Ms Amanda Bodker1
1Griffith University, Nathan, Australia
Biography:
Amanda Bodker is a PhD candidate at Griffith University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Amanda has worked as a research assistant for 6 years, including on four major funded research projects. Amanda's PhD project focuses on the preventive detention of Australian sexual offenders and the impact of related policies.
Abstract:
Most Western jurisdictions have a form of DSO legislation for individuals convicted of repeated, violent sexual offences that provides for post-sentence preventive detention. In 2003, Queensland introduced the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act (DPSOA). Queensland was the first Australian jurisdiction to implement preventive detention, and at the time, it was intended for “a dozen or so” of the very worst offenders. Other states soon followed suit implementing their own DSO legislation. Two decades have passed with no evaluation of the legislation or examination of its progress, despite calls for such review. There is limited research exploring these legislative provisions for individuals convicted of sexual offences in Queensland. The current study examined a corrections administrative dataset held in the Griffith Social Analytics Lab. Data spanned from 2006 to 2022 and included a total of 310 men subject to the DPSOA. Demographics, offence characteristics, and post-release experiences were explored. Preliminary findings are presented and discussed in relation to policy and practice implications.