Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

24 Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research There are also some offences such as tax-related or social security offences which, because they are detected and prosecuted by agencies other than the police, (notably the Australian Taxation Office or Centrelink) are not recorded in police databases. Overestimating offending Police data may also overestimate offending. Perhaps the most obvious situation is where an alleged offender is apprehended and charged by the police for an offence they did not commit. This might be for two main reasons. First, at the time of apprehension a police officer must have reasonable grounds for suspecting that the offender is guilty, whereas in court, the prosecution must prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. The primary responsibility of the police is to prevent crime by apprehending suspected offenders, some of whom may be released without arrest or charge. Second, there are indications from the literature that police may inflate the number of offences and charges applied to an offender in some cases, in the hope of securing a conviction on at least one of those charges (Payne 2006). Misrepresenting time It is standard practice to record the apprehension date and/or arrest/charge date. In some states, police may also record the date of the actual offending episode that gave rise to the apprehension. However, where such a date is not recorded or, if recorded, is not available to the researcher, then the only alternative is to use the date of the apprehension and charge as a proxy date for the offending event itself. In those situations where the date of apprehension is far removed from the date at which the offence was actually committed, police apprehension data will provide an inaccurate ‘proxy’ record for the timing of the criminal event itself. The disparity between apprehension and event dates at the police level may result from any number of factors, not the least of which is the time taken for the victim to report the offences and for the police to investigate the crime and to identify, locate and apprehend the offender. All of this may take days, weeks or even years, and is likely to vary considerably depending on the type of offence involved. It is well documented, for example, that many child sex offences are not reported until the victim becomes an adult. In such cases, decades may elapse between the commission of the offence and the subsequent apprehension of the offender. Homicides are another example of where the apprehension date may be far removed from the date of offence – with delays primarily attributable to the lengthy periods of investigation required in these cases.
The implications for recidivism studies are twofold. First, given that most such studies track reoffending for relatively limited periods such as two years, any offending during this period which results in a delayed apprehension will not be counted in the study. Second, it may also affect any estimate of the time taken by an individual to reoffend. For example, if an individual commits two separate criminal events on consecutive days, but is not apprehended for the second event until some months later, it will appear as if they ‘survived’ for several months before reoffending when in fact, there was only one day separating the actual events. The reverse may also apply. An offender may commit two events several months apart, but their apprehension for the first event may result in the police becoming aware of, and quickly laying a fresh apprehension report for the second event. In this situation, the time between offending will appear to be relatively short – possibly a matter of days when in fact there were months separating the two events. Court appearance/conviction data Once an offender has been apprehended and charged with a criminal offence the matters usually result in an appearance at court. These appearances are the result of an investigation and subsequent decision by the prosecuting agency to proceed with prosecution. In the majority of cases, the offender pleads guilty to the offence and the court’s role is then to decide whether to record a conviction and what, if any, penalty should be imposed. In other cases, the charges may be withdrawn or dismissed, or the defendant may choose to plead not guilty and go to trial where a verdict of guilty or not guilty will be handed down. As was the case with police data, court databases are structured according to a sequence of events, as illustrated in Figure 3. They contain chronological information on the progress of the criminal matter as it passes from the police apprehension phase to first court appearance, through to determination of guilt or innocence, and the imposition of a conviction and sentence. This sequence of events provides two proxy recidivism measures that are assumed to represent an underlying pattern of offending. • • Key elements of recidivism an individual appears in court, irrespective of the outcome of that appearance an individual has been found guilty by the court or has pleaded guilty. This second option excludes all cases where the defendant was found not guilty, or where all charges were dismissed or dropped by prosecution. 25
Page 1: Recidivism in Australia: findings a
Page 4 and 5: © Australian Institute of Criminol
Page 6 and 7: iv This report identifies three pri
Page 8 and 9: vi Are adjustments needed in observ
Page 10 and 11: viii In essence, this report highli
Page 12 and 13: x Moreover, once the event of recid
Page 14 and 15: xii • • • between 50 and 60 p
Page 16 and 17: xiv Finally, the report highlights
Page 18 and 19: 2 Recidivism in Australia: findings
Page 26 and 27: 10 Recidivism in Australia: finding
Page 70 and 71: 54 Rate per 1,000 prisoners Recidiv
Page 90 and 91:
74 Recidivism in Australia: finding
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
100 Recidivism in Australia: findin
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
References
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Appendix A
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156:
Research and Public Policy Series N
show all

Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?