Participant experiences of a post-release electronic monitoring program for domestic violence in New South Wales, Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 263380762110287
Author(s):  
Ye In J. Hwang ◽  
Paul L. Simpson ◽  
Tony G. Butler

Electronic monitoring has been increasingly used internationally with recent implementation in Australia for those convicted of domestic violence offenses. It is timely and important to gain a better understanding of the physical, psychological, social, and offending-related experiences and impacts of electronic monitoring on this group to inform further implementation. This study describes the experiences of individuals who were subject to a post-release electronic monitoring program for domestic violence in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with 16 men who had recently experienced electronic monitoring. Thematic analysis was used to investigate common themes across participants’ experiences. Demographic and basic quantitative health data were also collected. Five themes were identified: (a) confusion regarding program practices, (b) awareness and pressure of monitoring, (c) social exclusion effects, (d) felt and enacted stigmatization, and (e) “for them not for me.” The findings reveal participants were highly aware of their being monitored, with a mix of positive and negative responses to this cognizance. Being electronically monitored had several flow-on effects on participants’ lives, creating challenges in social spheres across work and personal life. Stigma, both felt and enacted, featured heavily in participants’ responses. Individual factors that may affect program adherence were also identified, including education level and intent to commit a crime. Further quantitative work will be useful for informing a more complete understanding of the relationship between program experiences and outcomes such as reoffending and post-release community integration.

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Dirk H. R. Spennemann

Given its intensity, rapid spread, geographic reach and multiple waves of infections, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 became a major global disruptor with a truly cross-sectoral impact, surpassing even the 1918/19 influenza epidemic. Public health measures designed to contain the spread of the disease saw the cessation of international travel as well as the establishment of border closures between and within countries. The social and economic impact was considerable. This paper examines the effects of the public health measures of “ring-fencing” and of prolonged closures of the state border between New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), placing the events of 2020/21 into the context of the historic and contemporary trajectories of the border between the two states. It shows that while border closures as public-health measures had occurred in the past, their social and economic impact had been comparatively negligible due to low cross-border community integration. Concerted efforts since the mid-1970s have led to effective and close integration of employment and services, with over a quarter of the resident population of the two border towns commuting daily across the state lines. As a result, border closures and state-based lockdown directives caused significant social disruption and considerable economic cost to families and the community as a whole. One of the lessons of the 2020/21 pandemic will be to either re-evaluate the wisdom of a close social and economic integration of border communities, which would be a backwards step, or to future-proof these communities by developing strategies, effectively public health management plans, to avoid a repeat when the next pandemic strikes.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (47) ◽  
pp. 802 ◽  
Author(s):  
DW Turner

The effects of plastic bunch covers and varying defoliation treatments on bunch weight were measured on Williams bananas at Alstonville in north-eastern New South Wales. Bunch covers did not significantly affect bunch weight. The number of leaves left on the plant at bunch emergence only reduced yield when less than four leaves were present. Leaf length duration was calculated and was positively related to bunch weight. Bunch covers did not alter the relationship between leaf number and yield. The rate of sucker growth and water relations within the plants were altered by defoliation treatments. Both of these effects were greatest when less than three leaves were left on the plant.


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Banks ◽  
Louisa Jorm ◽  
Kris Rogers ◽  
Mark Clements ◽  
Adrian Bauman

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the relationship between obesity and sedentary behaviours, such as watching television or using a computer (‘screen-time’), and describe how this relationship varies between population subgroups.DesignCross-sectional analysis of the relationship between obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and screen-time, adjusted for age, sex, income and education and compared according to a range of personal characteristics.SettingNew South Wales, Australia.SubjectsA total of 91 266 men and women aged 45 years and above from the general population of New South Wales in 2006–2007 and providing self-reported information on height and weight and other factors.ResultsObesity prevalence was 21·4 %. Compared to individuals with <2 h of daily screen-time, the adjusted relative risks (RR) of obesity were 1·35 (95 % CI 1·26, 1·44), 1·70 (95 % CI 1·59, 1·82), 1·94 (95 % CI 1·81, 2·08) and 1·92 (95 % CI 1·80, 2·06) for 2–3, 4–5, 6–7 and ≥8 h, respectively. The increase in obesity with increasing screen-time was similar within categories of overall physical activity, but was attenuated in those in full-time paid work, compared to non-workers (P for interaction < 0·0001). Among non-workers, the overall obesity RR per 2 h increase in daily screen-time was 1·23 (95 % CI 1·21, 1·25) and was significantly elevated in all groups examined, ranging from 1·16 to 1·31 according to sex, level of age, education, income, smoking and fruit consumption. The RR did not differ significantly according to overall physical activity, region of residence and alcohol and vegetable consumption, but was substantially lower in disabled v. not-disabled individuals (P for interaction < 0·0001).ConclusionsObesity increases with increasing screen-time, independent of purposeful physical activity. This was observed in all population groups examined, although it is attenuated in full-time workers and disabled individuals.


2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 269 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Herridge ◽  
M. J. Robertson ◽  
B. Cocks ◽  
M. B. Peoples ◽  
J. F. Holland ◽  
...  

Apparent nodulation failures and associated low grain yields have been reported for commercial mungbean (Vigna radiata) crops in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. We therefore conducted on-farm surveys of 40 commercial mungbean crops in the region in which symbiotic traits, i.e. nodulation and nitrogen fixation, and biomass and grain yield were monitored. Effects of bradyrhizobial inoculation and inoculation methods on mungbean and soybean (Glycine max) symbiosis and yield were determined in experiments at 3 sites in northern New South Wales. Thirty-four of the 35 mungbean crops assessed for nodulation were nodulated. The relationship between soil nitrate to a depth of 90 cm at sowing and mungbean nodulation was not significant. However, at low-to-moderate soil nitrate levels (<100 kg N/ha), the mean nodule score was 1.6, compared with 0.5 at high (>100 kg N/ha) soil nitrate levels. Soil nitrate had a negative effect on the percentage of mungbean nitrogen derived from nitrogen fixation (%Ndfa). Mean %Ndfa values for soil nitrate levels <50, >50–100 and >100 kg N/ha were 35, 22 and 19% respectively. Grain yields of the surveyed mungbean crops varied from 0.3 to 2.1 t/ha, and were correlated with shoot dry matter. Grain yield was not significantly correlated either with sowing soil nitrate, nodule score or %Ndfa. In the inoculation experiments, mungbean did not nodulate as well as soybean, producing about one-third the number of nodules. Both species responded to inoculation with increased nodulation, although data from one of the sites suggested that responses during early growth of mungbean were not maintained during pod-fill. Effects of inoculation on mungbean %Ndfa were marginal. Average increases were 9%, based on natural 15N abundance, and 6%, based on the ureide method. Soybean %Ndfa, on the other hand, responded strongly to inoculation, with increases of 56 (15N) and 77% (ureide). Inoculation increased mungbean crop N by an average of 10% and grain yield by 6%, compared with responses to fertiliser nitrogen of 31% (crop N) and 10% (grain yield). For soybean, inoculation increased crop nitrogen by 43% and grain yield by 7%, similar to responses to fertiliser nitrogen of 45 (crop N) and 5% (grain yield). These results suggest that inoculated mungbean was N-limited and that inoculation of mungbean using current technology may be somewhat ineffectual. We concluded that low nodulation and nitrogen fixation of commercial mungbean most likely results from the suppressive effects of nitrate and/or insufficient numbers of bradyrhizobia in the soil. When low symbiosis and low soil nitrate are combined, N is likely to limit crop growth, and potentially grain yield. Suggested strategies for improving mungbean nodulation and nitrogen fixation in the northern grains belt include selection of more symbiotically competent plant and bradyrhizobial genotypes and more effective utilisation of established soil populations of mungbean bradyrhizobia.


1995 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.A. Neave ◽  
S.M. Davey ◽  
J.J. Russell-Smith ◽  
R.G. Florence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Karystianis ◽  
Armita Adily ◽  
Peter Schofield ◽  
Lee Knight ◽  
Clara Galdon ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Vast numbers of domestic violence (DV) incidents are attended by the New South Wales Police Force each year in New South Wales and recorded as both structured quantitative data and unstructured free text in the WebCOPS (Web-based interface for the Computerised Operational Policing System) database regarding the details of the incident, the victim, and person of interest (POI). Although the structured data are used for reporting purposes, the free text remains untapped for DV reporting and surveillance purposes. OBJECTIVE In this paper, we explore whether text mining can automatically identify mental health disorders from this unstructured text. METHODS We used a training set of 200 DV recorded events to design a knowledge-driven approach based on lexical patterns in text suggesting mental health disorders for POIs and victims. RESULTS The precision returned from an evaluation set of 100 DV events was 97.5% and 87.1% for mental health disorders related to POIs and victims, respectively. After applying our approach to a large-scale corpus of almost a half million DV events, we identified 77,995 events (15.83%) that mentioned mental health disorders, with 76.96% (60,032/77,995) of those linked to POIs versus 16.47% (12,852/77,995) for the victims and 6.55% (5111/77,995) for both. Depression was the most common mental health disorder mentioned in both victims (22.30%, 3258) and POIs (18.73%, 8918), followed by alcohol abuse for POIs (12.24%, 5829) and various anxiety disorders (eg, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder) for victims (11.43%, 1671). CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that text mining can automatically extract targeted information from police-recorded DV events to support further public health research into the nexus between mental health disorders and DV.


Obiter ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Lloyd Hornigold

In South Africa, there is little authority on the relationship between the credit provider (bank) and the credit receiver (debtor) after a property has been declared executable and sold at an auction by the Sheriff of the Court following the debtor’s default on a loan underlying a mortgage bond. The Uniform Rules of Court may shortly be amended in order to allow a reserve price to be set at an auction. However, the bank may still be compelled to buy the property into possession (PIP) in order to preserve the asset so that it protects the interest of both itself and the debtor should this reserve price not be met by third party purchasers. This amendment is therefore unlikely to address the underlying problems that exist when a bank elects to buy a property at an auction. The authority that does exist provides that the banks stand in a different position vis-à-vis the debtor to that of a third party purchaser. Most notably, it provides that the bank has a duty to credit the proceeds of any sale, when the property is sold from its stock of PIPs to the account of the debtor. This appears to be correct, but there should be a sound theoretical foundation for this proposition. What further duties are owed to the debtor by the bank in these circumstances? In order to address this question, certain suggestions are made based on the New South Wales legal position.


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