Annual reports

Introduction

published in:
27th Annual Report of the Criminology Research Council, 1999
ISSN 0311-4481
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1999

The Criminology Research Council (CRC) was established by the Criminology Research Act 1971 and held its first meeting on 20 December 1972. The Council meets three times a year. The Criminology Research Act was enacted pursuant to arrangements between the Commonwealth and the States for the promotion of criminological research. These arrangements provided for the establishment of an Australian Institute of Criminology, a Criminology Research Council and a Criminology Research Fund. The Criminology Research Council controls and administers the Criminology Research Fund, from which grants are made to researchers undertaking criminological research projects. Criminological research is defined as research under-taken in connection with the causes, correction and prevention of criminal behaviour; and any related matter.

The Criminology Research Act provides that, in administering the Fund, the Criminology Research Council is to examine and determine the relative importance and urgency of projects of criminological research for which the expenditure of moneys from the Fund may be authorised. The Act also provides that the functions of the Australian Institute of Criminology include those of advising the Council in relation to needs for, and programs of, criminological research, and providing secretarial and administrative services for the Council.

During the 1998-99 financial year, the Criminology Research Council funded 8 new research grants to a total value of $222 104. In the 27 years that the Council has been in operation it has made grants from the Fund for 271 separate research projects totalling approximately $4.3 million. Research projects funded by the Council have been conducted in all Australian jurisdictions and have focused on a broad spectrum of issues related to crime and criminal justice.

Details of projects funded during the year, as well as summaries of reports of completed projects received during the year, are provided in this Report. Details of projects currently in progress are listed on pages 75-6.

Reports of completed projects undertaken with Council funds are distributed to Council members, who ensure that relevant persons and department sections are made aware of the availability of the reports. Two copies of each report are lodged in the J. V. Barry Library of the Australian Institute of Criminology. Through the library, the reports are listed on Kinetica, Australia's national shared cataloguing system and the largest bibliographic network in the country; and also on CINCH, the Australian criminology database, which is publicly available online and on CD-ROM. Hundreds of libraries Australia-wide participate in Kinetica, and Council reports receive wide coverage concerning their availability. All reports are available from the J. V. Barry Library through inter-library loan.

The Council's section of the Institute's web site has been expanded during the past year to provide information on reports submitted to the Council. The work is continuing and, once completed, the web site will contain an historical record of all Council-funded projects and the reports submitted in fulfilment of those projects.

Under grant funding arrangements the grantee is responsible for the distribution of the final report. Many researchers choose to publish in the form of books and journal articles, making the results of their research readily available to the broader community. They also distribute copies to appropriate departments and agencies.

The Council has a commitment to quality assurance, and as part of this approach seeks to create improved opportunities for publication of reports from research which it funds. The Council therefore retains the right to publish all or part of selected research products.

The Council approved a research consultancy on the topic of Sentencing Trends for Violent Offenders in Australia, as well as agreeing to fund a Research Analyst position intended to conduct research on topics specified by the Council.

Criminology Research Fund

Contributions to the Criminology Research Fund by the participating governments for the 1998-99 financial year totalled $368,000. The Commonwealth Government contributed $234,000 and each State and the Northern Territory made contributions on a pro-rata population basis, individual contributions being as follows:

New South Wales	$46 130
Victoria	$33 847
Queensland	$25 091
Western Australia	$13 248
South Australia	$10 848
Tasmania	$3 453
Northern Territory	$1 505

Details of expenditure and income are shown in the Financial Statements at the end of this report.

Membership

The Criminology Research Act provides that the Council is to consist of 8 members, comprising a representative of the Commonwealth and of each State and the Northern Territory. The Commonwealth representative is appointed by the Attorney-General and the State and Northern Territory representatives are appointed by the Attorney-General upon the nomination of the appropriate State or Territory minister.

The Council itself does not employ any staff members but provides a fee for the Australian Institute of Criminology to provide secretarial and administrative services for the Council.

As at 30 June 1999 the members of the Council were as follows:

New South Wales
Laurie Glanfield, Chairman, Director-General, Attorney-General's Department

Commonwealth
Norman Reaburn, Deputy Secretary, Attorney-General's Department

Victoria
Peter Harmsworth, Secretary, Department of Justice

Queensland
Dr Kenneth Levy, Deputy Director-General, Department of Justice

Western Australia
Dr Robert Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Policy & Legislation Division, Ministry of Justice

South Australia
Joy Wundersitz, Director, Office of Crime Statistics, Attorney-General's Department

Tasmania
Denbigh Richards, Deputy Director, Department of Justice

Northern Territory
David Moore, Commissioner, Northern Territory Correctional Services

Meetings

Three meetings of the Council are held during the year. During 1998-99 the meetings (on 30 July 1998, 26 November 1998 and 19 March 1999) were held at the Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.

At its meeting on 19 March 1999, Mr Laurie Glanfield was unanimously re-elected Chairman of the Council.

At its meeting on 19 March 1999, the Council appointed its representatives from New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia as Members of the Board of Management of the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Council Policy

Section 40 of the Criminology Research Act provides that the functions of the Council are to administer the Criminology Research Fund and, for that purpose, to examine and deter-mine the relative importance and urgency of projects for which the expenditure of moneys from the Fund may be authorised.

The Notes for Applicants issued by the Council with application forms for grants state that the criteria adopted by the Council in consideration of applications include the following:

1. the importance and urgency of the projects;
2. the extent to which the proposed research will have practical application or contribute to the prevention or correction of criminal behaviour;
3. the likelihood of the proposed research making a substantial and original contribution to criminological knowledge;
4. the likelihood of the proposed research contributing to the more effective and efficient administration of justice in Australia;
5. the reasonableness of the proposed expenditure;
6. the practicability and feasibility of the proposed research strategy;
7. the policy implications of the proposal; and
8. the competence of the applicant or principal investigator to undertake the proposed research.

In considering applications for grants, the Council receives advice from a variety of sources. In addition to the views of individual Council members, the Council receives advice in the form of confidential referees' reports and comment prepared by staff of the Australian Institute of Criminology or other independent assessors.

When reports of completed projects are received, the Council examines the results of the research so that the value and implementation potential of the reports can be assessed. In addition, all reports are lodged with the J.V. Barry Library of the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Appreciation

The Council wishes to express its appreciation to Mr John Van Groningen, the Victorian representative on the Council from 1993 to 1999 and to Ms Elizabeth Raffaele who acted as the Administrator for the Council for a number of years. The Council also wishes to express its gratitude for the support given by Professor David Biles in his role as Adviser to the Council and staff members of the Institute: Ms Kathy Mildren, Administrator, and Mr Raju Mahen, Accounting Officer.

Freedom of Information Act

The statement made in the Australian Institute of Criminology's Annual Report also applies to the Council.

The Council received no requests for information under the provisions of the Act during the year ending 30 June 1999.