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

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52 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 CINCH is a bibliographic database maintained by the AIC that indexes and abstracts articles from published and unpublished material on all aspects of crime and criminal justice in Australia.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: • • • • 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.
The research location was defined as the state or territory where the analysis was undertaken. In cases where there was no actual analysis of recidivism, location was coded according to the location of context/publication. Some of the items were coded as Australia (unspecified) indicating that the discussion of recidivism was generalised and did not focus on, or use the research results from any one jurisdiction. There were 119 items in this category. Where location was identifiable, New South Wales had the majority (105); followed by Western Australia (88); Victoria (62); Queensland (48) and South Australia (32). A publication could be recorded as having more than one jurisdiction. Despite the seemingly high number of general Australian research items, these were most likely to have been of a commentary nature. The general paucity of national recidivism research using data from across Australian jurisdictions is noted. Table 3: Recidivism research in Australia, by jurisdiction, 1995–2004 (number) Recidivism in Australia 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total ACT 2 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 2 2 13 NSW 15 5 6 5 11 11 8 16 20 8 105 NT 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 2 2 23 Qld 4 3 3 5 5 4 6 4 9 5 48 SA 6 2 5 2 2 0 1 6 7 5 36 Tas 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 3 9 Vic 10 10 2 3 5 6 6 3 13 4 62 WA 29 10 9 6 6 6 7 3 8 4 88 Unspecified 9 5 13 11 13 22 9 10 15 12 119 (Total) a (65) (32) (35) (25) (35) (48) (37) (38) (63) (38) (416) a: Annual total does not sum across jurisdictions, as some articles have been coded with multiple jurisdictions. Figure 5 shows the topic areas most frequently examined in Australian recidivism research. A research article could be coded as covering multiple topic areas. Of the 416 articles published between 1995 and 2004, the most frequently cited topic area was juvenile offending, with 159 articles (38%). This was followed by prison or detention related topics (37%), Indigenous offenders (26%) and drug and alcohol issues (19%). Approximately 15 percent of articles examined recidivism and women or those with a mental health disorder. Sex offender research accounted for 49 articles (12%). The final column in Figure 5 identifies 53 articles where the subject or topic area was not identified as one or more of the above (13%). This indicates that the seven identified topics accounted for more than 85 percent of recidivism research conducted in Australia. 53
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Appendix A
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Research and Public Policy Series N
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