Research Project
Researchers: Anna Ferrante (Managed by)
Brief description
Adopting a criminal career/developmental approach, the research seeks to document the prevalence and frequency of offending in the Western Australian population and identify observable “group” differences in these criminal career dimensions. “Groups” of primary interest are those defined by gender and Aboriginal status.
The rationale for doing this is simple - to provide a better understanding of offending so as to inform criminological theory and develop more effective (and, potentially, better targeted) crime prevention and crime reduction strategies. By charting the distinctive developmental pathways of criminal activity for different groups of offenders, and by understanding what factors influence these distinct pathways, policymakers and practitioners will be better placed to determine whether and how clusters of offenders can be targeted with specific interventions.