Description

On 26 November 2012, the Senate referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee the matter of the value of a justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia for inquiry and report by 16 May 2013. The Senate subsequently agreed to extend the reporting date for the inquiry to 20 June 2013. The committee received 131 submissions, and all public submissions were made available on the committee’s website. The committee held public hearings in Perth on 17 April 2013, Sydney on 1 May 2013 and Canberra on 17 May 2013. This report is divided into eight chapters: ch 2 examines the drivers behind the past 30 years of growth in the Australian imprisonment rate; ch 3 canvasses the economic and social costs of imprisonment; ch 4 canvasses the over-representation of disadvantaged groups within Australian prisons; ch 5 explores the methodology and objectives of justice reinvestment as well the implementation of justice reinvestment in overseas jurisdictions; ch 6 canvasses the benefits of a justice reinvestment approach for Australia; ch 7 examines the challenges to implementing a justice reinvestment approach in Australia; and ch 8 identifies mechanisms to implement justice reinvestment in Australia.