Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Torturous Journeys: Cruelty, International Law, And Pushbacks And Pullbacks Over The Mediterranean Sea, Jamal Barnes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Boat pushbacks and pullbacks by Italy and the European Union (EU) have returned migrants and refugees to Libya where they have been subjected to brutal human rights violations, such as torture and ill-treatment. This article argues that these pushbacks and pullbacks not only undermine key human rights principles, but they are also an act of cruelty. As Italy and the EU have used the law to evade their international human rights and refugee obligations, the law has had distributive effects that have shaped migration pathways and exacerbated the vulnerability of migrants and refugees to torture. Not only have legal manoeuvres …

Critical Review Of The Use Of The Rorschach In European Courts, Igor Areh, Fanny Verkampt, Alfred Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In relation to the admissibility of evidence obtained using projective personality tests arose in F v. Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatam (2018). The Court of Justice of the European Union has held that an expert’s report can only be accepted if it is based on the international scientific community’s standards, but has refrained from stipulating what these standards are. It appears timely for European psychologists to decide what standards should be applied to determine whether or not a test is appropriate for psycholegal use. We propose standards and then apply them to the Rorschach because it was used in this case …

Promoting Awareness Of Sex Trafficking In Tourism And Hospitality, Joshua Aston, Jun Wen, Edmund Goh, Oswin Maurer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: This cutting-edge short commentary is intended to raise awareness of sex trafficking in the tourism and hospitality industry. The purpose of this paper is to also advocate for further research to identify and hopefully prevent sex trafficking in related settings. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a descriptive overview of the current knowledge base on sex trafficking in tourism and hospitality. Based on gaps in the literature, future research agendas and directions are suggested. Findings: Academic research on sex trafficking in tourism and hospitality remains limited. More scholarly attention is needed to this matter. The tourism industry is directly and indirectly …

Suffering To Save Lives: Torture, Cruelty, And Moral Disengagement In Australia’S Offshore Detention Centres, Jamal Barnes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Since Australia re-established offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru in 2012, there have been ongoing reports that asylum seekers and refugees are being subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDT). People in detention have endured indefinite detention, inadequate provision of health care, and sexual, physical, and mental harm as the government attempts to ‘stop the boats’ and prevent deaths at sea. How can Australia continue to violate the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, while at the same time, promote its offshore detention policies worldwide? This article …

Commodity Futures Returns And Policy Uncertainty, Deepa Bannigidadmath, Paresh Kumar Narayan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. This paper investigates whether economic policy uncertainty is predictable using three sets of commodity futures market variables, namely the equal-weighted average of futures excess returns, the excess returns on a portfolio of going long in backwardated commodities, and the excess returns on a portfolio of going short in contango commodities as predictors. We find significant evidence of both in-sample and out-of-sample predictability. Combination forecasts also reveal strong evidence of predictability. Our findings remain unchanged following several robustness tests.

Forensic Experts’ Perspectives On Australian Indigenous Sexual Offenders And Factors Important In Evaluating The Risk Of Recidivism, Alfred Allan, Cate L. Parry, Hilde Tubex, Caroline Spiranovic, Frank Morgan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Law and ethics require that risk assessment should be cross-culturally valid and fair, but Australian research in this regard is underdeveloped. A logical first step in progressing the work required to build a strong evidence base on culturally sensitive risk assessment in Australia is to determine the expert views of those in the field. We interviewed 13 Australian evaluators who assess Indigenous sexual offenders’ recidivism risk to determine their perceptions of the risk assessment instruments they use and the attributes they believe evaluators doing cross-cultural assessments should have. Our central findings are that evaluators use the available instruments because they …

The Impact Of Voluntariness Of Apologies On Victims’ Responses In Restorative Justice: Findings Of A Quantitative Study [Dataset], Alfred Allan, Justine De Mott, Isolde Larkins, Laura Turnbull, Tracey Warwick, Lacey Willett, Maria M. Allan

Research Datasets

Combined data of three studies (N=164; 121 and 236 respectively) that investigated whether the voluntariness of apologies influenced recipients’ perception of the sincerity of apologies; acceptance of apologies; willingness to forgive offenders; and intended retributive behavior towards offenders.

From The Tree Of Knowledge And The Golem Of Prague To Kosher Autonomous Cars: The Ethics Of Artificial Intelligence Through Jewish Eyes, Nachshon Goltz, John Zeleznikow, Tracey Dowdeswell

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article discusses the regulation of artificial intelligence from a Jewish perspective, with an emphasis on the regulation of machine learning and its application to autonomous vehicles and machine learning. Through the Biblical story of Adam and Eve as well as Golem legends from Jewish folklore, we derive several basic principles that underlie a Jewish perspective on the moral and legal personhood of robots and other artificially intelligent agents. We argue that religious ethics in general, and Jewish ethics in particular, show us that the dangers of granting moral personhood to robots and in particular to autonomous vehicles lie not …

Open Access Publishing In The European Union: The Example Of Scientific Works, Nikos Koutras

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Access to information resources and publicly-funded research outcomes have been considered in Europe during the last decade. Open access practice became part of the European institutions’ agenda since 2006 within the final report of the European Research Advisory Board. The Lisbon Treaty (2007) explicitly confirmed the European Union’s commitment to free circulation of scientific knowledge (Article 179 TFEU) and the dissemination of research results (Article 183 TFEU). In this regard, the Horizon 2020 program illustrates the importance of open access policy towards further dissemination of scientific information. The European Commission also introduced in July 2012 a scientific information package to …

Structuring The Debate About Research Ethics In The Psychology And Law Field: An International Perspective, Alfred Allan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Forensic psychologists’ role is well established, and they are rightly well regulated because their decisions and behaviour can have a significant impact on people’s rights and interests. Their ethical integrity, however, partly hinges on the psycholegal research products (data, methods and instruments) that they and others use. The ethical regulation of researchers who produce products and their research processes is, however, fragmented, limited and narrow and largely focuses on domestic research. Relatively few scholars have examined the regulation of psycholegal research or commented on the ethical implications of recent court decisions. The purpose of this paper is to start a …

The Influence Of The Chinese Government's Political Ideology In The Field Of Corporate Environmental Reporting, Hui Situ, Carol Tilt, Pi-Shen Seet

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, Hui Situ, Carol Tilt, Pi-Shen Seet. Purpose: In a state capitalist country such as China, an important influence on company reporting is the government, which can influence company decision-making. The nature and impact of how the Chinese government uses its symbolic power to promote corporate environmental reporting (CER) have been under-studied, and therefore, this paper aims to address this gap in the literature by investigating the various strategies the Chinese government uses to influence CER and how political ideology plays a key role. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses discourse analysis to examine the annual reports and corporate social responsibility …

Generalized Correlation Measures Of Causality And Forecasts Of The Vix Using Non-Linear Models, David E. Allen, Vince J. Hooper

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper features an analysis of causal relations between the daily VIX, S & P500 and the daily realised volatility (RV) of the S & P500 sampled at 5 min intervals, plus the application of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to forecast the future daily value of the VIX. Causal relations are analysed using the recently developed concept of general correlation Zheng et al. and Vinod. The neural network analysis is performed using the Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) approach. The results suggest that causality runs from lagged daily RV and lagged continuously compounded daily return on the …

I Remember Richelieu: Is Anything Secure Anymore?, Michael G. Crowley, Michael N. Johnstone

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Petraeus-gate, hacked nude celebrity photos in the cloud and the recent use of a search and seizure warrant in the United States of America to seek production of customer email contents on an extraterritorial server raises important issues for the supposably safe storage of data on the World Wide Web. Not only may there be nowhere to hide in cyberspace but nothing in cyberspace may be private. This paper explores the legal and technical issues raised by the these matters with emphasis on the courts decision “In the Matter of a Warrant to Search a Certain E-Mail Account Controlled and …

Beyond Proximity: The Importance Of Green Space Useability To Self-Reported Health, May Carter, Pierre Horwitz

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Access to parks and green spaces within residential neighbourhoods has been shown to be an important pathway to generating better physical and mental health for individuals and communities. Early research in this area often failed to identify specific attributes that contributed to reported health outcomes, with more recent research focused on exploring relationships between health outcomes and aspects of access and design. A mixed methods research project conducted in Perth, Western Australia examined the role that neighbourhood green space played in influencing residents' self-reported health status, and this paper identifies significant relationships found between perceptions of green space quality and …

Legal Avenues For Ending Impunity For The Death Of Journalists In Conflict Zones: Current And Proposed International Agreements, Kayt H. Davies, Emily Crawford

Research outputs 2013

Every bullet that kills a journalist in a warzone adds passion and urgency to calls for “something” to be done to better protect frontline media workers. International humanitarian law (the body of law that includes the Geneva Conventions) offers some avenues for legal redress, but problems with compliance and policing have contributed to a sense of impunity among perpetrators of these crimes. Consequently, calls for additional laws have reemerged. This article analyzes the current legal protections, examines a proposed new international convention, and discusses obstacles to ending impunity. It also analyzes whether a new convention would be a useful addition …

Reconceputualising Security Strategies For Courts: Developing A Typology For Safer Court Environments, Anne Wallace, Deborah Blackman, Emma Rowden

Research outputs 2013

There have been heightened concerns about security in courts in recent years, prompting a strong response that has largely been focused on perimeter security. This paper draws on recent research conducted in Australian on court user’s safety needs, to propose a typology for designing safer courtroom environments that moves beyond the entry point to the court, and incorporates consideration of process and design elements.

The Development Of A Video Task Of Remedial Behaviour To Use In Communication Training Of Health Professionals With Specific Reference To Open Disclosure Practice, Dianne Mckillop, Alfred Allan, Julian Dooley

Research outputs pre 2011

The National Open Disclosure Standard requires health professionals (hereafter professionals) to disclose errors in the course of their practice. There is, however, evidence that some professionals are reluctant to do so because they are uncertain about how to engage in open disclosure communications in general and, specifically, how to do it in a legally appropriate manner. One way of addressing this problem is to train professionals in disclosing errors to patients and their families in ways that meet their psychological needs as well as the legal requirements. Although preferable, the comprehensive training of all professionals in appropriate open disclosure practices …

The Columbus Project In The Family Court Of Western Australia: A Model Of Reflective Practice, Lisbeth Pike, Paul Murphy

Research outputs pre 2011

The Columbus Pilot project conducted in the Family Court of Western Australia during 2001-2003, was established to deal with cases that are characterised by violence. Paul Murphy and Lis Pike of the School of Psychology, Edith Cowan University, discuss how the Columbus process of jointly chaired interdisciplinary conferences in the court has influenced the evolution of a model of reflective practice.

The Relationship Between Bail Decision-Making And Legal Representation Within The Criminal Justice System, Alfred Allan, Maria M. Allan, Margaret Giles, Deirdre Drake

Research outputs pre 2011

The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationship between legal representation and bail decision-making within the criminal justice system in Western Australia. In doing so it was necessary to "rule out" a number of other factors and this process provided the opportunity to test whether some of the factors mentioned in the literature, such as age and race, have an independent effect on bail decision-making. The data also provided a valuable snapshot of bail decision-making in the Courts of Petty Sessions and the Perth Children’s Court...

An Exploratory Study To Identify The Predictors Of Sexual Reoffending By Male Sexual Offenders In Western Australia, Deborah Dawson, Alfred Allan

Research outputs pre 2011

As the prediction of the risk of sexual reoffending behaviour has become more important in the corrections setting, so has the development of instruments to assist practitioners in doing risk evaluations. International research underpins most of the instruments used in Western Australia (WA), and in Australia for that matter. The present study explored the predictive accuracy of instruments developed internationally and locally as a function of ethnicity (Indigenous and non Indigenous) and nature of offending (non violent sexual and violent sexual). The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Recidivism (RRASOR) and the Static 99 were the international instruments, for the prediction …

The Voice Of Edith Cowan: Australia's First Woman Parliamentarian 1921-1924, Harry C.J. Phillips

Research outputs pre 2011

On 12 March 1996 the Honourable Justice French, as Chancellor of Edith Cowan University, led a rededication ceremony of the Edith Cowan Clock Tower. This occasion, the seventy-fifth anniversary of Edith Cowan's election to the Legislative Assembly, was immediately followed by a breakfast at the nearby Parliament of Western Australia. During the evening a touring exhibition of Edith Cowan's life was launched titled "A Tough Nut to Crack". Then five days later Professor Geoffrey Bolton spoke at St George's Cathedral to celebrate a "Life of Service" by Edith Cowan.

The Voice of Edith Cowan is another contribution to the anniversary. …