Dry your eyes princess : an analysis of gender and 'other' based discources in police organisations

This paper examines the literature relevant to an analysis of gender and discourse in police organisations with a view to testing it through research. Much of the literature on policing can be divided into four key topic areas: the features and construction of police culture; women’s integration into policing; organisational structures and styles of police leadership; and debates about the nature of police work. An examination of the literature has revealed a deficiency of research in discourses within policing and in particular, the impact of discourses on gender and police training. Assumptions underpinning the research project and supported by literature include: formal and informal structures and practices within organisations produce and reproduce gender relations; power, gender relations and masculinity are characteristics of police culture; discourses are products and resources of interactions which establish particular truths; and police organisations have been slow to respond to anti-discrimination legislation and to integrate women into police services. Critical to any analysis of culture, power, gender, discourses, difference, and subjectification is the dynamic and complex nature of culture. Applying Shearing’s and Ericson’s definition of culture as ‘figurative logic’ has resonance in police organisations where symbols, rhetoric and metaphors function as vehicles for discourses.

Reflective thinking : turning a critical incident into a topic for research

Clinical nurses encounter critical incidents every day.  While these may be a source of frustration they also have the potential to be turned into research projects so that problems can be examined and others can learn from them.  This paper describes the reflective process used to generate a research project from a critical incident encountered in the clinical area.

Annotated criminal legislation Victoria 2009

An indispensable resource for anyone who needs a sound understanding of the criminal law of Victoria. Butterworths Annotated Criminal Legislation Victoria is an indispensable resource for students, practitioners and others who need a sound understanding of the criminal law of Victoria. This book has an established reputation as an essential reference source. The Acts are annotated by Gerard Nash QC and Professor Mirko Bagaric of the School of Law, Deakin University. This book has been extracted from the four volume looseleaf service Bourke's Criminal Law Victoria. Important Features: mid Extensive new annotations discussing recent case law relating to various provisions of the Crimes Act 1958. mid A quick reference directory and grey shaded tabs provide ease of navigation. Related Titles: mid Arenson & Bagaric, Criminal Procedure: Victoria and Commonwealth, 2009. mid Clough & Mulhern, Butterworths Tutorial Series - Criminal Law, 2nd ed, 2004. mid Rush & Yeo, Criminal Law Sourcebook, 2nd ed, 2005. mid Spears & Hickie, Butterworths Questions & Answers - Criminal Law for Common Law States, 2009. mid Waller & Williams, Criminal Law: Text and Cases, 11th ed, 2009.

Legislation and statutory interpretation

A clear and accessible guide to one of the most important skills all students of law must master: the skill of understanding legislation. The authors provide an engaging overview of important aspects of the legislative process, its application and interpretation, together with examples questions and excerpts of relevant legislation. This book is specifically designed for students studying the statutory process and statutory interpretation or anyone interested in knowing more about this subject.

Authorship, authenticity and intellectual property in Australian Aboriginal art

This article analyzes research and legal cases about authorship, authenticity, and intellectual property in Aboriginal art. The concepts of Aboriginality, authenticity, and ownership are used to show the complexities of Aboriginal law, legal copyright, and the moral rights framework. The clan ownership of Dreaming makes Aboriginal artists’ relationship different to other artists’ individual ownership of their work. Research on this topic by members of the Faculty of Business and Law unit of the Centre for Leisure Management Research at Deakin University was undertaken for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. This article provides significant contextual analyses of major issues leading to Commonwealth Government inquiries and legislation in Australia during 2006–8.

Sex offender risk assessment : consideration of human rights in community protection legislation

ObjectivesRisk assessments provided to judicial decision makers as a part of the current generation of legislation for protecting the public from sexual offenders can have a profound impact on the rights of individual offenders. This article will identify some of the human rights issues inherent in using the current assessment procedures to formulate and communicate risk as a forensic expert in cases involving civil commitment, preventive detention, extended supervision, or special conditions of parole. MethodBased on the current professional literature and applied experience in legal proceedings under community protection laws in the United States and New Zealand, potential threats to the rights of offenders are identified. Central to these considerations are issues of the accuracy of current risk assessment measures, communicating the findings of risk assessment appropriately to the court, and the availability of competent forensic mental health professionals in carrying out these functions. The role of the forensic expert is discussed in light of the competing demands of protecting individual human rights and community protection. ConclusionActuarial risk assessment represents the best practice for informing judicial decision makers in cases involving sex offenders, yet these measures currently demonstrate substantial limitations in predictive accuracy when applied to individual offenders. These limitations must be clearly articulated when reporting risk assessment findings. Sufficient risk assessment expertise should be available to provide a balanced application of community protection laws.

Investigative interviewing of suspected sex offenders : a review of what constitutes best practice

Research on the topic of investigative interviewing of suspected sex offenders is still in its infancy, with the majority of work to date focusing on developing theories underlying confessions, and reflecting on the value of specific interview techniques that have been observed in the field. This paper provides a synthesis of the literature in order to produce a preliminary guide to best practice for the interviewing of this particular interviewee group. Specifically, this review is structured around five elements that should be considered when planning for and administering the interview. These elements include: (a) establishing rapport, (b) introducing the topic of concern, (c) eliciting narrative detail, (d) clarification/specific questions and (e) closure. The unique contribution of this paper is its practical focus, and its synthesis of findings across a variety of streams, including the general eyewitness memory literature, legislation and case law, therapeutic literature, and research specifically related to the interviewing of offenders (including confessions). At the conclusion of the review, recommendations are offered for further research.

Topic 12 : drugs in society

Available from Deakin University Archives

Healthcare identifiers legislation : a whiff of Fourberie

The Healthcare Identifiers Bill 2010 (Cth), which will establish “the national e-health Healthcare Identifiers Service to provide that patients, healthcare providers and provider organisations can be consistently identified”, is in the process of being enacted by the Australian Federal Parliament. The legislation will enable the government to assign to each “healthcare recipient” a 26-digit electronic “Healthcare Identifier”, which will be accessible, with or without the recipient’s consent, to a broad range of health care service providers as well as other entities. The individual Healthcare Identifier file will initially contain such identifying information as, where applicable, the Medicare number and/or the Veterans’ Affairs number; name; address; gender; date of birth; and “the date of birth accuracy indicator”, presumably birth certificate. However, since each “service” provided by a health care provider to a health care recipient will be automatically recorded on each individual’s Healthcare Identifier file, in time these electronic files should contain a full record of such services or contacts. Moreover, the Healthcare Identifiers are considered a “key” to, or a “foundation stone” for, the implementation of the shared electronic health records scheme, because they will enable linkage with and retrieval of each patient’s clinical records throughout the health care service system. However, there has been virtually no discussion about the legal, ethical and social implications of this legislation.