Public Sector Criminological Research
Description
This book explores the role and development of criminological research in the public sector during the last half-century. It identifies the benefits such research has provided and assesses whether the community has received value for the funds expended. The Australian Institute of Criminology is used as a case study to illustrate the challenges and pressures facing those who have sought to carry out independent crime and justice research in the public sector, to assess what fifty years of work has achieved and to determine whether or not there remains a need for criminologists to be employed by governments. The book is based on extensive archival research, administrative data analysis, interviews with current and previous staff and the perspectives of scholars in comparable institutions globally. It presents new historical information as well as current and future critical perspectives on crime and justice research in a unique Australian government organization.
Reviews / Votes
"Russell Smith's book is a welcome, and very useful resource for all those (academics, policy makers, and policy analysts) interested in the role and effectiveness of criminological research conducted specifically within the public sector. Prepared for the Jubilee anniversary of the Australian Institute of Criminology, the book is meticulously researched, and offers a frank and critical assessment of the Institute's work. Spanning the last five decades, it examines the challenges faced by those who have tried to provide governments throughout Australia with practical, evidence-based solutions to criminal justice problems. It is relevant not only for those in Australia but all those elsewhere in the business of providing criminal justice stakeholders with independent, sound, and actionable advice. It is an absorbing account of a unique institution, and well worth reading".Patricia Mayhew OBE, Former Programme Director, Criminal Justice System Analysis, Home Office UK, Joint recipient of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology 2015,(with Ronald V Clarke) for their work on situational crime prevention.
"This eminently readable history of the Australian Institute of Criminology over its first half-century of existence illustrates the importance of authoritative information to citizens of a democracy, as well as to international observers of a country's performance in the area of human rights. It also reminds us of the challenges and responsibilities faced by those whose role includes speaking truth to power. The book deserves a wide readership, including among politicians, public servants, journalists, academics and interested laypersons."
Professor Emeritus Peter Grabosky, Regulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University
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Russell G. Smith
is Honorary Fellow at the Institute and Professor in the College of Business, Government and Law at Flinders University, Australia. He has qualifications in law, psychology and criminology from the University of Melbourne, Australia, a PhD from King's College London, UK, and worked for almost 25 years at the Australian Institute of Criminology.