No abstract

A significant proportion of Australian female inmates are drug addicts and women who have experienced violence as children and/or as adults. Ironically, the three rules (“Don't talk,” “Don't trust,” and “Don't feel”) that many therefore grew up with are present within the prison institutional culture and structure. The female prison population is relatively small. As a result, many women are placed inappropriately in maximum-security facilities and have limited programs for employment, education, and drug/violence issues. Comparison of results from empirical research conducted in the early 1990s with recent data reveals that although there have been some positive steps implemented, they have not greatly affected the dysfunctional women's prison culture. For the most part these continue to ignore the specific needs of women (and victims of violence). Thus the tragic generational cycle of violence-crime-prison-violence-crime-prison persists.

Little research that focuses upon homicide-suicides between adult sexual intimates has been conducted to date. Yet U.S., U.K., and Australian studies on homicide and homicidesuicide show that a disproportionate number of those that kill and subsequently take their own lives are the husbands or estranged sexual intimates of their victims. This paper provides some retrospective data on the historical, demographic, and situational traits of this type of homicide-suicide in Australia by looking at what, if anything, differentiates homicides between adult sexual intimates that include the suicide of the offender from those that do not. A lack of significant variation was apparent in histories of domestic violence, alcohol involvement, and unemployment between those who committed suicide and those who did not. However, if the offender was a male estranged from his partner, born outside of Australia, who used a gun as the weapon and killed more than one victim, or was older with an ailing wife, he was more apt to commit suicide. Using anecdotal case study mate rial, causation or explanatory variables are also discussed. These appeared to cluster either around a theme of old age and ill-health or control and pathological-type of possessiveness. The author concludes that more research focusing on the differentiation between the two groups of offenders is necessary in order to better identify contributory variables and to develop risk elements and information for criminal justice practitioners and other service providers.

Background How the mainstream news media report violence against women is significant if levels of violence are to be reduced and ultimately eliminated. Media reporting is an important indicator through which to measure progress towards shifting social and cultural norms that reinforce or challenge the place of violence against women in our society. The current study, therefore, aimed to establish a baseline picture of the extent and nature of reporting of violence against women by the mainstream Australian news media. Methods Descriptive and content analysis of media reports on violence against women that were collected over four months in three states of Australia. Reports were from newspapers, broadcast (television and radio) and online news sites. Results Coverage of violence against women in the mainstream news media was extensive. Explicitly situating violent experiences for women within a broader social context was infrequent. Few news reports included information for women on where to seek help. Additionally, news reports rarely elevated the voices of survivors, advocates and other experts, with a disproportionate emphasis on law enforcement, political and criminal justice perspectives. Conclusions Despite readiness among journalists and readers to engage in news about violence against women, reporting that promotes public understanding of the issue is not always the norm.

No abstract