The Role of Local Government in Crime Prevention: An Overview

In Australia local government has played a key role in pro-active crime reduction, with it since 1980s partnering with different organisations at both state and local levels to address causes of offending. Crime prevention policies developed by state and federal governments have relied heavily on local government to resource and implement local partnerships and crime prevention plans. Policies implemented in Victoria, NSW and Queensland have relied upon some level of local government participatio

Supporting disengagement and reintegration: qualitative outcomes from a custody-based counter radicalisation intervention

The rehabilitation and reintegration of radicalised offenders has become an increasing area of concern internationally. This has led to investment in interventions aimed at the de-radicalisation and disengagement of terrorist/radicalised inmates. However, little is known about the delivery, content and outcomes from such formal interventions. This paper fills this gap by providing results from an evaluation of a disengagement program in the Australian state of New South Wales called PRISM. The Proactive Integrated Support Model (PRISM) is an intervention delivered by Corrective Services NSW aimed at prison inmates who have a conviction for terrorism or have been identified as at risk of radicalisation. Data reported here is part of a larger second evaluation of PRISM and draws on interviews with PRISM staff (N=10) and PRISM clients (i.e., inmates and parolees; N=12). The paper examines outcomes from the intervention in relation to the benefits PRISM clients derived from participation and explores different qualitative dimensions of client progress. The responses of PRISM clients are compared against the observations of program staff who work with these individuals. Results provide lessons for how formal interventions can facilitate disengagement and reintegration. Broader lessons for the delivery and evaluation of CVE interventions are identified. Limitations in the study design are also acknowledged

Police and community cooperation in counter-terrorism: evidence and insights from Australia

Effectively engaging the Muslim community is a challenge for police given many Muslims feel unfairly targeted by counter-terrorism policies and laws because of their faith. This paper explores how such perceptions influence the willingness of Muslims to voluntarily cooperate in counter-terrorism efforts, drawing on data collected from Muslims living in Australia. We test whether procedural justice policing can help buffer this perception of being targeted as a security threat and whether it can enhance Muslim's willingness to cooperate with police. Efforts by the Australian Federal Police to engage Muslim communities in Australia are also examined. The implications of the results for community-based approaches to counter-terrorism are discussed

Exploring support for terrorism among Muslims

<p><em>In this paper we examine factors that influence support for terrorism, using the PEW 2010 Global Attitudes Survey. We assess aggregate results, drawing on items fielded to all Muslim respondents to identify broad factors that appear to indicate likely support for suicide terrorism. Results from a logistic regression model suggest that being female, having an educational degree, a commitment to certain Muslim beliefs and values, and being a member of the Shi&rsquo;a minority might be probable indicators of support for terrorism. Some of the results were also counterintuitive. We consider the implications of our findings for understanding passive and active support for terrorism among Muslim communities.</em></p

Supporting disengagement and reintegration: qualitative outcomes from a custody-based counter radicalisation intervention

The rehabilitation and reintegration of radicalised offenders has become an increasing area of concern internationally. This has led to investment in interventions aimed at the de-radicalisation and disengagement of terrorist/radicalised inmates. However, little is known about the delivery, content and outcomes from such formal interventions. This paper fills this gap by providing results from an evaluation of a disengagement program in the Australian state of New South Wales called PRISM. The Proactive Integrated Support Model (PRISM) is an intervention delivered by Corrective Services NSW aimed at prison inmates who have a conviction for terrorism or have been identified as at risk of radicalisation. Data reported here is part of a larger second evaluation of PRISM and draws on interviews with PRISM staff (N=10) and PRISM clients (i.e., inmates and parolees; N=12). The paper examines outcomes from the intervention in relation to the benefits PRISM clients derived from participation and explores different qualitative dimensions of client progress. The responses of PRISM clients are compared against the observations of program staff who work with these individuals. Results provide lessons for how formal interventions can facilitate disengagement and reintegration. Broader lessons for the delivery and evaluation of CVE interventions are identified. Limitations in the study design are also acknowledged

An Evidence Review of Strategies Targeting Youth Who Have Radicalised to Violent Extremism

This paper reviews strategies and approaches aimed as assisting and rehabilitating youth who have been imprisoned for terrorist offences or identified as at risk of radicalisation, due to their behaviours and associations. The paper reports results from a review of evidence across radicalisation studies, the CVE academic and grey literature, and data collected from a small number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), who work in youth CVE. The aim was to identify effective approaches, as well as issues and challenges that need to be considered in the design, implementation and evaluation of programs aimed at countering violent extremism (CVE) amongst youth. While it was found that evidence around youth CVE is limited in scope in relation to identifying what works, there were some consistent and overlapping findings across the sources of evidence in relation to youth intervention design and delivery. This included the importance placed on family involvement and participation in an intervention; that rapport building with youth and youth work approaches are essential when engaging radicalised youth; that interventions must be trauma informed and develop empathy and perspective taking; that interventions must be developmentally appropriate and include informal forms of engagement involving non-clinical and non-vocational/educational activities; that interventions must be transparent in how they operate and rely on multi-agency responses; that the evaluation of youth interventions need to focus on measuring a variety of cognitive and behavioural outcomes, including outcomes not necessarily related to reductions in specific offending/problematic behaviours; and that program evaluation of youth interventions need to assess change relating to psychopathology deficits and risks that have an impact on problematic behaviour. &nbsp; This research was funded by the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program 2022. The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the State government of New South Wales, Australia

Mandatory participation in programs to counter violent extremism: A review of evidence for and against

Dealing with released convicted terrorists and returned foreign fighters is a major policy challenge. One option is to mandate their participation in intervention programs. This paper will review evidence relating to mandatory participation in interventions targeting convicted terrorists and individuals at risk of radicalisation, consider the benefits and drawbacks of mandating participation and explore relevant implementation issues relating to the adoption of mandatory programs. The following methodology was adopted: (1) a rapid scoping review across the fields of countering violent extremism, sex and violent offender rehabilitative programming; (2) a review of relevant policy documents and legislative sources; and (3) consultations with international experts. The conclusion drawn is that mandated participation may offer some benefits, but these need to be weighed against the drawbacks of such an approach

Australian survey indicates policy-makers still have major reservations about assigning priority to academic research

The disparity between academics’ perception of the impact of their research and the opinions of policy-makers was recently underlined by a team of researchers from the University of Queensland who undertook cross-sectional surveys and semi-structured interviews with social science academic researchers and personnel in policy-relevant roles in public sector agencies. Michele Ferguson, Brian Head, Adrian Cherney and Paul Boreham look at some of their key findings from the study and offer suggestions for how to improve partnerships between academics and public sector staff

Countering Violent Extremism Evaluation Indicator Document. Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee, National Countering Violent Extremism Evaluation Framework and Guide. This work was funded by the Countering Violent Extremism Centre, Department of Home Affairs

The aim of this evaluation indicator document is to provide suggestions to policy-makers and practitioners as to how they could measure particular outcomes as outlined in the Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee’s National Countering Violent Extremism Evaluation Framework and Guide (Research and Evaluation Working Group CVE SubCommittee, 12 May 2018)