A Forgotten Genocide: The Congo Free State
In the last decades of the 19th century, the European colonial powers laid claim to vast tracts of land on the African continent, expanding their spheres of influence and plundering natural resources. It’s commonly referred to today as the Scramble for...
The Ongoing China-India Border Stand-off Is Escalating
Tensions are mounting over the China-India border stand-off in the Himalayas, as Chinese troops have begun conducting live-fire drills in the contested area. The almost six-week long dispute is occurring in the tri-junction border point between China, Bhutan, and the Indian region...
Fast Times: An Interview with Criminal Psychologist Tim Watson-Munro
The tragedy of the Hoddle Street Massacre, the murder charges against the ‘Black Prince of Lygon Street’ Alphonse Gangitano, and the fall of Perth multimillionaire Alan Bond: these were high-profile cases that gripped the nation in the twilight years of the...
Modern Chains: An Interview with Anti-Slavery Australia’s Professor Jennifer Burn
The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates there are 45.8 million people around the globe currently in some form of modern slavery. While Australia has one of the lowest rates in the world, the index still puts the number of people enslaved...
South Australia Set to Decriminalise Sex Work
South Australia currently has some of the most repressive sex work laws in the country. However, a bill that passed through the South Australian upper house on July 6, has brought the decade’s long push to decriminalise the state’s sex...
The Evolution of Punishment: From the Corporeal to Incarceration
Renowned French philosopher Michel Foucault opens his 1975 work Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Modern Prison with an account of the death of Robert-Francois Damiens – the last French citizen to be drawn and quartered, on 1 March, 1757. A...
Reducing Indigenous Crime: Mass Incarceration is Not the Answer
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the most incarcerated on earth by percentage of their population. Currently, the Indigenous incarceration rate in Australia is 2,430 inmates per 100,000 adults. In March this year, there were 11,288 Indigenous adults detained in the...
NSW Court Confirms Gittany Murder Conviction
At 10am on 30 July 2011, ABC journalist Joshua Rathmell was on his usual route to work. He was walking through the southern end of Hyde Park in Sydney’s CBD, when he heard “deranged screaming” from a male voice. The journalist...
The Homelessness Crisis: An Interview with RMIT Professor Guy Johnson
Homelessness is an ever-increasing issue in Australia. Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world with one of the most equal distributions of wealth, an estimated one in every two hundred people in Australia are homeless. In mid-2015,...
Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley: A Criminal with a Badge
Date published: 15 July 2017 Former Queensland police officer Chris Hurley was in court again this week. He was found guilty on two counts of dangerous driving during a high-speed police pursuit in the suburb of Pacific Pines on the Gold...
