'IMPRISONING RESISTANCE, LIFE AND DEATH IN AN AUSTRALIAN SUPERMAX'' Bree Carlton's tragic and salutory analysis of the lethal riots at the Jika Jika high security unit of Pentridge prison in 1987, published by the Sydney Institute of Criminology Press, has received an excellent review in the prestigious journal Punishment &Society 2009; 11; 409. Read the Review here

'What I will say is that Carlton’s book is of equivalent quality to Foucault’s (1979) seminal Discipline and punish, only Carlton’s highly accessible history of the present is very much present in all of our lives. It is, as Carlton suggests, a localized case study with international relevance.

State violence is nowhere felt more acutely than in the struggle for survival in the unofficial death row of a Supermax prison. And it is from this hothouse manifestation of state violence that the effectiveness of our resistance in Jika can also be seen in Carlton’s work.' (p410)

WE ARE PLEASED TO BE CO-PRESENTING A CONFERENCE WITH THE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION

Towards Restorative Justice: The Challenges, Promises & Processes of a New Paradigm 7th- 9th Dec 2009, Sydney Law School, Sydney University.

Confirmed Keynote Presenters:
John Braithwaite (ARC Federation Fellow, Australian National University) • Diana Eades (Honorary Research Fellow, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England) • The Hon Peter Gray (Judge, Federal Court of Australia) • Frances Rock (Cardiff University, School of English Communication and Philosophy) • Julie Stubbs (Professor of Criminology, University of Sydney).

Paper proposals are now being called for. Deadline for submission of abstracts: 14th August 2009. For more information click here. To register or get more information see the conference website.

The new issue of Current Issues in Criminal Justice has been sent out ... to order or subscribe, see our journal page.

This year CICJ publishes the prestigious John Barry Lecture, one of the most significant lectures on the criminology calendar in Australia. Chris Cunneen, NewSouth Global Professor of Criminology, in "Criminology, Criminal Justice and Indigenous People: A Dysfunctional Relationship?", examines issues of crime and violence in Indigenous communities in the context of broader problems in criminal justice law, policy and practice.

This issue of CICJ includes an in depth analysis of the use of CCTV images for identification evidence in court and comments on the Lex Wotton case in Palm Island, the naming of young offenders and residential centres for offenders in NSW .

Articles include: Anna Ferrante of the Crime Research Centre in WA on the benefits of utilising data-linkage methods in criminal justice research, Duncan Chappell and Kenneth Polk on art fraud in Australia; Andrew Groves and Marinella Marmo on the deficiencies in a supply-reduction approach to methamphetamine use in Australia and the benefits of a multi-dimensional reduction-side approach and Alice Hutchings and Hennessey Hayes study on phishing victimisation using a Routine Activity Theory framework.

For an overview of the contents click here

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR GAIL MASON on Hate Crime: Gail commented on hate crime in an article on the recent spate of attacks on Indian students. The full article can be read here

OUR BEST STUDENTS

The recipients of the 2008 McClemens prizes for proficiency in criminology - awarded to the top graduating students each year are:

Emma Sullivan, MCRIM and Sebastian Hare, GradDipCrim - congratulations to both these outstanding students

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

Thalia Anthony's Opinion piece in The Australian (21st May 2009) presents a cogent attack on the Northern Territory's plans to effectively close Indigenous Outstations, a policy which flies in the face of current research on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Thalia has launched a blog on Indigenous Issues here.. read, comment, participate!

Thalia was also recently interviewed for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) program 'Strong Voices' in which she discussed the Federal Government’s motion to give Aboriginal People self-determination rights through the Indigenous Rights Declaration.. the interview can be found here.

URBAN MYTHS

Professor Mark Findlay commented on the 'man in the white van' urban myth on the ABC's Lateline program (15.5.09).

OUR RIGHTS AT RISK

Institute Academics speak out about the ever widening police powers in NSW and our ever-narrowing individual and legal rights ... 'slurring legislation', 'bikie laws' .. what's next? (more)

Thalia Anthony's op-ed piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on the new 'Move On' legislation in NSW drives home the dangers of the seemingly incessant widening of police powers to indigenous people and those on the margins of our society. She has also commented on the issue here: Bush Telegraph ABC Rural - 25 May 2009, Radio Atticus Radio 2SER - 25 May 2009, The Wire - 26 May 2009 (MP3) - Anti slurring laws target Indigenous Australians

Professor Mark Findlay and Dr Arlie Loughnan have issued a press release (2nd April 2009) and have been in the media recently, click to hear and read what they had to say here.. Read Arlie's New Matilda interview here. Arlie also commented on ABC radio's 'PM' program on the 24th April.

In the latest issue of CIJC Arlie presents a scathing indictment of the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act in the context of anti-terrorism legislation. A quote from her article states that the Act "indicates a willingness on the part of Parliament to model new legislative enactments on terrorism legislation. The export offences have become the archetypal offences in the criminal corpus, providing a model for legislative drafting and for a reconfigured relationship between individual rights and larger interests of security. The Act exposes the slippery slope to the large-scale erosion of procedural and substantive protections in the criminal law that began with the 'exceptional' terrorism offences."

The Opening Day of our new building was a great success. Our exhibition: 'Imprisoned, Whose Responsibility?' was well attended. Thanks to everyone who visited.. here is Professor Mark Findlay's amusing take on the trials of being a Criminologist in the age of crime saturated media.

NTERNATIONALAND COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL LAW - CALL FOR AUTHORS

Professor Mark Findlay is Series Editor for Ashgate Press' series of books in this area... Submissions from authors writing and researching in this field are welcome... more information can be found here. Interested authors should contact Mark directly.

OUR STAFF

Professor Pat O'Malley: The Institute is fortunate to have leading theoretical criminologist Professor Pat O’Malley on staff as Professorial Research Fellow. For more information, new publications and opportunities to see and hear Pat see the news page