Caroline Spiranovic
University of Tasmania, Faculty of Law/Faculty of Arts, Department Member
- Caroline Spiranovic is a Research Fellow and Lecturer based at the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania (for more i... moreCaroline Spiranovic is a Research Fellow and Lecturer based at the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania (for more information about her research and teaching, see http://www.utas.edu.au/profiles/staff/law/caroline-spiranovic)edit
This project arose out of a Tasmanian case in which a twelve-year-old girl was prostituted by her mother and her mother’s male friend. The fact that only one of the girl’s clients was prosecuted gave rise to controversy and criticism of... more
This project arose out of a Tasmanian case in which a twelve-year-old girl was prostituted by her mother and her mother’s male friend. The fact that only one of the girl’s clients was prosecuted gave rise to controversy and criticism of both the Director of Public Prosecution’s decision not to prosecute and the law relating to the crime of sexual intercourse with a young person. The Attorney-General responded to criticisms of the law by referring to the Institute (by letter dated 30 September 2010) a review of the defence of mistake as to age for the crime of sexual intercourse with a young person, together with any other legal issues raised by the case. The Institute’s Board agreed to take on the project, and has also taken on a related project arising out of the same case which considers the law prohibiting the publication of information which identifies a complainant in a sexual offence case (the Institute intends to release an Issues Paper for this project in the near future).
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Honeypots have been a key tool in controlling and understanding digital crime for several decades. The tool has traditionally been deployed against actors who are attempting to hack into systems or as a discovery mechanism for new forms... more
Honeypots have been a key tool in controlling and understanding digital crime for several decades. The tool has traditionally been deployed against actors who are attempting to hack into systems or as a discovery mechanism for new forms of malware. This paper presents a novel approach to using a honeypot architecture in conjunction with social networks to respond to non-technical digital crimes. The tool is presented within the context of Child Exploitation Material (CEM), and to support the goal of taking an educative approach to Internet users who are developing an interest in this material. The architecture that is presented in the paper includes multiple layers, including recruitment, obfuscation, and education. The approach does not aim to collect data to support punitive action, but to educate users, increasing their knowledge and awareness of the negative impacts of such material.
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In January 2017, six people were killed and at least 30 injured when Dimitrious Gargasoulas drove his car into pedestrians on Melbourne's Bourke Street mall in an apparently deliberate attack. In the aftermath, community shock turned... more
In January 2017, six people were killed and at least 30 injured when Dimitrious Gargasoulas drove his car into pedestrians on Melbourne's Bourke Street mall in an apparently deliberate attack. In the aftermath, community shock turned to outrage when it emerged that Gargasoulas had been released by a Victorian bail justice only days before. Within days, the Victorian Government announced changes to the State's bail system, as well as a major review of Victoria's bail laws, to be undertaken by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Paul Coghlan, currently a judge in the Victorian Court of Appeal. Following the Coghlan review, Victoria's bail laws are arguably the most onerous in Australia. This article presents a discussion of recent reforms to bail laws around Australia. It argues that amendments to bail legislation across the country reflect shifting views on the purposes of bail and the principles underlying the bail system.
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With the increasing number of individuals accessing online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), there is an urgent need for primary prevention strategies to supplement the traditional focus on arrest and prosecution. We examined... more
With the increasing number of individuals accessing online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), there is an urgent need for primary prevention strategies to supplement the traditional focus on arrest and prosecution. We examined whether online warning messages would dissuade individuals from visiting a honeypot website purporting to contain barely legal pornography. Participants ( n = 419) seeking the site were randomly assigned to one of five conditions; they went straight to the landing page (control; n = 100) or encountered a warning message advising of the potential harm to viewers ( n = 74), potential harm to victims ( n = 65), ability of police to track IP addresses ( n = 81), or possible illegality of such pornography ( n = 99). We measured the attempted click-through to the site. Attrition rates for the warning message conditions were 38% to 52%, compared with 27% for the control group. The most effective messages were those that warned that IP addresses can be traced ...
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the Victorian jury study aimed to ascertain jurors' views of sentencing severity and to compare the views of judges and jurors on the relevance of aggravating and mitigating factors. A surprising finding from the analysis of the... more
the Victorian jury study aimed to ascertain jurors' views of sentencing severity and to compare the views of judges and jurors on the relevance of aggravating and mitigating factors. A surprising finding from the analysis of the sentencing remarks from the trials in the study is that because delay was the third most common mitigating factor. This article suggests that because delay's relevance as mitigating factor may be not immediately apparent to the public, the reasons why it attracts a reduced sentence should be clearly explained by sentencers.
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Aim/Purpose: The primary use of electronic health records (EHRs) is in the care of the individual patient. Secondary research uses employ information in EHRs for purposes beyond that of care of the individual. Secondary research uses may... more
Aim/Purpose: The primary use of electronic health records (EHRs) is in the care of the individual patient. Secondary research uses employ information in EHRs for purposes beyond that of care of the individual. Secondary research uses may broadly be divided into studies which focus on improving care and treatment of individuals and those which aim to increase knowledge about disease causes, associations and prevalence at a population level. This paper provides a review of studies that have used EHRs to increase knowledge at a population level. It examines the methods used, types of research conducted, difficulties and challenges faced and implications for future research and mental health research in particular. Method: A review was undertaken based on a search for peer-reviewed and recently (i.e. since 2005) published articles with full-text available online. Findings/Results: The studies which have used EHRs to increase knowledge have predominantly involved; (1) data mining to identify biomarkers and gene–disease associations, (2) epidemiological research using linked/merged health records and (3) surveillance, prediction and alerts for diseases/illnesses. The principal methodological challenges identified were data quality, discrepancies/inconsistencies in data and interoperability of EHRs. Conclusions: Despite the challenges faced in secondary usage of EHRs, significant research has been undertaken and researchers have proposed and tested various approaches to address methodological issues. The study methods employed in other fields of medical research can be extrapolated to study issues of significance to mental health using EHRs.
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This paper examines the critical issue of public confidence in sentencing, and presents findings from Phase I of an Australia-wide sentencing and public confidence project. Phase I comprised a nationally representative telephone survey of... more
This paper examines the critical issue of public confidence in sentencing, and presents findings from Phase I of an Australia-wide sentencing and public confidence project. Phase I comprised a nationally representative telephone survey of 6005 participants. The majority of respondents expressed high levels of punitiveness and were dissatisfied with sentences imposed by the courts. Despite this, many were strongly supportive of the use of alternatives to imprisonment for a range of offences. These nuanced views raise questions regarding the efficacy of gauging public opinion using opinion poll style questions; indeed the expected outcome from this first phase of the four phase sentencing and public confidence project. The following phases of this project, reported on elsewhere, examined the effects of various interventions on the robustness and nature of these views initially expressed in a standard ‘top of the head’ opinion poll.
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Within the ‘what works’ literature, recidivism is typically embraced as the sole or primary outcome measure of success for offender intervention programs. Often, no account is taken of other important measures for evaluating program... more
Within the ‘what works’ literature, recidivism is typically embraced as the sole or primary outcome measure of success for offender intervention programs. Often, no account is taken of other important measures for evaluating program success. As such, our understanding of what works is based largely on programs that have demonstrated effectiveness with respect to reduced recidivism rates. Focusing specifically on tertiary prevention approaches for juvenile offenders, this article argues that there are significant limitations in using rates of recidivism as the primary outcome measure of program success. Firstly, this article explores the importance generally of incorporating a comprehensive evaluative framework into program design. Secondly, the limitations of relying upon recidivism as the sole or primary outcome measure in program evaluation are outlined. Thirdly, this article briefly describes the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model and the Good Lives Model (GLM) as examples of mo...
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Mental disorder, intellectual disability, intoxication and drug addiction are factors that are often raised in sentencing hearings, but the effect that these four conditions can have on an offender’s sentence is rarely studied. This... more
Mental disorder, intellectual disability, intoxication and drug addiction are factors that are often raised in sentencing hearings, but the effect that these four conditions can have on an offender’s sentence is rarely studied. This article fills two gaps in our understanding of the relevance of these ambiguous sentencing factors: first, by analysing how judges in the County Court of Victoria responded to these factors in 122 sentencing cases relating to 140 sentenced offenders; and second, by comparing the views of the judges with those of 426 jurors who had tried those cases and who participated in the Victorian Jury Sentencing Study. It concludes that lay opinion on the relevance of these factors does not always align with judicial practice and discusses the implications of these findings.
The key issue explored in this chapter is the association between media usage and public confidence in the sentencing process. The research survey reported here investigated this association as part of a large Australia-wide public... more
The key issue explored in this chapter is the association between media usage and public confidence in the sentencing process. The research survey reported here investigated this association as part of a large Australia-wide public opinion survey on sentencing and public confidence.
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To evaluate an online Youth Ambassador (YA) program designed to promote internet resources for mental health in an adolescent population, 56 YAs and 357 of their Year 10 peers from 11 Tasmanian schools completed e-mental health... more
To evaluate an online Youth Ambassador (YA) program designed to promote internet resources for mental health in an adolescent population, 56 YAs and 357 of their Year 10 peers from 11 Tasmanian schools completed e-mental health questionnaires before and after the YAs attended a single workshop session. The workshops, which were delivered in the high school setting, were either facilitated or self-directed. Self-reported awareness of e-mental health resources increased among both YAs and their peers. The peer group also showed increased frequency of recommending help-seeking to others. There were no differences in outcomes for facilitated or self-directed workshop formats. The results suggest that an online YA program delivered in school is useful in improving mental health awareness for workshop participants. While their Year 10 peer groups also showed increased awareness, this could not necessarily be attributed to the participation of all 11 schools in the YA program.
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ABSTRACT Much of what we know about sexual offenders and risk management is derived from empirical studies on sex offender populations in North America. In comparison to Canada and the United States, the evidence base in Australia on... more
ABSTRACT Much of what we know about sexual offenders and risk management is derived from empirical studies on sex offender populations in North America. In comparison to Canada and the United States, the evidence base in Australia on sexual offender risk management is under-developed. In this paper, we describe a current research project tasked with developing a national sex offender recidivism database to advance the evidence base in Australia. It is argued that a national database would advance knowledge and practice in the field of sex offender risk management in Australia in a multitude of ways. Yet there are many obstacles and difficulties in developing such a database. After putting forward a case for the need for such a database, we outline the issues we have encountered and the approaches we have adopted to develop this database. It is intended that this contemporary comment may not only alert readers to this emerging data resource in Australia but also function as a road map to guide future empirical research on offender population databases in Australia.
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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... more
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 believe that the same factors predict sexual recidivism for Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders, but that they do so cautiously knowing the limitations of the instruments. Evaluators nevertheless want more research data to guide them when they use the available instruments to assess people from cultures that...
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A plea of guilty is a long-accepted factor mitigating sentence in many countries, including Australia, although academic debate over the merits and application of the discount is ongoing. This paper presents findings from a national... more
A plea of guilty is a long-accepted factor mitigating sentence in many countries, including Australia, although academic debate over the merits and application of the discount is ongoing. This paper presents findings from a national Australian study on public opinion on the guilty plea sentencing discount, with a particular focus on sexual offences. Survey data were drawn from 989 jurors in cases that resulted in a guilty verdict and 450 unempanelled jurors and 306 online respondents who were provided with vignettes based on real cases. A third of the respondents would have supported a discount in their case if the offender had pleaded guilty. In contrast, more than one half of the respondents surveyed, who had received a vignette with a guilty plea scenario, supported an increment in sentence if the offender had gone to trial. There was more support for a discount in cases involving non-sexual violent offences versus sexual offences and adult versus child victims. Where a discount ...
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There are claims that the societal appetite for ‘child exploitation material’ is increasing. Yet, Australia’s policy response does not include initiatives to dissuade potential offenders from deliberately viewing child exploitation... more
There are claims that the societal appetite for ‘child exploitation material’ is increasing. Yet, Australia’s policy response does not include initiatives to dissuade potential offenders from deliberately viewing child exploitation material for the first time (onset). To critically examine this issue, this paper draws on Situational Crime Prevention theory. It argues that (a) many first-time child exploitation material viewers fit the Situational Crime Prevention construct of the Opportunistic Offender and (b) suggests that current policy overlooks the kinds of non-instrumental factors that increase the risk of onset for this group, including doubts about the criminality and harmfulness of viewing child exploitation material. The paper then empirically examines social attitudes to child exploitation material viewing by presenting the findings of a survey of 504 Australian internet users. Results indicate that a sizeable minority of the participants were: unaware that it is a crime t...
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In the light of proposals to give jurors a sentencing role in response to media portrayals of judges as soft on crime and out of touch, this article reports on a study which explored jurors’ thoughts about such a role using survey... more
In the light of proposals to give jurors a sentencing role in response to media portrayals of judges as soft on crime and out of touch, this article reports on a study which explored jurors’ thoughts about such a role using survey questions and interviews. Most shied away from such a role.
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In recent times, parliaments have introduced legislation directing judges to take defined purposes into account when sentencing. At the same time, judges and politicians also acknowledge that sentencing should vindicate the values of the... more
In recent times, parliaments have introduced legislation directing judges to take defined purposes into account when sentencing. At the same time, judges and politicians also acknowledge that sentencing should vindicate the values of the community. This article compares the views on the purposes of sentencing of three major participants in the criminal justice system: legislators who pass sentencing statutes, judges who impose and justify sentences and jurors who represent the community. A total of 987 Australian jurors in the Victorian Jury Sentencing Study (2013–2015) were asked to sentence the offender in their trial and to choose the purpose that best justified the sentence. The judges’ sentencing remarks were coded and the results were compared with the jurors’ surveys. The research shows that, in this jurisdiction, the views of the judges, the jurors and the legislators are not always well aligned. Judges relied on general deterrence much more than jurors and jurors selected i...
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This paper presents the results of the Victorian Jury Sentencing Study which aimed to measure jurors’ views on sentencing. The study asked jurors who had returned a guilty verdict to propose a sentence for the offender, to comment on the... more
This paper presents the results of the Victorian Jury Sentencing Study which aimed to measure jurors’ views on sentencing. The study asked jurors who had returned a guilty verdict to propose a sentence for the offender, to comment on the sentence given by the judge in their case and to give their opinions on general sentencing levels for different offence types. A total of 987 jurors from 124 criminal trials in the County Court of Victoria participated in this mixed-method and multi-phased study in 2013–2015. The results are based on juror responses to the Stage One and Stage Two surveys and show that the views of judges and jurors are much more closely aligned than mass public opinion surveys would suggest.
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ABSTRACT Recent research has indicated that cybercrime thrives when a corrupt social, economic, and political environment emerges such that law enforcement impact is minimised and key elements of crime prevention are absent. In this... more
ABSTRACT Recent research has indicated that cybercrime thrives when a corrupt social, economic, and political environment emerges such that law enforcement impact is minimised and key elements of crime prevention are absent. In this paper, using a snowball methodology we analyse patterns of ownership of “child model” sites which generate profits from advertising and/or subscriptions. While the material may not be traditional “pornography” in content, it is arguably exploitative. An open question is how the material compares to “beauty pageant” and other highly stylised mainstream photography that depicts children in adult situations, and whether access to all such material should be restricted.
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Research Interests: Law and Indigenous
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A widespread public preference for harsher sentencing (punitiveness) has been documented in a range of national and international studies. The present study examines the relative predictive power of a set of factors most commonly linked... more
A widespread public preference for harsher sentencing (punitiveness) has been documented in a range of national and international studies. The present study examines the relative predictive power of a set of factors most commonly linked with punitiveness. This study is based on the responses given in the largest Australian survey to date of public attitudes to punishment (N = 6005). A combined
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In January 2017, six people were killed and at least 30 injured when Dimitrious Gargasoulas drove his car into pedestrians on Melbourne's Bourke Street mall in an apparently deliberate attack. In the aftermath, community shock turned to... more
In January 2017, six people were killed and at least 30 injured when Dimitrious Gargasoulas drove his car into pedestrians on Melbourne's Bourke Street mall in an apparently deliberate attack. In the aftermath, community shock turned to outrage when it emerged that Gargasoulas had been released by a Victorian bail justice only days before. Within days, the Victorian Government announced changes to the State's bail system, as well as a major review of Victoria's bail laws, to be undertaken by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Paul Coghlan, currently a judge in the Victorian Court of Appeal. Following the Coghlan review, Victoria's bail laws are arguably the most onerous in Australia. This article presents a discussion of recent reforms to bail laws around Australia. It argues that amendments to bail legislation across the country reflect shifting views on the purposes of bail and the principles underlying the bail system.