Why is the NSW prison population falling?

After steadily increasing for more than a decade, from mid 2009 the NSW prison population started falling. This paper identifies why this has occurred. Method: The study relied upon administrative data. Corrections data was considered to gauge the size, timing and nature of changes in the prison population. Police recorded crime and court data were analysed to measure changes in offending and sentencing which eventually have a bearing on prison numbers. Results: Corrections data showed that the decrease in the prison population was limited to sentenced prisoners and was driven by a reduction in the number of offenders serving sentences for Assault, Break and enter, Theft and Traffic offences. Break and enter, Theft and Assault, prisoners appear to have decreased, in part, because the incidence of these offences have fallen. There have also been moves away from the use of imprisonment as a penalty for each of the four offences whether because fewer offenders are being imprisoned or because the average sentence length has fallen. Conclusion: In 2011, fewer offenders were serving prison sentences for Assault, Break and enter, Theft and Traffic offences. This appears to be due to both a reduction in the number of offenders in court and changes in sentencing practices for certain offences. It is beyond the scope of this paper to ascertain whether changes in sentencing practice reflect a move towards more lenient sentencing or whether they have resulted from changes in the severity of offences themselves. The reduction in the number of offenders for some offences appears to be due, at least in part, to a reduction in the volume of crime

Why is the NSW prison population growing?

This paper provides a preliminary analysis of the rapid rise in the NSW prison population from January 2013 to March 2014. Method: Descriptive analysis of court, crime, arrest and correctional data, and ARIMA modelling of prison trends. Results: The key factors responsible for the recent rise in the NSW prison population appear to be a higher rate of arrest for serious crime and an increase in the proportion of convicted offenders given a prison sentence. There is no evidence that prisoners during 2013 are spending longer in custody but there is evidence the length of stay in custody may increase over the coming year. If the current trend in inmate numbers continues, the NSW prison population will rise by another 17 per cent (i.e., to about 12,500 inmates) by March 2015. Conclusion: Early consideration should be given to measures that reduce the demand for prison accommodation and/or expand prison capacity

Improving the accessibility of modelling for management learning : a systems thinking approach using ithink

This thesis describes research aimed at increasing the accessibility of modelling to the general manager as a tool to promote organisational learning and improve managerial performance. An exploratory approach was adopted and a wide-ranging investigation of the whole process of modelling and its relevance to learning was carried out. A review of individual learning, organisational learning and modelling techniques in management, led to the identification of system thinking as a modelling methodology whose role in promoting learning warranted further research. Two major pieces of fieldwork were conducted. Firstly, the process of training managers in systems thinking was studied. Secondly, a case study of the adoption of systems thinking by a large manufacturing company was carried out. During the course of this work, a number of training case studies and a supply chain management training workshop, based upon the use of a generic supply chain model, were developed. This fieldwork identified model conceptualisation as a major area of difficulty for novice modellers. In order to provide assistance in this area, a new framework for model conceptualisation, based upon the use of archetypes and generic models, was developed. During the course of this work an exploration of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative modelling was carried out. This resulted in the development of simulation models of a number of the system archetypes. Additionally, a computerised Delphi-based knowledge acquisition tool was developed. The purpose of this tool was to allow a large group of geographically dispersed people to become directly involved in the modeffing process. In conclusion, this thesis has suggested that there are substantial benefits to be gained from encouraging managers to become modellers. It has also confirmed the potential of systems thinking to support modelling for learning

The 2015 NSW prison population forecast

Prison population forecasting is fraught with difficulty. Many factors affect the size of the prison population, including levels of crime, the number of arrests, the proportion of arrestees convicted, the proportion refused bail, the proportion given a prison sentence, the average length of prison sentences, the proportion of offenders released to parole at the end of their non-parole period and the rate at which parole is revoked. This report provides short and long-term forecasts of the number of prisoners in NSW. Three long-term forecasts are provided; one of which assumes no further growth in age-specific rates of imprisonment, and another two of which assume a continuation of the growth that has occurred either over the last ten years or over the history of available data (32 years), respectively. In order to provide some context for the forecasts we begin by describing long-term trends in the remand and sentenced prisoner numbers and some of the factors that have influenced growth in these populations. Results: The short-term forecast is that, if relevant influences remain unchanged, NSW will have 12,191 prisoners by March 2017. If age-specific rates of imprisonment remain constant, we expect the NSW prison population to rise to 12,500 by June 2036. If age-specific rates of imprisonment rise in a manner commensurate with trends observed over the past decade, the prison population should reach 15,600 by June 2036. If age-specific imprisonment rates rise according to the trends observed since 1982, the prison population should reach 17,600 by June 2036. Conclusion: The NSW prison population is likely to rise over both the short and long-term unless measures are taken to reduce the demand for prison accommodation. &nbsp

Narrative evolution: Learning from students' talk about species variation

Learners do not always enjoy productive interactions with Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments. Their attention can be distracted away from the educational focus intended by designers and teachers through poor design and operational inadequacy. In this paper we describe a study of groups of learners using a multimedia CD-ROM research tool called Galapagos. This tool was developed to enable us to observe groups of learners interacting with different versions of the same multimedia content. These different versions implemented different forms of guidance for learners both within the presented narrative structure of the material and in the tools offered to learners to help them build the individual content elements into a coherent whole. Our empirical work was conducted with groups of learners within their educational establishment using the Galapagos CD-ROM as part of their studies for national examinations in Biology. Their sessions with Galapagos were recorded using video and audio and our analysis of their dialogue has enabled us to gain a greater understanding of the factors that contribute to productive, educationally focused learning interactions. Through the construction of different representations we have been able to coordinate information about interactivity between learners and system at the interface with interactivity between individual learners within the group around the system interface. Varying the quantity and quality of guidance impacts upon the trajectory learners construct through multimedia content; it also influences the manner in which they use the facilities provided by system designers to assist them in their construction of task answers

Contested knowledge, conflictive morality: HIV/AIDS, gender and sexuality in Puebla, Mexico

HIV/AIDS has highlighted the lack of understanding we have of cultural variations in ideas about sexual practice and identity. Whilst the South has been hit hard by the epidemic, the Mexican case is unique, and remains under-researched. Local ideas about sex, sexuality and gender, in conjunction with understandings and approaches to health affect perceptions of HIV and the risk of infection. However, health care policy evolves now in the context of an international medical community, and this thesis examines the problems these issues present. Anthropological research into transmission of HIV in Latin America has focussed almost exclusively on men, and in particular men who have sex with men. Implying that a bounded homosexual community exists, this does not account for the rapid spread of the virus in the heterosexual community. The problem of HIV/AIDS in Mexico is examined here as a shared one, and ethnographic data was gathered through informal interviewing with men and women in a self-help group, sex-workers, and low and middle income women. Public health policy normally side-steps the moral universe in the delivery of education/prevention programmes. Mexico has imported an international AIDS discourse produced in Anglo-Saxon cultures that privileges safe sex, monogamy and an idea of 'homosexual identity'. My argument that this policy cannot be applied indiscriminately iii the non-Anglo setting is borne out by the ideas people express about their sexual lives and practices. Recent theoretical work in the anthropology of gender theory has been used to explore the contradictions inherent in discussions of sexual identity, especially the differences that exist between ideological systems and practice, and some suggestions are also made for application of the research findings

Centre-of-mass and internal symmetries in classical relativistic systems

The internal symmetry of composite relativistic systems is discussed. It is demonstrated that Lorentz-Poincar\'e symmetry implies the existence of internal moments associated with the Lorentz boost, which are Laplace-Runge-Lenz (LRL) vectors. The LRL symmetry is thus found to be the internal symmetry universally associated with the global Lorentz transformations, in much the same way as internal spatial rotations are associated with global spatial rotations. Two applications are included, for an interacting 2-body system and for an interaction-free many-body system of particles. The issue of localizability of the relativistic CM coordinate is also discussed

Fever Dreams

The cover story, To Meet the Faces You Meet, has been adapted as the movie MEAD, premiering in summer 2022. Written by frequent Corben collaborator Jan Strnad this is one of the pair\u27s true classics. … This early underground comix science fiction cross-over was very popular, going through several printings. The other portion of the comic is The Unicorn Quest, also written by Strnad but drawn by John Adkins Richardson. Fabulous front cover by Corben (later printings are generally not as vivid as this initial printing). – from Steve Krupp\u27s Curio Shoppe a division of www.deniskitchen.com. The Adler Archive of Underground Comix, Gift of Bill Adler.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/specialcollections_adlerarchive_undergroundcomix/1035/thumbnail.jp

Music education in the field of adult non-vocational studies

The object of this research study is to consider the role\ud of music in adult education as part of a continuing lifelong\ud process. It looks into the personal aims and needs\ud of adult non-vocational music students in the Greater\ud London area, and makes recommendations for the years that\ud lie immediately ahead.\ud \ud VOLUME ONE Part I presents an historical background of\ud music education for the People. The research includes\ud evidence of a previously unknown instrument invented by\ud Sarah Glover and used for educational purposes in the\ud nineteenth century (see published article). Nineteenth and\ud twentieth century pioneers of music education have been\ud chosen to emphasise the significance of - The People's\ud Sight Singing i'lovement, The Choral Ii[ovement and The r•~usic\ud Appreciation Movement.\ud VOLUJYIE ONE Part II is concerned with 'The Practice - Present\ud and Future'. It seeks to relate the philosophy and\ud psychology of teaching music to adult stUdents.\ud VOLU?•1E TWO is the empirical research where statistics,\ud facts, figures and opinions are studied and ~resented in depth.\ud It includes the 'findings' from over 2,150 three paged\ud questionnaires and evaluates them. One distribution was\ud made to students in the large music departDents of three\ud London Literary Institutes. Another was carried out in a\ud selected nQtloer of ILEA Adult Education Institutes. An\ud overall evaluation has been made from the total information\ud collected.\ud CONCLUSIONS: 'Frinciples and RecoTIJl!lendations for the\ud 1980's', arise from the overall research. ~eco~nendatlons\ud are made for future planning of adult music classes,\ud advisory services and special proVision for retired\ud students. Attention is drawn to the professional status\ud required of music tutors, the need for structured teaching,\ud integration of classes and the size of teaching groups.\ud Suggestions are made regarding classes linked to H.E.,\ud varied course lengths and paid study leave. Information\ud has been 'fed back' to the field through regular meetings,\ud discussions and published articles.\ud It is hoped that the research may offer some\ud practical suggestions both in the short term and in the\ud long term planning for a continuing and life-long\ud adult music education. \u