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Our justice system is completely broken

Penny Wright

by Penny Wright

30 Nov 05:40am

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Filed under: Justice, Legal System, Prison

81 comments

Our justice system is broken. The way we deal with crime simply isn’t working any more.

What we're doing just ain't working. Photo: Herald Sun

Over the last 30 years, the number of Australians in prison has tripled. It has grown year on year four times faster than the Australian population.

This is unsustainable and is placing extraordinary strain on Justice Department budgets around the country. In fact, we now spend $3 billion dollars a year keeping people in prison.

Further systemic failures have produced a ‘revolving door’ phenomenon, where far too many of those released from prison are jailed again for new crimes. As Deborah Erwin said earlier this week, the longer people stay in jail, the more likely they are to commit another crime.

A Senate Inquiry has been launched this week to look at alternatives to the current system, particularly an approach known as Justice Reinvestment.

Justice Reinvestment is about addressing the underlying causes of crime and improving rehabilitation structures. Prevention and “cure”, if you will. It involves identifying ‘high stakes’ communities where crime is most likely to occur and addressing disadvantage where it begins.

If anything close to “soft on crime” is springing to your mind, let me add that Justice Reinvestment has the support of many Republicans in the United States. Texan Republicans, no less, who are hardly known for being soft on anything.

The first reason for this is that Justice Reinvestment saves money. Lots of it.

Prisons will always be needed for serious and dangerous offenders, but prisons are also one of the most expensive ways to address less serious crime.

In Australia, it costs $221 per person per day to keep someone in prison.

Spending on alternatives to prison and community services like legal centres drastically reduces future spending, at a rate as high as 1 to 100. Spending $1 today to save $100 down the track should be irresistible to anyone calling themselves a fiscal conservative.

The second reason for bipartisan support in areas of the United States is that Justice Reinvestment works.

Texas’s prison population has stopped growing for the first time in decades and urban crime rates are declining since Justice Reinvestment strategies were adopted in 2007.

In Kansas, the number of prisoners is falling, as are parole breaches and reconviction rates. It has scrapped plans for a new prison, saving $80 million.

At the 2011 National Summit on Justice Reinvestment and Public Safety, the following words were spoken:

“Americans have made it clear they want a correctional system that holds offenders accountable and keeps communities safe. But they also want and deserve a system that makes the most of their tax dollars — especially in perilous economic times, when public funds are scarce and there are compelling, competing needs such as education and health care that must be addressed.”

The parallels with Australia are clear and I could not agree more. This is a sensible, evidence-based approach to improving public safety.

In Australia, we also need to pay particular attention to the over-representation of Indigenous people, and particularly youth, in our justice system.

Indigenous adults make up 2 per cent of the population, but 27 per cent of those in prison. When it comes to youth, two in every five young people under justice supervision are Indigenous and they are 24 times more likely to be put in jail.

With an imprisonment rate of 2256 per 100,000, Indigenous people are a candidate for the most heavily imprisoned people groups in the world.

This is a national shame. It is no wonder groups representing Indigenous Australians are so keen for a Justice Reinvestment approach.

It is time for Australia to take a good hard look at the way we are addressing crime in our community. We have pursued the current ‘mass imprisonment’ strategy for decades, but it would be hard to say it has created safer communities.

Our system is flawed. It is broken. But there is a tried and tested solution staring us in the face.

Comments on this post close at 8pm AEST

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81 comments

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    • Prick With a Fork says:

      05:07am | 30/11/12

      OK, but what IS “justice re-investment”? You spend a lot of time telling us we need it (I’m not so sure), but then you don’t tell us what it involves. Searching for it on google brings up a link that leads to a slick website about Aboriginal people going to jail a lot, and the most detail we get are some PR flak’s “key messages” (don’t they know these are always marked “for internal use only”?). This feels a lot like a plea to direct money towards your particular pet causes and mates, which may or may not get results.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      06:22am | 30/11/12

      This bit - “Justice Reinvestment is about addressing the underlying causes of crime and improving rehabilitation structures. Prevention and “cure”, if you will. It involves identifying ‘high stakes’ communities where crime is most likely to occur and addressing disadvantage where it begins..”  Try looking for “early intervention”.

      In short, crime comes from disadvantage.  Intervene early where disadvantage is identified and you will reduce crime before it happens.

    • Mahhrat says:

      06:49am | 30/11/12

      I can read through the rubbish on the websites, I think (thank my APS experience for this translation).

      Loosely put, they’re forming a collaborative group of experts to actually figure out what’s needed at a local level.  It’s that pooling of experience that is important.

      A lot of government arms are heavily silo’d.  Silos can work when you have much more direct authority and accountability, such as private enterprise where the buck stops with the boss.  Government doesn’t (and honestly can’t) work that way.

      For example, the alcohol and drug treatment has a lot of crossover with child protection services (for fairly obvious reasons).  There is a lot of work going on to break down communication barriers.  That is a lot of work, when you take into account privacy and FOI laws, not to mention the delicacy of the situation and that you’re dealing with some very complex clients.

      I like the idea that police, prisons, the judicial arm, community service providers, advocates and probably medicos too can sit down together and figure out ways of helping people BEFORE they think crime is a good idea.

    • wakeuppls says:

      07:56am | 30/11/12

      iansand

      And disadvantage comes from dependency. How is a child to become prosperous in its own right if it is never removed from the mother’s breastmilk?

    • Rose says:

      08:54am | 30/11/12

      wakeuppls, disadvantage also comes from lack of opportunity, which then can leads to dependence…it is a vicious circle

    • Expat Ozzie says:

      09:19am | 30/11/12

      @wakeuppls: “And disadvantage comes from dependency”

      That’s a bit of an oversimplification isn’t it? Disadvantage is not necessarily produced by dependency it could simply be from a lack of opportunity or awareness of possibility.

    • iansand says:

      09:20am | 30/11/12

      wakeuppls - Dunno, but you are making a huge range of assumptions there.

    • Testfest says:

      09:27am | 30/11/12

      We don’t have a “justice system”, we have a “legal system”.

      Once you understand that, and remove any expectation of “justice”  from the decisions made by the courts, it suddenly all makes sense…

    • Sickemrex says:

      10:33am | 30/11/12

      So it’s the vibe of the thing?

      I might write an article about bringing peace to the Middle East. If everyone just sat down and worked out their problems and stopped killing and oppressing each other, there would be peace. How’s that?

    • maria says:

      11:47am | 30/11/12

      When democracy is kaputt and we are under a mafiacracy in which the mob is supreme and the people irrelevant, what would you expect?

      The heart and soul of a democracy is the will of the people as he should be in any true democracy.

      Uunfortunately our system is in essence of dictatorship in which we have an elite and their cronies who are cut off from real world, manipulate the truth, enrich themselves at the tax payers expense.

      The political parties no longer represent the interests of the public but serve as vehicles for personal ambitions.

      Justice is achieved when citizens live in an environment in which all citizens are treated equally and accorded dignity and respect.

      As long as direct democracy a la Switzerland will be denied to the people “s”“t happens” and will keep happening because the laws will reflect the will of the mob.

      Direct democracy is not perfect but at least we are all equal to decide which law is acceptable and not just by the few as it is under our phony democracy.

    • Gaz says:

      05:31am | 30/11/12

      That’s interesting and very concerning about the rate of indigenous people inside. I would also be interested to see the per capita rate of middle eastern people (particularly in NSW) inside and Sudanese and I think we would see a pattern and perhaps a road to correcting this snowballing problem.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      06:13am | 30/11/12

      Overcrowded jails are a consequence of the ‘cult of the individual’ . In a minute we will have apartheidt, and the rich will all live in security compounds.

    • marley says:

      10:15am | 30/11/12

      Are you seriously trying to argue that, if I object to someone stealing my car or cleaning out my bank account, that I’m channelling the “cult of the individual?”  I’d have thought it was the criminal, not the victim, who was doing that by effectively deciding that his interests were more important than his neighbours’ rights to hang onto their own property.

      And sending criminals to gaol is hardly “apartheid.”

    • hammy says:

      06:59am | 30/11/12

      “Texan Republicans, no less, who are hardly known for being soft on anything.”
      Terrible, unsupportable, stereo-type.  You think our political leaders would show more intelligence.

      Reply

    • shirley says:

      07:05am | 30/11/12

      You have conflated a serious social problem, Indigenous incarceration rates, with general crime, then used it to sell your ideas. This shows a disturbing lack of analytical precision. Are all crimes the same? Are all criminals the same? With respect, it seems that you may be infected with ‘post-modern left wing do gooder disease’ – that is, cultural relativism.
      For example, Middle Eastern crime is completely out of control and posing a real danger to the community. Their gangs are shooting and bombing our communities daily, dealing drugs and weapons, and links are being made with potential Islamic terrorism that will doubtless bear terrible fruit at a later date. Many of these gang members and serious criminals are hardened recidivists. Any price is worth paying to keep them separate from our communities. We need deradicalisation programs in prisons so that religious freedom is not misused to allow grooming for crime and terrorism.
      Cutting the sentences for such criminals as a form of cost cutting is a terribly false economy. But your ‘imprisonment is wrong’ and ‘harsh sentences are no deterrent’ narrative ensures that they can, and have, mounted defences based on their impoverished or ethnic backgrounds and succeeded in having weak sentences imposed. All crimes are not equal, all criminals are not equal, and all criminal cultures are not equal.
      Despite the undoubted injustice that Indigenous people have suffered, those hardened Indigenous criminals who join gangs and commit serious crimes must be incarcerated for the safety of the community, including especially Indigenous communities. It is easy for rich lawyers, academic and public servants to take risks with community release because they know full well that the criminals will not be living in their neighbourhoods and posing a threat to them - they live in safe leafy suburbs, with private security or police forces that operate properly due to pressure from above.
      Yes of course crimes must be categorised. Yes we know that drug possession, mental illness and petty crime must be separated from serious crime, and treated differently. Much Indigenous incarceration can be addressed this way.
      With respect, because you have used a cultural relativist approach your article completely conflates all crime and your arguments are not only weak they are potentially dangerous. Human rights have now become a force for positive evil in the hands of cultural relativists since they are the excuse for serious criminals to avoid detection, prosecution and incarceration. We have reached a sad stage when criminal outlaw gangs such as the Hells Angels post the declaration of human rights on their websites (as they do) and hide their criminal intentions behind a mask of oppression!
      Sensible people know what they have always known, that harsh punishments do act as a deterrent and incarceration is the only choice in some cases so that the community is kept safe. Funny, often it is the same cultural relativists, who oppose imprisonment, that call for rapists and those committing hate crimes against minorities to suffer long-term imprisonment – funny that. If some Republicans support such nonsense it may be because they too simply don’t know or care what happens at street level or want to balance budgets.
      Oh, by the way, I love your circular reasoning: soft sentencing solves crime – how do I know?  Because there are less people in prison! Why? Because of soft sentencing! Nice one.

      Reply

    • egg says:

      10:42am | 30/11/12

      Shirley, you’re a racist nutter. I don’t think much else needs to be said to you.

    • T says:

      10:58am | 30/11/12

      “Their gangs are shooting and bombing our communities daily”

      Uhh…. What bombings?? Are you talking about Australia or the Gaza Strip?

      After reading that I wasn’t even going to bother with the rest of the crap you wrote.

    • hammy says:

      11:12am | 30/11/12

      Right egg, don’t address the possibility that people of Middle Eastern or Aboriginal (or Caucasian for that matter) might be committing crimes.

      Shirley raised some particularly good points that are also correct.

      Just play the racism card and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.

    • shirley says:

      11:49am | 30/11/12

      egg - refute that sharia law says all these things or withdraw. Go to shariathethreat.org and take their free course, read Umdat al Salik (Reliance of the Traveller) an Al Azhar approved manual of Islamic fiqh. Read the Hadith Sahih Bukhari and an authoritative translation of the Quran then read an approved sira and an authoritative Tafsir. Then tell me I am worng. We can debate when you know something about sharia. Read the Team B II report form the Center for Security Policy prepared by world experts on sharia. By the way Islam is a religion not a race.

    • simonfromlakemba says:

      12:27pm | 30/11/12

      Some people have too much time on their hands.

    • iansand says:

      12:45pm | 30/11/12

      Shirley - Just a tip.  A site called “shariahthreat” is unlikely to be a source of objective information.

    • simonfromlakemba says:

      12:49pm | 30/11/12

      Yes someone should tell those Muslims to stop molesting young boys and taking young women off the street and raping them and murdering them wink.

    • shirley says:

      02:57pm | 30/11/12

      You clearly do not know of the recent bikie bombings or you don’t care. Google it. Don’t be lazy. Simonof lakemaba - why are you here then - too much time? Ashamed?

    • Bill says:

      07:05am | 30/11/12

      Males make up 49% of the population yet account for over 90% of the prison population.

      What should we do to address this tragedy, Penny?

      Reply

    • BJ says:

      07:21am | 30/11/12

      We could start with jailing people for paternity fraud and for false rape allegations.

    • simonfromlakemba says:

      12:29pm | 30/11/12

      Men should stop committing crimes. Should be a good start.

    • ByStealth says:

      01:30pm | 30/11/12

      I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned men as a group.

      Unfortunately its not a protected group so all resources will instead go to every other group like women, youth and indigenous.

    • Ben says:

      05:00pm | 30/11/12

      @simonfromlakemba

      >>Men should stop committing crimes. Should be a good start.

      The ignorance of some people astounds me.

      It has already been observed that our prison population has a disproportionate rate of indigenous persons - would Simon’s solution to that be a callous dismissal along the lines of “Indigenous people should stop committing crimes - should be a good start”?

      Some food for thought:

      http://news.stv.tv/scotland/150989-fifty-per-cent-of-male-scots-prisoners-are-illiterate/

    • Criminologist says:

      07:14am | 30/11/12

      I would be interested to see the supporting evidence of “Spending on alternatives to prison and community services like legal centres drastically reduces future spending, at a rate as high as 1 to 100.”

      Texas also have vastly harsher sentencing with criminals regularly receiving terms in excess of fifty years. 

      One must remember the deterrent effect imprisonment has is never measured.

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      08:38am | 30/11/12

      “One must remember the deterrent effect imprisonment has is never measured.”
      I’d say an always increasing prison population is fairly conclusive proof that the threat of imprisonment is not much of a deterrent!

    • Criminologist says:

      09:01am | 30/11/12

      Perhaps the increasing population rate might have something to do with our increasing population rate.

      Tell me, how many people don’t commit a crime because they are afraid of going to prison?

    • Paul says:

      10:21am | 30/11/12

      “One must remember the deterrent effect imprisonment has is never measured”

      Not true. There are plenty of studies, US & Australian, which show the general threat of imprisonment has a very small deterrent
      effect but longer prison terms don’t deter more crime.  Studies also suggest that very substantial increases in imprisonment rates will produce only a modest reduction in crime.

    • Criminologist says:

      11:15am | 30/11/12

      Paul,

      Finding people who are willing to admit that they would commit crime if not for the resulting punishment is a significant flaw in the empirical value of those studies.

    • Tubesteak says:

      07:18am | 30/11/12

      I suppose all the bleeding heart hand-wringers will squeal about socioeconomic profiling. How dare we target people in Minto! They’re all angels!

      Reply

    • andye says:

      09:25am | 30/11/12

      @Tubesteak - Well so far in my reading of the comments, nobody has. thanks for speaking on their behalf, though. I hate imaginary bleeding hearts as much as the next guy.

    • Tubesteak says:

      11:09am | 30/11/12

      andye
      Funnily society extends beyond The Punch…..strange, I know.

    • Achmed says:

      07:24am | 30/11/12

      The main problem is that all these “committees” etc rely on acedemics, social workers, the managers and psychologists to plan. They have no idea of the ‘real’ world.  Even the managers of prisons have no idea, most have never worked in a prison and are making decisions based on what their political masters want rather than what is really the best for the “system”.(and the way they are appointed is a whole ‘nother debate)
      The reality is that the people working at the coal face, the prison officer who spends his day walking among and talking to prisoners can see what works and what doesn’t.  They know what needs to be done.
      But its not always the most politically correct way. Political correctness is trying to pick up a bit of sh-t by the clean end.
      We have too many sticking their noses in who are suffering the Disney Syndrome.  You’ve seen the movies, get some ratbag take him into a loving home, give him a cuddle, a nice meal, decent clothes and he sees what a loving family is - and hey presto…he becomes a model citizen - what a load of cr-p

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      01:48pm | 30/11/12

      Are you fucking serious???? The people who work with criminals, their families and within the systems that supposedly support these people don’t have a clue? Just because you don’t agree with what social workers et al have to say doesn’t mean that they don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s far more likely that it’s you that doesn’t have a clue!!

    • Andy says:

      07:56am | 30/11/12

      Who cares if prisons are over crowded???? Seriously, just put more in each cell. they are CRIMINALS. People that have been deemed too dangerous to live in society or that have committed crimes, beit financial “white collar"crimes or other offences. Either way, through their actions they have caused detriment and danger to the way of life for the law abiding. These people don’t deserve anything more than to spend their days in a small cell with other scum bags. I have no sympathy for them and as always, it is the law abiding tax payers that will foot the bill (and probably be the victims of some of these people to boot)
      Need more room? Build a bigger gaol. But this notion that we shouldn’t lock bad people up becuase they become worse is a joke and as per one of the previous comments, these bleeding heart do gooders want to save the world one hug at a time! Try standing toe to toe with a real angry man and see how your hugs and ideals last…
      Peace out homies!

      Reply

    • Amanda says:

      09:59am | 30/11/12

      Of course, Andy. But don’t forget it is your taxes paying for the feeding and housing of these criminals. If you’re happy for your taxes to go up and up to look after criminals, that’s fine. Personally, I’d rather have less criminals in the first place and keep my money.

    • Jann says:

      12:35pm | 30/11/12

      Yes, Amanda, exactly this!

    • Rose says:

      01:59pm | 30/11/12

      Most prisoners will be released into the community, it’s best if prison is a time where they have the opportunity to learn life and social skills, to get some education or training and to get an opportunity to turn their lives around. What you intend is for prisoners to be treated in a way worse than we treat animals. The problem with that is they’ll get out of gaol and then behave as animals, no doubt inflicting more pain and suffering as they go.
      I’m not sure why some people want to remain ignorant and remain on a path that makes the situation worse, not better. If there are methods tried and proven overseas to reduce crime rates, reduce recidivism and to do so at a much reduced cost, why the objection to trying it here? Or is it more important to you to punish the bad guys just to make a point than it is to try to turn the bad guys into decent guys and to prevent young people from going down the wrong path in the first place?

    • Trevor says:

      08:25am | 30/11/12

      Legalizing drugs is going to make a massive difference to the number of citizens in gaol. Just wait until stats come out of Washington and Colorado since they have legalised pot and governments the world over sees the tax they can generate and money saved on policing and jailing people for victimless crimes.

      Already two weeks out from the vote it’s apparent that ‘the green curtain’ is soon to fall. Only a few decades and a trillion dollars late…

      Reply

    • marley says:

      08:41am | 30/11/12

      While I’m in favour of legalising some drugs, I doubt that the changes in Washington or Colorado will make any difference to prison stats.  I don’t think anyone actually goes to jail for smoking a joint these days. Serious trafficking, maybe, but then they’re usually organised criminals anyway.

    • Criminologist says:

      08:52am | 30/11/12

      There is talk the US Federal government won’t allow the legalisation of cannabis.

    • Markus says:

      09:14am | 30/11/12

      I’m not so sure either. Even before marijuana was legalised in Washington and Colorado, I do not believe either had the “zero tolerance” or “three strike” policies that result in the high prison rates for fairly minor possession infringements seen in other states.

    • andye says:

      09:28am | 30/11/12

      @marley: ” I don’t think anyone actually goes to jail for smoking a joint these days.”

      Not here, but in the USA they are much harsher.

    • Trevor says:

      09:34am | 30/11/12

      Perhaps Marley, however they certainly go to jail for growing it, which will be legal under these laws to various degrees. Ever heard of the book ‘Shoulda Robbed a Bank?’ The story of a man who languished in jail for moderate drug offences while watching murderers, rapists and robbers come and go.

      Anyway, as one South American leader said- The US now has lost any moral authority to prevent other countries from legalising their own drug/hemp industries. Watch the dominoes fall.

      And the Obama administration remains eerily quiet on this. With seccession ballots going on in all 50 states, I think he would want to be careful…

    • marley says:

      10:05am | 30/11/12

      @Trevor - look, the US is not homogenous.  Washington State is on the laid-back west coast.  That’s probably why the legalisation bill got up in the first place.

      I found a paper outlining some of the expected savings to the state, most of which relate more to the costs of trying someone than imprisoning him.  This, though, gives a sense of the time actually being served by pot users:

      ” According to the AOC 2009 misdemeanor convictions table the average jail sentence for possession of marijuana of less
      than 40 grams was 82.7 days, with all but 4.4 days suspended.”

      So, as I say, I’m not sure that legalisation will have the impact on the prison system there that you think it will.

    • Terry2 says:

      08:30am | 30/11/12

      In recent times the Queensland government spent over $400million to enlarge and extend a prison facility just outside Mareeba in the Far North of Queensland. Not an area you may think crying out for a prison or for this type of expenditure when roads, schools and hospitals are crying out for funding.
      Perhaps this is ‘justice reinvestment’ but several observers have noted that this facility is almost exclusively for the incarceration of aboriginal Australians from the Cape York region.
      The problem confronting the police and the courts is that there is a self perpetuating culture in some aboriginal cultures and communities where jail is considered a ‘right of passage’ among certain young men wishing to emulate and join brothers/cousins/uncles and thus become ‘big men’ in their communities; the crime itself is frequently merely a means to an end.

      Reply

    • Jaqui says:

      09:16am | 30/11/12

      If the jail stints weren’t like some visit to a holiday camp perhaps the jails might not be as full.
      If the jail stints included harsh forced labor perhaps the jails might not be as full.
      If the jail sentence was adequate to be a deterrent rather than just taking a little holiday perhaps the jails might not be as full.
      If our immigration policy stopped all immigration from countries where immigrant inmates originated from and are over represented, perhaps the jails might not be as full.

      Reply

    • Fred says:

      02:03pm | 30/11/12

      Too late Jaqui, the doors to Lebanon were swung open at the goulburn supermax years ago. It operates as a mosque in its spare time.

    • Rose says:

      02:05pm | 30/11/12

      And perhaps one day you will understand that every thing you have written here is crap. The reasons people get caught up in a cycle of crime are complex and varied. Your superficial, simplistic solutions will make the problem worse and not better.

    • Evan Whitton says:

      09:41am | 30/11/12

      The Wiki’s incarceration rates has some interesting figures:

      In Australia and the US, most accused plead guilty via plea bargains. France understands that the innocent might wrongly plead guilty for a umber of reasons. In France, plea bargains and guilty pleas do not exist. Results:

      1st (highest) US: 730 per 100,000.

      113th. Australia 129 per 100,000.

      146th. France 102 per 100,000.

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      11:41am | 30/11/12

      Incarceration rates aren’t the true tale.  The crime rates are.

    • Not the USA! says:

      03:09pm | 30/11/12

      We don’t have plea bargains in Australia.

    • AdamC says:

      10:00am | 30/11/12

      I am all for diversionary tactics for non-violent, non-repeat offenders. As I suspect, is a majority of the population.

      Public concern about failures in the justice system usually revolve around dangerous or incorrigible criminals.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      10:28am | 30/11/12

      AdamC - Most of these programmes are about identifying people at risk of offending before they offend and dealing with whatever in their life pre-disposes them to crime, usually social disadvantage or dysfunctional families.  It is a bit Minority Report, but the intervention is cheaper than dealing with offenders after they offend.  And of course it reduces the crime rate.

    • AdamC says:

      11:06am | 30/11/12

      Iansand, that is a noble objective. But haven’t governments been trying to eliminate things like ‘social disadvantage’ for over a hundred years, without success? Also, don’t governments already have lots of programs under non-criminal justice umbrellas to deal with problems like dysfunctional families, alcohol and drug abuse, etc?

      Spending incrementally more on these programs, and changing their name, will therefore have only incremental benefits. I doubt that would be enough to empty out any prisons. Still, it cannot hurt, I suppose.

    • iansand says:

      11:23am | 30/11/12

      My understanding is that, instead of broad social programmes such as pensions, these programmes are far more individully focussed.  DOCS or a teacher says that Fred Nurk is showing whatever signs are shown, and Fred Nurk,  and his family if appropriate, are given specific assistance.

      I have no idea if the idea would work, but it is a different approach to broad based welfare.

    • Criminologist says:

      10:21am | 30/11/12

      When are we going to become more concerned about victims?

    • Paul says:

      10:49am | 30/11/12

      Less crime = less victims.  Care about victims? Get behind crime prevention not just locking people up after the fact.

    • Criminologist says:

      11:27am | 30/11/12

      Intellectual dialogue is not where you provide both sides of the discussion and attribute one side of it to someone else.

    • St. Michael says:

      06:43pm | 30/11/12

      You seem to be having little trouble doing that which you criticise most, Criminologist.  Whining “When are we going to become more concerned about victims?” assumes (a) there’s no care about victims and (b) that present methods don’t in fact create less victims.  All the stats are against you on that one, unless you’d like to imply the 80% or so of children who leave the Children’s Court with one item on their record, never to offend again, are all sleeper agents of some kind.

    • Ripa says:

      10:58am | 30/11/12

      Easy fix, make prisoners work and pay for their own jail time.

      Reply

    • ausspud says:

      11:20am | 30/11/12

      Pretty simple really.
      As the Muslim & Aborigine population grows,The prison population grows.
      You dont need a fancy degree to figure that one out.

      Reply

    • Cobbler says:

      11:47am | 30/11/12

      Serious moderation fail here.

      Fuck you Ausspud, fuck you.

    • michael j says:

      11:23am | 30/11/12

      I think reintroducing DEBTORS prisons would be a good place to start to get the cost down,
      Case in point comes to mind the Famous Swimmer who smashed a team-mates FACE to bits,
      Swimmer gets $300,00 Or so awarded against him so he sells every-thing he owns for a $1 and goes broke ,
      leaving the bloke with the Broken Face with a hard luck story ,,
      Its wrong and should be corrected

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      11:48am | 30/11/12

      What was wrong was the way one bloke, the ‘offender’, was hung out to dry after the ‘victim’ had already struck him once and shaped up to go again before the ‘offended’ smacked him deservedly in the gob.
      So he broke his jaw? Boohoo. Maybe next time he won’t hit first?

      I feel dead set sorry for the poor bloke and I would have done the same. You hit me inthe face - and I don’t care how hard others might perceive it to be months later and I’ll do my best to put your nose on the otherside of your head.

    • michael j says:

      01:48pm | 30/11/12

      HHHMMM must have read a different report then you ,
      I think that one was the bullshit the Defence was trying to get away with,?
      No the swimmer was convicted of KING-HITTING and smashing his eye-socket and check-bone in two places and jaw ,,
      Indeed Dave you give the impression of a Brutal, Merciless Person to the victor go the spoils and braggan RITES especially if ya broke

    • rene says:

      11:28am | 30/11/12

      The very first line in the National Plan to Reduce Violence agains Women and Children states the following:

      One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15. Almost one in five have experienced sexual violence. It is time for that to change

      Sort of clearly means Australia has the most rapists per head per population everywhere. Not quite sure what the total prison population of this country is, but based on those figures there must be at least 100.00 rapists in jail.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      11:45am | 30/11/12

      If I may - how exactly does one ‘cure’ the desire not to want to work or do anything other than take/steal what they want from others when and if they need it?

      We can’t ‘cure’ drug/alcohol addictions that lead to lives fiulled with crime and gaol. We can’t ‘cure’ repeat violent offenders who feel the need to bash/kill their spouses or random people in the street.

      So giving htem less gaol time and allowing them back onto the streets time after time acheives what exactly??

      Other than more victims and their rights to ignore and trample on?

      Reply

    • jackson says:

      12:04pm | 30/11/12

      “In Australia, it costs $221 per person per day to keep someone in prison”
      Well, there’s a solution to that - take away the perks that prisoners have, such as TV’s in their cell, and it will cost a lot less. I also agree with Ripa’s comment above, make them work and pay for it themselves instead of the taxpayer.

      And as for any overcrowding problems, another easy fix - execute anyone convicted of serious crime, such as torture and murder (like Jill Meagher’s killer)

      Reply

    • hammy says:

      01:09pm | 30/11/12

      Again, no, Jill Meagher’s killer deserves our sympathy, another chance, rehabilitate him, reintegrate him into society.  He made a mistake, it’s obviously our fault.

    • Bear says:

      01:56pm | 30/11/12

      Somehow I doubt a tv has much to do with the cost. It’s staffing and stupid govts outsourcing and paying rip off prices in the contract.

    • P. Walker says:

      03:35pm | 30/11/12

      Jackson, hear hear!

    • Bruno says:

      01:03pm | 30/11/12

      compare the recommended sentence of murder and child molestation to growing your own tobacco. If you kill some or sexually assault a child then 7 years but don’t you dare try to eat in to the state’s profits you hear. And they expect me to be loyal to this type of system.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      01:44pm | 30/11/12

      I don’t know a great deal about this program, and I wish the author had actually explained how it works rather than simply cheerlead for it.

      That said, it seems to me a lot of commenters have gotten the wrong end of the stick.  This isn’t about going soft on crime; its about preventing it.  It’s about making sure that kid that nicked a CD from the local music store doesn’t turn to home invasions and ram raids.  If the program reduces recidivism, then it reduces crime and we can all sleep easier at night.  I think that’s a desirable outcome, myself.

      By all means, toss the hardened criminal into stir, but get to the juvenile delinquent before he becomes one.  It will save us all a lot of heartache in the future.  I know something a bit similar, involving early intervention of cops, social workers and the like in high-crime areas is working quite well in Toronto.  Why not here?

      Reply

    • shirley says:

      03:24pm | 30/11/12

      The usual muddle-headed relativism from Marley the refugee and open borders supporter? ‘I don’t know anything about this’ but will support it anyway? Top of your form, Marley? No wonder Punch publishes everything you say? Does this tell you anything?’...the longer people stay in jail, the more likely they are to commit another crime.’ So those who commit the most serious crime and get the longest sentences should be released first because incarceration causes crime incrementally! Do you see a problem here Marley? Here come the censors again!

    • St. Michael says:

      06:37pm | 30/11/12

      If you think that marley’s a refugee and open borders supporter, shirley, you clearly either don’t read enough or haven’t learned how.

 
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