Along with traditional offences, new cyber, technology and environment-related crimes are fast developing. Our research aims to understand both old and new threats to safety and security, and develop new ways for criminal justice agencies and communities to combat threats and reduce harms.
Research focus areas
- Historical and contemporary representations of crime, criminal justice and security
- Crime victimization, patterns, and analysis
- Communities, guardianship and crime prevention
- Corruption, and corporate, white collar and middle class crime and regulation
- Policing drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, minorities, youth, extremism, and mental illness
- Use of force, technology and innovation in criminal justice agencies
- Criminal justice organisations, leadership, operations, practices, and partnerships
- Health/criminal justice overlaps and harm reduction in criminal justice
- Evolving security threats; new harms in cyber, technological and environmental domains
Related Research:
An early warning system for police workplace health and performance
Chief Investigator: Dr Jacqueline Drew
This project aims to build a comprehensive organisational model of police workplace health and performance. This project answers the call for immediate organisational reform of police workplaces resulting from an Australian national study (2018) and Australian Senate Inquiry (2019). Police experience harm that must be addressed through organisational improvements, leading to more efficient policing. In the first study of its kind, this project will develop a practical early warning system that promotes strategic and front-line leadership capability of Australian police agencies in workplace health and performance. It will allow better identification of risk, resource allocation and tracking of these critical issues in policing.
Boosting Crime Prevention and Crime Detection Capabilities of Online Investigators: A Script Analysis of Creation and Distribution of Child Exploitation Material
Chief Investigator: Associate Professor Benoit Leclerc
The development of online technologies in recent decades has facilitated the distribution and consumption of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) over the Internet, which also led to the emergence of CSAM on the dark web - the segment of the Internet that is hidden from the general public. Using data obtained from interviews conducted with online CSAM investigators in Australia, the project reconstructed the step-by-step process of how offenders operate on the dark web through crime script analysis, which further our understanding of how offenders operate and provide opportunities to think about ways to build capacity of investigators to investigate, detect and prevent CSAM activities.
The findings on crime scripts were presented at several occasions including: 1) The Australian Institute of Criminology including Home Affairs and the Premier Cabinet and, 2) the International Center for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) working group including the Department of Homeland Security (USA), Standard Chartered Bank (UK) and financial institutions in Australia.
Retail Crime
Retail crime costs Australian businesses an estimated $9 billion every year, resulting in higher prices of goods and fewer jobs for employees. Retail crime is more than just shoplifting; it involves armed robbery, burglaries, porch piracy, employee theft, vendor fraud, assaults against staff and online fraud.
We aim to provide actionable advice to curb retail crime problems. Taking an outcomes-focused approach, we look at practical steps businesses can take to understand their retail crime problem, organise interventions, monitor impacts and plan for the future.
GCI Retail Crime Lead: A/Prof Michael Townsley (m.townsley@griffith.edu.au)
RETAIL CRIME WHITE PAPER
Podcast
Associate Professor Michael Townsley discusses his latest study on 'Loss Prevention in a Time of Accelerated Change: How can Loss Prevention Future-Proof the Businesses they Protect?' with Retales: Conversations with Profit Protection.
Countering Violent Extremism
He is examining how governments can best regulate technology and social media companies to counter these harmful attitudes online. While jihadist terrorism in the style of al-Qaeda and ISIS remains a significant threat, right-wing extremism poses the next major security challenge for Australian police and intelligence agencies. Countering this threat is particularly challenging as it raises difficult questions about how democratic governments can enhance security by countering extreme political views.
Read more about Keiran's research:
Evolving Securities Initiative
The Evolving Securities Initiative (ESI) is made up of researchers at the Griffith Criminology Institute and scholars and professionals globally
Scholars at Griffith University (working in conjunction with collaborators from across Australia and more broadly) are undertaking cutting edge research on the history and development of today’s security challenges. The ESI fosters avenues for cross-disciplinary work among criminologists, historians, anthropologists, political theorists, sociologists, international relations scholars, natural scientists and security professionals from the public and private sectors.
The Griffith Criminology Institute, through its Securities Grand Challenge Initiative, provides infrastructural support for the ESI.