Editorial
| Published date | 01 September 1969 |
| Date | 01 September 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486586900200301 |
EDITORIAL
National
Institute
01
Criminology
IN FEBRUARY,
1968,
the
Attorney-General's
Department
of
the
Common-
wealth
organized a
seminar
in
Canberra
that
was concerned
with
the
prob-
lem
of
the
control of
deviant
behaviour.
The
participants
included
repre-
sentatives
from
the
Commonwealth,
all
the
States
and
New Zealand. One
of
the
recommendations of
the
seminar
was
that
there
should be
set
up a
"National
Institute
of Crtmmology'",
Apart
from some occasional
rumours
heard
over subsequent
months
nothing
definite
was
stated
until, on
the
29th
May,
1969,
the
Attorney-
General
announced
the
setting
up of
the
recommended National
Institute
of Ortmtnology-. Although
the
exact
structure
and
functions of
the
pro-
posed
Institute
have
not
been spelt out,
it
has
been indicated
that
the
Institute
will be concerned
with
research
includlng criminal statistics,
methods
of fighting crime,
and
the
training
of police, prison
and
parole
officers.
In
the
words of
the
Attomey-Oeneral
r"
Crime does
not
respect
State
boundaries
and
many
of
the
problems
faced by
the
different
States
are
common. As a result,
the
Common-
wealth
and
states
have
now
reached
agreement
upon a
joint
scheme
which
involves
the
establishment
of a
national
institute
of criminology.
This
proposal will be
the
first
national
effort
to inquire
into
the
extent
of crime in Australia
and
the
best
methods
to deal
with
all aspects of
It.
In
addition,
the
States
and
the
Commonwealth will join in
the
formation
of a Criminology Research Council
and
the
establishment
of
aCriminology Research Fund. We
have
hopes
that
New Zealand will
also join in
the
scheme-,
He
later
commented:"
It
Is proposed
that
the
Institute
of Criminology will provlde advice
and
recommendations to
the
Criminology Research Council in
relation
to
research
needs
and
act
as a
secretariat
to
the
Council.
The
Institute
will also
undertake
research
on a
national
basis
and
provide
training
courses for officers.
The
Institute
will, in addition,
act
as a clearing-
house for research, collate
and
analyse
research
and
disseminate
re-
search
results
and
recommendations to governments
jointng
the
scheme.
We welcome
the
entry
of
the
Commonwealth
Government
into
the
criminological field in
this
way.
There
is a very
real
need for some
central
1. Aust.N.Z.J.Criminol. (1969) 2 1
2.
Parliamentary
Debates,
House
of
Representatives,
29th
May, 1969. pp. 2457-9
3.
Ibid
pp. 2457-8
4. Mr. G. Whitlam,
Leader
of
the
Opposition, in
commending
the
Ministerial
staternent,
suggested
that
"the
Attorney-General
should
also
consider
an
invitation
to
Singapore".
Ibid
p. 2459
5.
Ibid
p. 2458
129
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