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

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Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research
The preceding section described the complexities of defining and understanding recidivism.
It highlighted that the underlying research base from which recidivism is measured and
understood, varies significantly in context and purpose, as well as across the key methodological
elements. To facilitate this discussion the report used key examples from the Australian
literature that were identified through a broader literature review, conducted by the AIC
and using the Australian criminology database (CINCH). CINCH is a bibliographic database
maintained by the AIC that indexes and abstracts articles from published and unpublished
material on all aspects of crime and criminal justice in Australia. It represents the most
comprehensive collection of research material in Australian criminology.
In this section, this report brings together the broader literature on recidivism in Australia
with the intention of summarising key findings from the research. At the same time this section
will use that research to further illustrate the complexities within and between the studies and
their likely impact on understanding recidivism.
Overview of the literature: methodology
Through CINCH, the literature search was conducted using a combination of truncated
keywords across all search fields – recid*, repeat offend*, reoffend* and re-offend*. The results
were restricted to items published in Australia since 1995. The search yielded a total of 416
items, with numbers fluctuating from 25 in 1998 to 65 in 1995. The average number of publications
abstracted each year was 42.
Following the literature search, each item was reviewed and coded according to specified
criteria. Some of this information was available directly from the record on the CINCH database
while other items were identified by reviewing the article. The coding criteria included:
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document type – monographs, chapters in monographs, journal articles, short research
pamphlets and conference papers
document purpose – commentary, estimation analysis, exploratory analysis and
evaluation analysis
location and year of publication
methodology – including the measure of recidivism, the sample, the offence type
and the data source where applicable.