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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:44 am
Time: 11:44 am
Results for public opinion (australia)
2 results foundAuthor: Begg, Clive Title: Attitudes, Perceptions and Community Safety: The Final Report of the Mulgrave Community Safety Attitudes Survey Summary: This Report summarises the results of the Mulgrave Community Safety Attitudes Survey. This research was proposed in an attempt to gain an accurate, current and comprehensive understanding of local perceptions of crime and safety which followed much public comment on Law and Order issues in the Region. A Working Group of voluntary members was established to oversight the research project which included representatives from the Mulgrave Shire Council (Councillors and Staff), the business sector, the Queensland Police Service and ACRO, A Community Safety & Research Organisation Incorporated. Goals of the Working Party were to survey all households and High School students in the Mulgrave Shire to assess: attitudes towards crime and safety; levels of victimisation; priorities for future program development and implementation. This was achieved via a self-report Survey which was letterboxed, one per household throughout the Shire and a "census" style Survey conducted at the various High Schools in the region. It was expected that results of this research would guide the future development of Community Safety programs in the Region. Useable Surveys were obtained from 7327 persons by the close of the Survey period (2965 from students and 4362 from adults). The timeline for the Project was three months. Given the relatively small crime problem in the Mulgrave Shire the researchers have been able to demonstrate that the fear of crime experienced by respondents is far in excess of actual crime statistics. The authors refer to this phenomenon as the "crime of fear" which is undermining the quality of life for ordinary citizens. It is imperative that future investigations consider those factors that shape beliefs about crime. It is clear from the current Research that our fear of crime is not mediated via the actual experience of crime but may be explained by media and social contact. Additional research must focus on the type of information being provided by these sources and the relative importance given them by respondents. Such matters are of vital importance to policy makers and others to ensure that information given to the general population does not have unintended negative residual effects, such as fear and intolerance - that it not be sensationalised, but that it must be accurate. Results of the analyses which are presented in detail in the Results section of this Report indicate that the majority of respondents feel safe from crime in their own home and neighbourhood. Feelings of safety are reduced however when shopping, when in the Cairns City Place at night and when approached by strangers. Significant numbers of respondents indicated that they had been a victim of crime at some stage in their life and a smaller percentage indicated that they had been a victim of crime within the last twelve months. More people reported having been the victim of a property related crime than reported been the victim of a violent crime. Of those who had been victims, the minority had reported the matter to the police or to their school. Levels of satisfaction with outcomes amongst those who reported crimes were low. Large numbers of respondents also indicated that they had witnessed crimes occurring in the last twelve months. Again, it seems that few of these were reported. The responses of men and women across most of the issues considered were highly similar, as were those of the different adult age categories considered and the different grades of High School students. Marked differences were however detected between adults and students. Although students were more likely to report having been the victim of, or witnessing, most types of violent crime than were adults, they reported feeling significantly safer across all situations than did adults. We also examined respondents beliefs about crime generally and about the contributors to crime. On these issues adults and students tended to respond in similar ways though adults were generally more confident of their beliefs. Priorities to improve feelings of safety, for future Council action, issues of importance within the Region, leisure issues and services to be improved were also examined. Differences existed between the priorities of youth and adults and between the various Suburbs. These differences are reported in detail in the Results section. This Final Report makes recommendations that supplement those advanced in an Interim Report which was published on August 31, 1994 and adopted at a meeting of the Mulgrave Shire Council on September 5, 1994. Details: Lutwyche, Australia: ACRO, 1994. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 11, 2012 at http://www.acro.com.au/Reports/crimeoffear.pdf Year: 1994 Country: Australia URL: http://www.acro.com.au/Reports/crimeoffear.pdf Shelf Number: 124448 Keywords: Community Safety (Australia)Fear of Crime (Australia)Public Opinion (Australia) |
Author: Simpson, Paul Title: Views on Alternatives to Imprisonment: A Citizens Jury Approach Summary: Alarming over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian prisons, combined with high recidivism rates and poor health and social outcomes among those released from prison, has led many to claim that incarceration is a social policy failure. An important obstacle to a reform agenda in the criminal justice area is public opinion. The public are often perceived to hold punitive attitudes towards offenders, a situation often exploited by politicians to perpetuate punitive penal policies at the expense of developing decarceration initiatives. However, alternatives to public opinion surveys/polls are needed. Citizens Juries offer an alternative method to assess the public's views, views that are critically informed and thus better aid policy development. The Lowitja Institute has published the report that explores, through Citizens Juries, the views of a better informed public towards how we, as a community, should address offenders in terms of incarceration and incarceration alternatives. The research focused on a range of incarceration alternatives including Justice Reinvestment. Details: Melbourne: Lowitja Institute, 2014. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 19, 2015 at: https://www.lowitja.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/Lowitja%20Alternatives-text-WEB.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: https://www.lowitja.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/Lowitja%20Alternatives-text-WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 134650 Keywords: AboriginalsAlternatives to IncarcerationIndigenous PeoplesPublic AttitudesPublic Opinion (Australia) |