Research Strategies, Evidence & Corrections: Library Workshop + Lecture

Library Research Skills Session

  • Guest librarians: Fahin & Chris (UNSW Library – Business & Law Team)
    • Designed bespoke module for CRIM 1011 research essay.
    • Mock essay question supplied by lecturer: “Are police sniffer dogs an effective tool for crime prevention? Critically analyse with reference to harm-prevention strategies.”
  • Session roadmap
    • Understanding evidence-based practice (EBP) / evidence-informed approaches.
    • Hierarchy of evidence pyramid
    • Top = systematic reviews / meta-analyses → rigorous, multiple controls.
    • Middle = cohort, case-control, quasi-experimental, qualitative studies.
    • Bottom = expert opinion, media, grey literature – still usable but must be supported by higher-level research.
    • 80 / 20 rule for your essay: ≤ 20 % grey-lit or media; ≥ 80 % peer-reviewed.
    • Peer-review process = double-blind expert appraisal; protects against “fringe science” (e.g., discredited vaccine–autism article).
  • Research starting points
    • Moodle reading list → citation chaining (backward & forward).
    • Subscription databases (“mama-bear protected”) unavailable to Google/ChatGPT.
    • Google & AI useful for definitions, synonym brainstorming, but verify outputs (hallucinations, fake references).
    • Use Microsoft Copilot (Edu licence) – privacy-protected.
  • Breaking down the question
    • Task word: critically analyse.
    • Three core concepts + synonyms
    • Police sniffer dogs: canine, detection dog, drug dog* …
    • Crime prevention: crime control, law-enforcement efficacy …
    • Harm-prevention strategies: harm minimisation, risk reduction …
  • Boolean logic & search syntax (work across most databases)
    • AND = intersection, narrows.
    • OR = union, broadens.
    • NOT = exclude (use sparingly).
    • Quotation marks → exact phrase (“sniffer dog”).
    • Truncation * (dog* → dog, dogs; criminolog* → criminology, criminological).
  • Database demos
    1. Scopus (≈ 40 000 journals; multidisciplinary, all peer-reviewed)
    • Use “Add search field”; start broad, refine.
    • Search fields: title/abstract/keywords vs “all fields”.
    • Filters: source type = article, language = English, country = Australia, date range.
    • Sort = relevance; “Show all abstracts” for speed-scanning.
    • ‘Find It’ button → full-text via UNSW subscriptions; otherwise inter-library loan (ILL).
    • Metrics panel: citation count, Altmetric donut, policy citations (e.g., UK Parliament) for social impact.
    1. Informit (Australian focus; strong law content)
    • Advanced search → separate rows for concepts; default AND between rows.
    • Filters: jurisdiction (e.g., NSW), document type (cases, legislation), peer-review checkbox absent but most journals scholarly.
    1. Grey-literature hack (Google Advanced Search)
    • Step-by-step:
      1. google.com/advanced_search
      2. Enter core keywords in “all these words”.
      3. In site or domain box: gov.au (or ombo.nsw.gov.au, gov.uk, who.int…).
      4. File type = PDF for reports.
      5. Tools → Custom date range (e.g., 2020-2025).
    • Returns tightly-focused official reports (NSW Ombudsman etc.).
  • Common pitfalls & fixes
    • Millions of hits → check Boolean connectors or stray spaces/brackets.
    • Book reviews ≠ peer-reviewed research; filter by article.
    • Words have ideological loadings; adjust terms to avoid biased result sets.
  • Help & feedback
    • Chat-bubble on every Library page → real librarian; unresolved queries ticketed.
    • QR-code survey (4 Qs) to improve future sessions.

Lecture: Corrective Services, Punishment & Alternatives

1 Philosophical Foundations of Punishment
  • Five Enlightenment-era justifications (embedded in NSW Crimes Act 19991999):
    1. Retribution – offence-centred (the wrong itself).
    2. Denunciation – community condemnation of act.
    3. Deterrence – offender & general society learn through threat.
    4. Rehabilitation – change offender attributes (therapeutic, intrusive).
    5. Incapacitation – remove liberty; poor at predicting future harm.
  • Historical shift 19th C: from bodily penalties (execution, flogging, transportation) ⇒ incarceration (“punishment of the soul”).
2 Current Sentencing Patterns (NSW 2023-24)
  • 122 000122\,000 people sentenced; 97%97\% via Local Court (no jury).
  • Dispositions:
    • Fines = largest category.
    • Unsupervised community orders.
    • Supervised orders (home detention, ICO) → total ≈ 90%90\% non-custodial.
  • Gender split: 7575–78%78\% men; 2222–25%25\% women.
3 Economic Comparison
  • Custody cost (adult)
    • NSW: $298/day\$298/\text{day} (lowest nationally).
    • WA/SA: >\$500/\text{day}; Youth 500$–$700/\text{day}.
  • Community Corrections: $23/day\$23/\text{day} → ≈ 10%10\% of prison cost.
4 Community Corrections: Roles & Reports
  • Supervise probation, parole, ICSO/home detention.
  • Produce pre-sentence & pre-release reports covering family, housing, employment, substance use, disability, victim attitude, risk assessment.
5 Rehabilitation Models
  1. Risk–Need–Responsivity (RNR)
    • Risk matrix → scores high/medium/low (guides security level & parole).
    • Needs = criminogenic factors to target.
    • Responsivity = match interventions to learning style/capacity.
    • Critiques: under-resourced; panels lack clinical training; deficit-oriented.
  2. Good Lives Model (GLM)
    • Strengths-based; focuses on personal goals (e.g., construction employment).
    • Uses peer mentoring, vocational support.
    • Critiques: still individualized, neglects structural drivers.
6 Mass Incarceration Snapshot (Australia, June 2024)
  • Overall imprisonment rate: 201201 per 100 000100\,000 (up from 160160 in 2014).
  • Unsentenced (remand): ≈ 50%50\% of prisoners nationally (NSW ≈ 40%40\%).
  • Gender: 92%92\% men, 8%8\% women (female imprisonment fastest-growing).
  • Indigenous Australians: 36%36\% of prison population; incarceration rate 2 7282\,728 per 100 000100\,000 → 20× non-Indigenous; WA ≈ 40×.
7 Policy-Driven Growth
  • Queensland Productivity Commission identifies drivers despite falling crime:
    • ↑ Reporting & policing, ↑ custodial sentencing, ↓ diversion options, ↑ remand, recidivism cycles.
  • Conclusion: imprisonment increase = policy choice, not crime surge.
8 Social Determinants of Justice (Baldry & McCausland)
  • Predictors of custody (regression on 3 000 linked records):
    • Out-of-home care, homelessness, AOD dependency, early police contact, Indigeneity.
    • Structural layers: trauma, systemic racism, poverty, educational exclusion, CJS design.
  • Recommendation: whole-of-government investment in housing, health, education, community-controlled services.
9 Women in Prison
  • Rising due to policy ( ↑ policing of women, bail refusal).
  • ≈ 80–90 % survivors of sexual/family violence; no evidence of more serious crime.
10 Criminogenic Effects of Prison
  • Prisons as violent environments; exposure to further crime.
  • Family/community disruption → heightened re-offending risk.
  • “Prisonisation” trauma; mental-health deterioration.
  • Collateral consequences (T. Schwartz): employment bans, housing, insurance – > 2 000 lifelong legal & social barriers.
11 Politics of Punishment
  • 1970s: incarceration falling; therapeutic turn.
  • 1980s-90s: neoliberal “law & order” elections → punitive resurgence.
  • Today: consensus among criminologists that prisons fail; public & political inertia persists.
12 Administrative Reminders
  • Quiz open (due Sunday; tech glitch may extend to Wed).
  • Week 6 (next) = online-only: recorded lecture + asynchronous tutorial tasks.
  • Essay guidance revisited Week 7.

Key Equations & Figures (LaTeX)

  • Daily custody cost (NSW): Ccustody=$298 /dayC_{custody}=\$298\,/\text{day}
  • Daily community corrections cost: Ccomm=$23 /dayC_{comm}=\$23\,/\text{day}
  • Cost ratio: C<em>custodyC</em>comm≈13\frac{C<em>{custody}}{C</em>{comm}} \approx 13
  • Indigenous incarceration multiple (national): 2 728136≈20\frac{2\,728}{136} \approx 20

Practical Take-Aways

  • Build search strings systematically: concepts → synonyms → Boolean.
  • Exploit database filters and metrics; analyse abstracts & keyword lists for new terms.
  • Use Google Advanced + site:gov.au + filetype:pdf for authoritative grey-lit.
  • Prioritise peer-review but strategically integrate recent grey-lit (< 20 %).
  • Critically appraise type of evidence (where on pyramid?) & authorship motives.
  • When studying corrections, interrogate structural drivers & policy contexts, not just individual behaviour.
  • Remember economic, ethical & criminogenic arguments when evaluating prison efficacy or proposing alternatives (restorative, transformative, circle sentencing – to be explored in tutorials).