Journal of Criminology

An abridged version of this paper was delivered at the ANZSOC annual conference in Christchurch on 4 December 2024, after the presentation of the Distinguished Criminologist award. Amongst other omissions, the long anecdote about my arrival in the United Kingdom was not included in the lecture due to time constraints. All the material that was delivered orally on the day is reproduced here without significant changes.

As many universities strive to decolonise their curricula, understanding how criminologists in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are incorporating First Nations Knowledges, perspectives and experiences becomes crucial. Drawing on a survey of 176 criminology educators working in these countries, this study examined how First Nations’ insights are embedded in their teaching. The findings indicate that educators across the two countries are embedding a variety of approaches within their curricula but there is still much work to do. Educators from Aotearoa New Zealand utilise more approaches in their teaching than their Australian counterparts, which may speak to the more advanced policy positions regarding embedment of First Nations perspectives. Sustainable, long-term approaches require a whole-of-university approach so that the practice of embedment reflects the policy and intentions.

This study explores the nature of critical police incidents involving People with Mental Illness (PMI) that result in fatalities. The current study draws from Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to identify key characteristics of the PMI, officer, and place. The study examined all fatal police interactions involving PMIs in Queensland, Australia, over a 13-year period. A total of 32 cases were analysed to examine differences between two main groups: self-directed crises and externally directed crises. The results revealed both commonalities and key differences between the two groups. These findings are discussed within the context of controllers and super controllers, identifying key interventions of Crisis Supporters for PMIs, Response Aides for officers, and Environmental Facilitators for the location, as well as super controllers in terms of Support Frameworks. These findings provide insights for developing practical prevention strategies that can be implemented by police agencies, mental health services, and policymakers to reduce fatal outcomes in police–PMI interactions.

A growing body of research suggests that perceptions of disorder in a particular place can differ based on an individual's characteristics, which challenges the objectivity of disorder perception. While much of the literature has emphasised racial differences in perceiving disorder, there has been limited exploration of the differences between native and foreign residents in the same locale. Using fixed-effects Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models that account for between-neighbourhood variation, this study examines whether natives (n = 800) and foreign residents (n = 1,200) living in neighbourhoods with high foreign populations in South Korea perceive differing levels of disorder. The findings reveal strong and significant discrepancies in perceptions of social and physical disorders between native and foreign residents, even when accounting for key individual-level covariates (i.e., perceptions of the neighbourhood, victimisation, routine activities, demographics) and between-neighbourhood variation. A subgroup analysis suggests that native residents’ xenophobic attitudes significantly influence their perceptions of neighbourhood disorder. The findings suggest that police efforts to address disorder may be less noticeable to foreign residents, and the benefits of such activities can vary across neighbourhoods based on the density of the foreign population. Therefore, it is crucial for the police to consider these perceptual differences when adopting and implementing disorder-focused policing strategies.

This study explores the experiences and challenges faced by Cameroonian website developers involved in creating non-delivery fraud websites. Through semi-structured interviews with 14 developers, four key themes were identified: (1) the psychological impact of the Ambazonian crisis, including heightened stress and anxiety due to ongoing civil conflict; (2) infrastructure disruptions, such as frequent power outages and Internet blackouts, which hinder their work and increase operational risks; (3) the influence of spiritual beliefs on decision-making, where concerns about offending ancestral spirits deter developers from direct fraud involvement; and (4) cultural perceptions of cybercrime, particularly the glorification of the “Big Boy” image, which normalises fraudulent activities as symbols of success. The study suggests that redirecting these developers’ skills towards legitimate tech employment opportunities in Cameroon and internationally could help reduce cyber deviance and contribute to economic growth in affected regions.

In this study, the goal is to develop a crime script based on an Australian sample of incarcerated offenders who offended in Youth-Serving Organisations (YSOs) to provide insights into preventing child sexual abuse in those organisations. First, the study generates and presents a detailed empirical crime script on how sexual offenders operate in YSOs. Second, consistent with the main purpose of developing crime scripts, the script is utilised as a framework to discuss how this knowledge can be utilised to develop or improve current practices within YSOs. The implications of the script for YSOs are discussed for prevention purposes.