Why does being hit hurt a child but settle some adults?
The same act can injure a child and settle an adult. What decides it is control and repair, not the act.
14 min read
a/justice
Crime and justice. What reduces harm, what doesn't, and what prison does to people.
What if prisons had no walls? Finland and Norway already run them
A third of Finland's prison places have no walls. How Finland went from locking up more people than Australia to among the fewest, and who gets in.
Photo: Professor Caretaker, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
7 min read
What happens when the person harmed meets the person who did it?
New Zealand sends young offenders to a family meeting, not a courtroom. Ten trials show victims fare better and offenders reoffend less.
7 min read
What happened when Portugal decriminalised all drugs?
In 2001 Portugal stopped arresting people for using any drug and sent them to a health panel instead. HIV and overdose deaths fell. Here's what worked, and what's strained.
Photo: Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
6 min read
Where does Australia's drug policy money go?
$5.45 billion a year: nearly two-thirds to law enforcement, under 2% to keeping people alive. Who gets arrested, and what Portugal and the ACT did instead.
Photo: Mike Knell from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
What happens when a medic and a crisis worker answer the call instead of police?
Eugene, Denver and Australian co-response teams send health workers to mental health calls. What the evaluations found, and what they did not.
4 min read
It wasn't that bad? What prison does to people after release
People often play down time inside. Death rates, trauma and reoffending after release tell a different story, and Norway shows another way.
Photo: Frmir, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
Do bystanders really stand by and do nothing?
Real CCTV footage says no: someone steps in to nine in ten public fights. Where the "bystander effect" came from, when it holds, and how to help safely.
Photo: µKöff, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
Can police tell when someone is lying?
Barely better than a coin toss, and trained officers do no better than anyone else. What the research says, and why truthful people get caught out.
Photo: Ed Westcott, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
Nothing matches that.