Research undertaken hand-in-hand with business and industry received a $4.3 million boost at The University of Queensland today, in the latest Australian Research Council Linkage Projects grants.
Associate Professor Tamara Walsh from the School of Law receives $156,000 for a project that aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness.
The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of criminal laws and police powers concerned with presence in, and movement around public places. It will particularly focus on the impact on women, children and Indigenous peoples. The outcomes will seek to reduce the criminalisation of homeless people, by identifying law and policy reform options, and comparing their cost with that of “business as usual”.
