April Chrzanowski

The monetary cost of offender trajectories: Findings from Queensland (Australia)

This study assessed the longitudinal costs of offender trajectories in Queensland (Australia) to provide policymakers with evidence that could be used to promote the use of crime prevention programs. Few studies have assessed these costs and minimal research has been conducted outside the United States. The study addressed three research questions: (1) What are the monetary costs of crime? (2) What is the optimal number of offender trajectories in an Australian offender cohort? and (3) What are the monetary costs of officially recorded offending for individuals on different offender trajectories? The Semi-Parametric Group-based Method (SPGM) was used to determine the number of offender trajectories in the Queensland Longitudinal Database. This database included 41,377 individuals who were born in 1983 and 1984 and guilty of offences in Queensland that were committed when aged 10–25 years old. The costs of crime were assessed using two approaches. First, criminal justice system costs were estimated based on the number and type of contacts that individuals had with the criminal justice system as well as the length of any supervision served. Second, wider social and economic costs were assessed based on offence type. Results indicated that there were five offender trajectories, including two chronic, one moderate and two low trajectories. When costs were applied to the offender trajectories, offenders in the two chronic groups were 4.8% of the cohort but accounted for 41.1% of the total costs. On average, each chronic offender cost between

Administrative data linkage as a tool for developmental and life-course criminology: the Queensland Linkage Project

186,366 and

What a difference training can make: Impacts of targeted training on journalists, journalism educators and journalism students’ knowledge of Islam and Muslims:

262,799 by the time they turned 26 years old, with 60% of the costs accounted for by the criminal justice system. On average, each chronic offender cost over 20 times more than offenders in the two low offending groups. These findings provide further evidence for the potential benefits of implementing interventions that target chronic offenders.

Integrating Criminal Careers and Ecological Research: The Importance of Geographic Location for Targeting Interventions Toward Chronic and Costly Offenders

A fundamental challenge to developmental and life-course (DLC) criminology research is access to appropriate longitudinal data to examine hypotheses concerning causal risk factors for offending and within-individual change over time, and to empirically test DLC theories. In this paper we present a powerful method for collecting appropriate data – linked administrative data. The Queensland Linkage Project includes three population-based longitudinal linked administrative databases – the Queensland Longitudinal Data (QLD) – QLD 83, QLD 84 and QLD 90. We describe the methodology of linking administrative data, the establishment of the QLD datasets and a selection of the work facilitated by these data. This work addresses issues raised by the editors including the effects of life events and the timing of risk factors (child maltreatment) on further offending, the monetary costs of offending across the life-course and the development of adult-onset offending. We finish by describing current work on the Queensland Linkage Project where mental health system data are being integrated with justice system data.

Life Course Offending Pathways Across Gender and Race/Ethnicity

The problematic nature of news media framing of Islam and Muslims by Western news media has been well established by researchers. While research has focused on the ways such representations occur and to a lesser extent their effects on individuals and communities, we know little about why journalists frame Islam and Muslims in the Western news media in the ways they do. While studies point to a lack of knowledge about Islam and Muslims in non-Muslim populations, we know very little about how this translates to news media practitioners. This study draws from a far broader research project focused on encouraging more informed reporting of Islam and Muslims by the Australian news media. In this study, we establish the baseline knowledge of a purposive sample of Australian news media practitioners and journalism students about Islam and reporting stories about Islam and Muslims before and after targeted training. We find a relatively small investment in time significantly shifts this knowledge in both areas. Targeted training that includes a focus on basic facts about Islam as well as raising awareness of the resources that are now available to journalists may go some way towards improving reportage of Islam and Muslims.

Police diversion of young offenders and Indigenous over-representation

This study explored whether chronic and costly offenders were more likely to be from disadvantaged communities and whether the most disadvantaged communities accounted for higher proportions of chronic and costly offenders. The Semi-Parametric Group-Based Method was used and costs applied to the five offending trajectories. Moderate and chronic offenders represented 15.8% of the cohort but 70% of total costs. The Index of Relative Disadvantage was assigned based on the first recorded residential postcode and an ANOVA indicated that moderate and chronic offenders resided in communities that had more disadvantage. The 5% most disadvantaged communities were compared with other communities and were found to have higher concentrations of chronic and costly offenders. Implications for the efficient targeting of crime prevention programs and interventions are discussed.