Monograph no. 07: School based drug prevention: a systematic review of the effectiveness on illicit drug use.

This Monograph (No. 07) outlines a systematic review of school based drug education. Whilst the Griffith team started with the broad brief of prevention, it became clear that a focus on school based drug education would be most useful, particularly as a systematic review in relation to its impact on illicit drugs had not been previously conducted. The review identified 58 relevant studies, and both a qualitative (narrative) and quantitative (meta-analytic) review was undertaken. Those programs demonstrating most effectiveness were social influence and competency enhancement programs. Less promising and iatrogenic effects were found for affective education and knowledge dissemination. In contrast to previous research on school based drug education, this review found that professionals were less effective than teachers, that multifaceted programs did not demonstrate substantially greater efficacy; and involvement of peers or booster session had minimal impact. Programs with a greater number of sessions were more effective, and interactive programs were associated with greater effectiveness

Random Breath Tests (RBT): a call for national thresholds in RBT to driver ratios

RBTs are a significant component of drink-driving management programs in Australia and have been for almost 30 years. In 1976 Victoria (Vic) launched Australia’s first RBT program. Other jurisdictions introduced RBTs (partially or fully) soon after.\ua0Three key elements comprise an effective RBT program:1.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Supportive legislation that identifies strong enforcement of the program with strict and definite penalties,2.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Strong and ongoing public education to raise awareness of the program,3.\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Public perception that alcohol-related breath testing is truly random and ubiquitous; that vehicles are stopped randomly without a preliminary suspicion of alcohol use.This report examines RBT practice in two state

Policing community problems: Exploring the role of formal social control in shaping collective efficacy

Research finds police-led crime control interventions focusing on places and involving partnerships tend to yield positive crime control outcomes. Some scholars argue that these positive outcomes are achieved when police use place-based, partnership-oriented interventions to facilitate and encourage collective efficacy (CE), the corollary being that these CE-enhancing efforts lead to less crime. Nevertheless, differentiating the police activities that impact CE across different types of communities is not well understood. This paper examines the role of police in shaping CE in two contrasting communities. Using in-depth interviews with residents and key informants we find that police are most likely to enhance CE when they foster a sense of effectiveness, use inclusive and partnership-oriented strategies and when they implement strategies in a manner that encourages perceptions of police legitimacy. Moreover, if police can maintain or cultivate a sense of empowerment among community residents, they are more likely to foster CE. Yet the role of police in enhancing CE is different in different community types. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice

School truancy and welfare receipt dynamics in early adulthood: a longitudinal study

School truancy can lead to a range of negative life outcomes, including criminal behaviour, poor mental health and poor employment outcomes. Other potential life outcomes for truants such as welfare receipt and reliance are not well understood in the truancy literature. This article investigates whether truancy is associated with the receipt of government-paid cash transfers during young peoples’ transition from adolescence to early adulthood. Using data from a longitudinal household panel survey, our study follows 787 high school-attending young people aged 15–21 years, until they are aged 19–25 years. It uses two truancy measures — any truanting and problem truanting — alongside other variables in mixed-effects logistic regression models. This study finds that, over and above the effects of other variables, and compared to non-truants, “any truanting” in adolescence increases the odds of receiving cash transfers over time by 4.5 times, while “problem truanting” increases the odds by 4.8 times. Compared to non-truants, being a truant increases one’s odds of being on an elevated trajectory of cash transfers by 4 to 5 times — depending on one’s truanting frequency — but truants’ and non-truants’ cash transfer trajectories follow the same rate of change over time. This study demonstrates that high school truancy increases one’s odds of receiving government assistance in the years following their truancy, deepening our understanding of the relationship between truancy and later life disadvantage