When Swinburne University academic Dr Stephane Shepherd co-authored a paper with fellow Swinburne scholar Dr Benjamin Spivak on the high prevalence of Sudanese crime in Victoria, he was no doubt mindful of how the narrative might be used. On March 25, Shepherd released an article for the ABC in which he discussed the higher rates of imprisonment for African Australian youth, and a significantly higher rate of “crimes against the person” by South Sudanese-born youth.