Is the decrease in assaults at licensed premises being driven by changes in staff reporting rates?

Aim: To determine whether changes to legislation and regulation of licensed premises have affected the willingness of staff in both Top 100 and unranked premises to report assaults on licensed premises.Method: A random sample of 1600 assaults over the period from January 2008 and December 2011, half from Top 100 premises and half from unranked premises. Kendall’s test for trend was used to determine whether there had been a change in behaviour over the period.Results: No change was detected in either series.Conclusion: The changes to legislation and regulation do not appear to have affected staff reporting rates in either Top 100 or unranked licensed premises overall. However changes in the behaviour of individual licensed premises cannot be ruled out

Public confidence in the New South Wales criminal justice system: 2012 update

This report assesses whether confidence in the New South Wales criminal justice system  has changed since 2007, whether changes in knowledge and/or punitiveness underpin any changes in confidence, and  whether confidence in police differs from confidence in the courts. Method: Repeat cross-sectional survey of the NSW public (n=2,002 in 2007; n=2,001 in 2012). The survey measured confidence, levels of knowledge and public demand for harsher sentencing in both years. Logistic regression models estimated changes in confidence after accounting for changes in sample composition. In 2012, participants were also asked about confidence in the police and courts separately. Results: Participants had high levels of confidence that the CJS respects the rights of the accused and treats them fairly but lower levels of confidence that the CJS brings people to justice, deals with cases promptly or meets the needs of victims. With the exception of confidence in respecting the rights of the accused, confidence was significantly higher in 2012 than in 2007. The 2012 respondents were also more knowledgeable about crime and justice and less punitive than the 2007 respondents. Respondents tended to have higher levels of confidence in the police than the courts. Conclusion: Levels of confidence in the CJS have improved since 2007. Factors such as increased knowledge and decreases in punitiveness may have contributed to these increases. However the changes in all three measures could reflect other factors such as the effect of the media and public policy. While confidence in police is generally high, the public lack confidence in the expediency of the courts and in outcomes for victims

Predictors of guilty pleas in the NSW District Court

Examines factors associated with early, late, and not guilty pleas in the District Court of NSW. Introduction There are well established practical, financial and emotional benefits of obtaining guilty pleas early in criminal proceedings. While criminal proceedings in NSW are most commonly resolved by a guilty plea (e.g., in 2012, 82% of criminal matters proved in the District Court of NSW were resolved via a guilty plea), approximately one third of guilty pleas are not submitted until after the matter has been committed for trial (NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research, 2012). These late guilty pleas typically involve at least three Local Court appearances prior to committal (including the committal hearing itself) and two appearances in the District Court (including the arraignment and sentence hearing) before being finalised. When a guilty plea is received late (e.g., on the first day of trial), it is likely that many hours of victim, witness, juror, court, police, and legal practitioner time will have gone to waste. The issue of late guilty pleas has been an ongoing concern for government, legal practitioners and courts for many years in NSW. In 2013, at the direction of the Attorney General, the NSW Law Reform Commission commenced a review into encouraging appropriate early guilty pleas. A consultation paper was released in November 2013 with the purpose of generating discussion on what models could be adopted by NSW to improve the rate of appropriate early guilty pleas

Reporting violence to police: a survey of victims attending domestic violence services

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate what proportion of domestic violence (DV) victims who seek help from DV services choose not to report the violence to police and to investigate factors and reasons associated with non-reporting.Method: Data was collected by interviewing 300 victims attending DV services. The interview was conducted by telephone and included questions on (a) victim characteristics, (b) characteristics of victims’ most recent incident, and (c) victims’ reasons for not reporting to police. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were undertaken to determine characteristics associated with the decision to report a domestic violence incident to police.Results: Approximately half (51.8%) of victims reported their most recent incident to the police. Victims were more likely to report if they had an AVO against the offender, if their property had been damaged, if they were physically injured, if the abuse was physical or sexual, if they felt their children were at risk or if they had reported previous DV incidents. Victims were less likely to report if they were pregnant or experienced more than 5 previous incidents of abuse. The top three reasons for not reporting to police were fear of revenge/further violence (13.9%), embarrassment/shame (11.8%), or the incident was too trivial/unimportant (11.8%). The primary barrier to reporting, according to those interviewed, is that police either do not understand or are not proactive in handling DV (17.1%).Conclusion: Half of victims reported DV to the police, leaving the remainder without official legal intervention and professional support

IMMATEREALITIES OF DEMATERIALISATION IN CONTEMPORARY ART AND FINANCE

This paper is an in-­‐depth examination of two artworks: Crisis in the Credit System(2008) by Melanie Gilligan and Inventory (2007) by Carey Young. These works are positioned as successful critiques of contemporary speculative capitalism. This criticality stems from the works’ ability to engage the institution of the economy as a network, which itself functions through language. With Crisis in the Credit System, art acts out finance. Gilligan’s film takes the familiar signs and symbols of capitalism as its script, yet with narrative exposes the abstraction of this vocabulary. With Inventory, art acts as finance. Young’s work assigns a value to the artist’s body based on a chemical breakdown of the body’s constituent elements, which then becomes the offer price of the artwork. The artist and the work thereby adopt the role of financial products. Through irony, these two works question processes of signification and meaning in financial capitalism

Graphic novels: enticing teenagers into the library

This thesis investigates the inclusion of graphic novels in library collections and whether the format encourages teenagers to use libraries and read in their free time. Graphic novels are bound paperback or hardcover works in comic-book form and cover the full range of fiction genres, manga (Japanese comics), and also nonfiction. Teenagers are believed to read less in their free time than their younger counterparts. The importance of recreational reading necessitates methods to encourage teenagers to enjoy reading and undertake the pastime. Graphic novels have been discussed as a popular format among teenagers. As with reading, library use among teenagers declines as they age from childhood. The combination of graphic novel collections in school and public libraries may be a solution to both these dilemmas.Teenagers’ views were explored through focus groups to determine their attitudes toward reading, libraries and their use of libraries; their opinions on reading for school, including reading for English classes and gathering information for school assignments; and their liking for different reading materials, including graphic novels. Opinions on school reading can impact feelings on reading in general and thus influence views and amount of recreational reading.A survey of public libraries determined the incidence of graphic novel collections throughout Australia and how collections are managed, with the intention of comparing libraries from different states and territories and metropolitan or rural areas. Interviews with selected librarians who collected graphic novels provided insight into their attitudes to the place of graphic novels in public and high school libraries and a more detailed picture of how the format is managed. This included use of graphic novel by the libraries’ teenage users or students and problems encountered, such as complaints about specific titles.Graphic novel collections are widespread among surveyed Australian libraries, although a metropolitan location led to a greater likelihood of collection of graphic novels, and librarians were passionate about the format and its popularity among teenagers. The teenagers investigated were not as universally positive about graphic novels or libraries. The necessity of inclusion of all formats of reading matter in library collections will enable teenagers to discover for themselves what provides enjoyable reading experiences, so these become the norm, and lead to a greater enthusiasm for reading and more undertaken in their free time

Evaluation of the genetic resources of T. cherleri (Cupped Clover) and a selected number of lines of T. resupinatum on shallow acid, granitic soils of the Western Austalian Wheatbelt.

Trial 90ME68 To evaluate Cupped clover (T. cherleri) and Persian clover (T. resupinatum) on a shallow, granitic, infertile soil, which is reported to be suitable for the growth of Cupped clover, but too acid to support medics successfully and where subterranean clover struggles to persist

Researching Graphic Novels and Their Teenage Readers

Graphic novels are becoming more prevalent and popular among teenagers and are thus being collected by public and school libraries. This situation contributed to the doctoral researcher's desire to investigate graphic novel collections in public libraries in Australia, what teenagers think of graphic novels and whether they read them. This paper discusses the three research methods of the project. One method, the survey of public libraries, has been completed, and some preliminary results of the survey are examined

Harvesting methods in south coastal, high rainfall crops

Results of trials carried out in south-western Australia over the past three years have shown that swathing or windrowing cereal and legume crops can result in significant advantages to growers.Swathing barley, wheat and oat crops at Mt. Barker resulted in large yield advantages over direct harvesting of standing crops. This was a result of overcoming shedding losses in the standing crop caused by strong wind and rain. Grain quality of barley and oats was not significantly affected by swathing, however, the quality of swathed wheat was sometimes worse than direct harvested grain if the harvest was delayed.Swathing cereals at Newdegate and Geraldton generally resulted in little yield advantage compared with direct harvesting. Lupins swathed at Mt. Barker and Geraldton yielded significantly more than direct harvest of standing lupins. Swathing reduced pod shattering by an average of 10% of the yield potential. Swathed and direct harvested lupins at Newdegate gave similar yields. Quality of swathed and direct harvested lupins was similar at all sites

Preliminary agronomic evaluation and characterization of the genetic resources of Trifolium and Ornithopus species.

Trial 91MD13 Location: Medina Vegetable Research Station To evaluate and characterize new and old collections of Trifolium and Ornithopus species. To regenerate lines to provide sufficient seed of high quality for long term storage in the Australian Trifolium Genetic Resource Centre (ATGRC)