy”.

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New cyber policy to harden defences against our ‘fastest growing threat’ By Michelle Grattan
The Conversation, 22/11/23
The Albanese government’s cyber security policy aims to make Australian citizens, businesses and government agencies harder targets as they face what minister Clare O'Neil describes as “the fastest growing threat that we face as a nation”.

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What’s the point of journalism? To enable informed decisions By Misha Ketchell
The Conversation, 22/11/23
What’s the point of journalism? The answer seems obvious enough.
It’s to share information and keep people reliably informed.

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'I'm seriously considering ChatGPT': Uni staff have thousands of words to read when marking student papers By Jessica Moran
ABC, 21/11/23
Staff at the University of Tasmania's business school say they're considering using AI to mark papers, after the uni slashed their time per student.

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Italy convicts 207 in maxi-trial involving the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate
ABC, 21/11/23
An Italian tribunal convicted 207 people and sentenced them to a combined 2,100 years in prison on charges related to their membership in Italy's 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.

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David McBride is facing jailtime for helping reveal alleged war crimes. Will it end whistleblowing in Australia?
The Conversation, 20/11/23
David McBride helped bring about a reckoning with the Australian Defence Force, but came at a legal cost. Will it stop others coming forward?

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How can you define a ‘drug’? Nobody really knows By Sam Baron
The Conversation, 20/11/23
What’s a medical drug? Ask someone on the street and they’re likely to tell you it’s the kind of thing you take when you’re unwell.
This understanding is wrong, as we will see.

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The shocking number of Australian men sexually attracted to children and teens By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
SMH, 20/11/23
Disturbing research into the extent of child sexual abuse has found almost one in six Australian men have sexual feelings towards children and teenagers, and almost one in 10 acknowledge having committed child sexual offences, despite few being caught.

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A royal commission won’t help the abuse of Aboriginal kids. Indigenous-led solutions will By Hannah McGlade & Kyllie Cripps
The Conversation, 20/11/23
We are Aboriginal women researchers with decades of experience in advocacy and law reform in violence against women and children. As academics and community members with lived experience we want to raise awareness from an ethical and informed position.

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On World Children’s Day, UNODC shines spotlight on causes and impact of child trafficking
UNODC, 20/11/23
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) latest report on global human trafficking trends shows that around 35 per cent, or one in three, of detected victims of trafficking are children.

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“Stealing from the past is destroying our future”: UNODC Mexico and UNESCO launch the ‘Protect your legacy’ campaign
UNODC, 14/11/23
UNESCO and UNODC in Mexico launched a new campaign called ‘Protect your legacy’, urging illicit trafficking in cultural property to be recognized as a global security concern.

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Creating Safer Skies: UNODC Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs launches new module on Air Trafficking
UNODC, 13/11/23
Relying on new drug routes and evading traditional detection methods, the synthetic drug trade has changed not only how drugs are produced but also how they are trafficked.

This farm looks like any other, but there's a key difference — the animals here are looked after by prisoners By Phil Brandel
ABC, 18/011/23
Along a dirt road in Far North Queensland is a farm where prisoners are learning to care for animals. The agricultural skills they are acquiring will set them up for work when they're released.

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Big data play a huge role in US presidential elections. Do they have the same impact here? By Travis N. Ridout
The Conversation, 17/11/23 
A key reason Barack Obama won the 2012 US presidential election was his campaign’s use of “big data” to target specific voters. His team created multiple versions of ads aimed at niche audiences, taking care to test every message.

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What is LockBit, the cybercrime gang hacking some of the world’s largest organisations? By Jennifer Medbury, & Paul Haskell-Dowland

The Conversation, 17/11/23

Cybercriminal gangs have adopted ransomware as a get-rich-quick scheme. Now, in the era of “ransomware as a service”, this has become a prolific and highly profitable tactic.

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Alternative reporting options for sexual assault: Perspectives of victim-survivors By G. Heydon, N. Henry, R. Loney-Howes, & S. Hindes, Sophie 
Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice no. 678. Australian Institute of Criminology, 16/11/23 
This article examines victim-survivors’ knowledge of and experiences using alternative reporting options, drawing on data collected from a broader study of alternative reporting options for sexual assault. 

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Ankle bracelets, curfews proposed for people released from immigration detention after High Court ruling By Tom Lowrey & Matthew Doran

ABC, 16/11/23

The federal government is proposing the use of ankle bracelets and curfews to monitor 83 people released from immigration detention last week, in emergency legislation rushed into Federal Parliament.

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The coroner examined the NT's 'domestic violence epidemic'. Here's what she heard By Melissa Mackay

ABC, 16/11/23

The Northern Territory coroner has closed a months-long inquiry into the NT's "domestic violence epidemic". The evidence, at times, left her counsel-assisting "speechless". Watch a summary of the inquiry.

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'Irresponsible' dog owners could face jail under new legislation to be introduced to Queensland parliament By Kate McKenna, Tobias Jurss-Lewis & Sarah Richards 
ABC, 16/11/23
Queensland is one of the only jurisdictions that does not imprison pet owners whose dogs caused death or serious injury. That is set to change.

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One dead, two critically ill from heroin overdoses after taking what they thought was cocaine By Millie Roberts & Jean Kennedy 
ABC, 16/11/23
A poisons expert warned a heroin overdose can take place after snorting a "single line" of what users thought was cocaine.

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Before Tracey had her guardianship order revoked, she was asked to name the US president By Samantha Dick

ABC, 15/11/23

An Aboriginal woman's fight for financial freedom has revealed what experts say is a deeper problem of "culturally biased" cognitive exams, as part of the NT's Public Guardian and Trustee system.

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'Great in theory': Grace Tame's warning as Tasmanian Labor flips to support mandatory child abuse sentencing By Lucy MacDonald & Adam Langenberg 
ABC, 15/11/23 
Tasmania could become the first state to introduce minimum sentences for child sex offenders as Labor flips its position, but the controversial legislation has drawn the ire of legal groups and victim-survivor Grace Tame.

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‘You only assess what you care about’: a new report looks at how we assess research in Australia By Kevin McConkey 
The Conversation, 15/11/23
How do we know if individual research projects being conducted in Australia are good quality? How is research recognised? The key way this happens is through “research assessment”.

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New report reveals shocking state of prisoner health. Here’s what needs to be done By James Ogloff 
The Conversation, 15/11/23 
A new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on the health of people in Australian prisons makes for sobering reading.

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Major cyberattack on Australian ports suggests sabotage by a ‘foreign state actor’ By David Tuffley 
The Conversation, 14/11/23
A serious cyberattack has disrupted operations at several of Australia’s largest ports, causing delays and congestion. Late on Friday, port operator DP World detected an IT breach that affected critical systems used to coordinate shipping activity.

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Can you spot the AI impostors? We found AI faces can look more real than actual humans By Amy Dawel, Ben Albert Steward, Clare Sutherland, Eva Krumhuber & Zachary Witkower 
The Conversation, 14/11/23 
Artificial intelligence (AI) has reached an astounding level of realism, to the point that some tools can even fool people into thinking they are interacting with another human.

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Sexual exploitation in Australia: Victim-survivor support needs and barriers to support provision By H. Boxall, S. Lyneham, C. Black, & A. Gannoni 
Research Report no. 29, Australian Institute of Criminology, 14/11/23 
Sexual exploitation can have significant short- and longer-term impacts on victim-survivors. However, there is currently a lack of research exploring the support needs of sexual exploitation victim-survivors accessing support in Australia, and barriers to support provision. To address this knowledge gap, we analysed case management records for 50 victim-survivors of sexual exploitation in Australia and conducted interviews with 12 victim-survivor caseworkers.

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Why the Oct. 7 attack wasn't Israel's 9/11 By Raphael S. Cohen 
RAND, 13/11/23
There are some basic strategic lessons to be learned from the U.S. response to 9/11 that are applicable to Israel's unfolding operation in Gaza. But in many key ways, the two conflicts couldn't be further apart.