This systematic review synthesized current knowledge about the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among young people known to have offended and examined evidence of associations between ACEs, trauma symptoms, and offending behavior. A systematic search of English-language, peer-reviewed studies published from the year 2000 onwards was conducted. A final pool of 124 studies that reported quantitative data were included in the review. The Cambridge Quality Checklist for the assessment of studies on offending was used to assess methodological quality of included studies. Pooled data indicated that almost 87% of justice-involved young people across 13 countries experienced at least one traumatic event. The odds of experiencing at least one ACE were over 12 times greater for justice-involved young people compared with nonjustice-involved young people. Prevalence of individual ACEs ranged from 12.2% for childhood sexual abuse to 80.4% for parental separation among justice-involved young people. Those who reported both a higher number and multiple types of ACEs were more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress symptoms. However, when considering only high-quality studies, there was minimal evidence to suggest that a higher incidence of ACEs predicted trauma symptoms or that trauma symptoms mediated the association between ACEs and offending behavior. Further research is needed to elucidate factors that differentiate young people exposed to ACEs who go on to offend from those who do not. This research is essential to understanding whether ACEs and trauma are drivers of offending behavior and for informing prevention and intervention strategies.

An increasingly popular gender-specific intervention to assist women involved in the criminal justice system (e.g., ex-prisoners) is mentoring. However, despite the growing popularity of mentoring, there is a dearth of literature that has explored the intervention’s efficacy, particularly as it relates to women involved in the criminal justice system. In the current study, client files of 64 women in a one-to-one mentoring program in Australia were examined to identify (a) the social and practical needs and obstacles faced by women overcoming their involvement with the justice system, and (b) the extent to which mentoring addressed these needs and obstacles. The results show that consistent with previous research, many of the women experienced a range of social and practical difficulties that impeded the desistance process. For a large portion of the women, however, mentoring helped overcome some difficulties by enhancing positive social capital in their lives. These findings are discussed in the context of how mentoring relationships can act as key turning points in the lives of women involved in the criminal justice system.

In a 25-year Australian cohort of men and women found Not Guilty by reason of Mental Illness (NGMI forensic patients; N ¼ 477), we aimed to: establish the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of the sample, comparing men and women; to establish rates of post-release reoffending, including for men and women separately; and to test associations between individual characteristics and post-release re-offending in the full sample. Post-release re-offending was considered in terms of officially-recorded charges, proven offenses, violent offenses, and any offending within the first 12 months of release. Women (13.8%) were found to differ significantly from men on a number of key characteristics but, although women had a higher rate of proven offending in the early post-release period, sex was not a predictor of post-release offending overall. Post-release re-offending rates were low (6.3% committed proven offenses in the first 12 months following release) and the only independent predictor of re-offending was a clinically-recorded diagnosis of co-morbid personality disorder (i.e. co-morbid with a primary psychosis diagnosis). The differences identified between male and female NGMI forensic patients, including the differences in reoffending in the early post-release period, have implications for the development of forensic services and interventions, in both inpatient and community settings.

The development of online technologies in recent decades has facilitated the distribution and consumption of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over the internet, which also led to the emergence of CSAM on the darknet—the segment of the internet hidden from the general public. Using data obtained from interviews with online investigators, this study uses crime script analysis to reconstruct step-by-step how offenders operate on the darknet. The findings highlight the three phases of the script: (1) the crime set-up phase, (2) the crime completion phase, and (3) the crime continuation phase. Scripting is a practical method of developing concrete ways to address this problem. The implications of using crime scripts to fight CSAM are discussed.

In a cohort of young people referred to an Australian mental health court diversion service over a 7-year period, 46.5% of those deemed eligible ( n = 523) were granted diversion and the following were identified as barriers to being granted diversion: identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, having substance use problems, prior offending, and no record of prior diversion. Young people granted diversion were significantly less likely to reoffend, even after adjustment for a range of other covariates. This study highlights the need to address barriers to mental health court diversion for young people, particularly in light of the evidence of its effectiveness in reducing risk of reoffending.