Salus Journal

Kidnapping for Terrorism Financing

Monsurat Isiaka, Usman Ojedokun — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +1100

Even though the mass media, anecdotal accounts, and popular opinion have consistently alluded to a connection between terrorism financing and kidnapping in northern Nigeria, empirical research focusing on this subject is rare. Therefore, this research investigated the involvement of members of the Boko Haram terrorist group in kidnapping to help finance terrorism. Using in-depth and key-informant interviews, data were elicited from 27 Boko Haram suspects apprehended in Gonan-Magajin-Gari village. The findings revealed that the involvement of Boko Haram in kidnapping was necessitated by the need to devise an alternative source of funding owing to dwindling financial support from the group’s sponsors. Furthermore, group members systematically sourced recruits among individuals perceived to have criminal tendencies.

Privacy and Hacking Powers: Is there an Implied Right to Privacy in the Use of Computer Surveillance Powers in Australia?

Brendan Walker-Munro, Ruby Ioannou, David Mount — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +1100

On 3 September 2021, Australia’s Commonwealth Parliament passed the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 (Cth). In doing so, they added to an already expansive regime of warrants and authorisations, enabling law enforcement and intelligence officers to break into, search, seize and even destroy computers, devices, or networks. These powers are largely untested in terms of judicial appeal and administrative review and are some of the most privacy-intrusive powers given by any legislation anywhere in the world. In examining the scope and interference enabled by these powers, we conclude that officers seeking warrants to hack into or damage computers, devices or networks in Australia have an implicit duty to consider the effect of their actions on the suspect’s privacy.

Problematic Police Performance in Critical Shooting Incidents:

Sean Leech, Brett Shipton, Troy Whitford — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +1000

Firearm training across global police/law enforcement organisations has been dominated historically by a traditional marksmanship orientated model, which has been continuously criticised as failing to prepare police recruits for decision-making and firearm operation in critical incidents. An ongoing doctoral study outlined in this paper examines what is problematic with current training approaches and evaluates an innovative reality-based firearm training program to compare its effectiveness with the traditional model. The study, with a focus on adapting the human threat response to stressful incidents, uses a range of established stress theories to inform and guide a mixed methods approach that examines program participants’ progress. Early study results show promise in adapting participants’ threat responses and improving operational performance.

Recent advances in estimating the criminal population

Razik Ridzuan Mohd Tajuddin, Noriszura Ismail — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +1000

Studies estimating the criminal population have recently attracted researchers. A summary of recent advances in estimating the criminal population is investigated via bibliometric analysis. The bibliometric analysis aims to identify the trends of publications and the top relevant sources and key authors involved in estimating the size of the criminal population. A total of 55 documents published between 2001 and 2022 were retrieved from the Scopus database and considered in the analysis. Most of the documents were articles written in English by first-time authors. In 22 years, only two articles received more than 100 citations from the Scopus database. The results from the bibliometric analysis revealed that the idea of estimating the size of the criminal population is still vibrant and eye-catching. The findings can be used as a reference for future article submissions.

God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America

Samantha Jones — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +1100

Book review by Samantha Jones