Crime, Actually

We know, we know it's been a while! Blame Kia for having two jobs and Alex for proposing and then the need to plan a wedding and two wedding parties! But we are back and talking about scams and cons! Because, if you look around the people you know, it's very likely someone you know has been a victim of a scam or a con. Things are changing, scammers get smarter and it's hard to know where the next...

NSW courts have become the first to abolish 'good character' references in sentencing. Alex's response to this was caution, Kia was optimistic - and that represents community views around this change. So what is it, who could it benefit and where do we still need to ensure that everyone is getting a fair and equal process through the sentencing process?

Are police forces failing 50% of their community? Alex recently wrote about this for The Conversation. Inpsired by the clashes between police and protestors in Sydney, but also because there have been reviews and reports and media articles on the problematic cultures we see in the police force without much change. So what's it going to take to have a police force that keeps their entire population...

It was the biggest case in Australia, but also the world in 2025. The trial of an Australian woman found guilty for three counts of murder and one count of attemtped murder after feeding members of her extended family beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms, a highly toxic fungi. There were podcasts, journalists, documumentary makers, true crime influencers (whatever the heck that is) and a...

A little update, or not so little update depending on what happens, to our episode talking about jury trials. After we hit go on that episode (we don't think the two are linked, but you never know) the UK Government released their proposed changes to trials and jury trials across the UK. Alex has been following the developments closely and takes us through what's planned, why and what flow on we m...

You've no doubt heard about the 'criminal gene'. It is the basis for so many stories in pop culture - TV, movies and books. It's the idea that there might be a genetic marker that could allow us to know if someone is more likely to commit crime, especially violent crime, than someone who doesn't have this genetic marker. So is this a work of fiction or something that actually exists? It's one of A...

Do Aussie youth need a cuddle or to sit in the corner and have a hard think about what they've done? Young people are in all the headlines in Australia at the moment. On one hand, the social media ban has started locking under 16's out from a range of platforms. On the other, the states are changing their laws to provide "adult time" for offenders who are under 16, in some cases for kids as low as...

Juries seem to be so hot right now! You can watch countless TV documentaries and series about juries, there are board games, theatre shows, books, movies, the list goes on! And at the same time, juries are still very much apart of the court system in Australia. You might have received your call up (Kia is very jealous) and have done your civic duty by spending some time on a jury. When the world i...

It was better than any TV series or movie. In 4 minutes they had the world's attention and took off with millions of dollars of historic jewels. Kia was transfixed, Alex was still reading the football results. Let's talk the Louvre heist!

So, it's Halloween. A time where people put fake limbs out of their letterboxes and aren't freaked out by it. Sure, we don't understand why Halloween is taken off in Australia, but we also aren't here to yuck people's yum. Instead, we'll dive right into the hooky and the spooky and take a look at haunting, eerie, Halloween and true crime. It's the themed episode you never knew you needed, until it...

So you love true crime! There's quite a community of you these days listening to podcasts, reading books, watching documentaries. But why?? You might have heard of the CSI effect when the forensic science TV show was at its most popular leading to a boom in people wanting to study forensics. But now that true crime is so wide reaching, are we seeing similar trends in people turning to criminology...

Get ready for your new favourite true crime podcast. Sure, there's a lot of them - but none quite like this. Bringing the world of true crime and pop culture together with the study of crime by tapping the mind of a real, life criminologist! Join Dr Alex Simpson (Macquarie University) and Kia Handley (of no real place of interest except behind the microphone) for this new podcast delving into the...