In historic cases the potential for a sentence to rehabilitate, incapacitate or deter the offender is largely insignificant – leaving the focus solely on retribution.
Forensic techniques are getting more sophisticated.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Genetic evidence has become a critical aspect of modern criminal investigations. What are the methods and approaches used in present-day DNA forensics?
Debates over whether priests should break the confessional seal if they hear reports of abuse in confession are largely symbolic.
shutterstock
In one bloody week in June, 181 Rio residents were shot, including a baby in utero. It’s now impossible not to notice that city’s once-lauded favela “pacification” strategy has all but collapsed.
Children who witness crime are more vulnerable to error than adults when identifying the perpetrator.
(Shutterstock)
Child eyewitnesses make more mistakes than adults when identifying criminals. A new police lineup design could help us assess their reliability and prevent wrongful convictions.
Eyewitness recollections are easily distorted by the views of others.
shutterstock
Tough socio-economic conditions, among others, make kidnapping a thriving business in Nigeria. A strong justice system along with stiff punishment for the crime are needed.
Police officers have to deal with a lot of incidents not related to crime.
Peter Titmuss / Shutterstock.com
Research is revealing that both families who have experienced adolescent family violence and those working with them feel the criminal justice system is not an appropriate way to respond to it.
Amee Meredith and Caterina Politi turned the worst day of their lives into a campaign for meaningful law reform.
AAP/The Conversation
In this episode of Change Agents, Andrew Dodd speaks with Amee Meredith and Caterina Politi, who lost family members to random acts of violence, on their campaign to reform 'one-punch' laws.
Male victims are most likely to be killed by somebody they know – usually a friend or acquaintance.
shutterstock