Crime clusters in demographic, family, economic, social and environmental patterns, which over time reinforce disadvantage and inequality. Our research seeks to understand these cycles and prevent their recurrence, to improve life outcomes for individuals and communities.

Research focus areas

  • Understanding and responding to intergenerational offending
  • Class, gender, race and age inequalities in the criminal justice system
  • Offending overlaps with child maltreatment, mental illness, and disadvantage
  • Rehabilitation and re-integration of offenders, and environmental corrections
  • Community and family effects of incarceration
  • Pathways to prevention and prevention science
  • Advancing innovation in human services

Related Research:

Child protection systems

Chief Investigator: Dr Brian Jenkins

This research aims to address systemic problems in child protection including child protection recurrence (the tendency for the same families to be reported and investigated repeatedly) and the growing overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children subject to child protection involvement. It draws on administrative data and complexity science to understand the system dynamics that underpin these problems. Findings have implications for the prevention of child maltreatment, the effectiveness and efficiency of child protection systems, and for the accuracy and equity of risk assessments used to guide decisions about child protection intervention. This research has been supported by an ongoing partnership between the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and GCI researchers, Dr Brian Jenkins, Emeritus Professor Clare Tilbury, Professor Paul Mazerolle, and the late Dr Hennessey Hayes.

Gender differences in the prevention of youth victimisation and offending.

Chief Investigator: Dr Stacy Tzoumakis

This project aims to investigate how early family, individual, and school factors can be targeted to prevent victimisation and offending among vulnerable male and female young people. This project expects to generate new knowledge on: 1) gender-specific risk and protective factors of victimisation and offending; and, 2) the effectiveness of school-based social-emotional learning programs for males and females. Expected outcomes include advancing developmental life-course theories for female offending. This project should provide significant social and economic benefits for policymakers on how to most effectively prevent male and female young people’s involvement with the criminal justice system.

Logan Project

Chief Investigators: Associate Professor Danielle Reynald, Dr Troy Allard, Dr Marilyn Casley, Dr James Ogilvie, Associate Professor Lyndel Bates, Dr Natasha Madon, Dr Brian Jenkins

An ongoing partnership was formed between Logan City Council (LCC) and Griffith University in 2016 with the aim of forging collaborative research projects that would promote safety within Logan communities and enhance the operational capability of key stakeholders in Logan including Queensland Police Service, Youth Justice, Queensland Corrective Services, Queensland Health and Queensland Rail. Collaborations between stakeholders, practitioners, community members and GCI researchers have been borne from the establishment of the Logan Community Safety Advisory Group, and the Logan Research and Analysis Forum, which have facilitated information-sharing and the co-creation of research-led, evidence-based solutions to community issues. Most recently, Griffith Criminology Institute in collaboration with the Griffith School of Health Science and Social Work have been focused on the investigation of crime and related problems involving children and young people including volatile substance misuse (VSM), theft of motor vehicles (TMV), hooning and other related issues. Together with local community organisations, community elders and leaders, local service providers and at-risk children/youth and their families, the aim of this partnership is to design multiple integrated co-designed approaches to address these on-going issues.

Offending and mental illness: Understanding the experiences of Australian First Nations People across the life course

Chief Investigator: Dr James Ogilvie

The project aims to address the gaps in knowledge regarding the relationship between mental illness and offending for Indigenous Australians. It is well established, both in Australia and internationally, that mental health problems are highly prevalent among people who encounter the criminal justice system. However, little is known about the impact of race on this relationship or about the sequencing and dynamic nature of the relationship across the life course. In Australia, understanding the impact of race on the relationship between offending and mental illness will have significant implications for policy development, given the documented overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians at all levels of the criminal justice system. The project is based on an analysis of linked criminal justice and health data drawn from the Queensland Cross-sector Research Collaboration (QCRC) repository for individuals born in Queensland in 1983, 1984 and 1990. This data allows for examination of how offending and mental illness interact over time, including order, timing and sequence of onset; with the aim of identifying potential points of intervention during vulnerable time periods. Findings from the project will be crucial to assist in guiding policy and culturally informed and Indigenous-led efforts to reduce overrepresentation.