Sue Olney
Today’s post is from Megan Beatrice (@megbeatrice), who is pursuing her PhD in Law at RMIT. Using the lens of intersectionality, Megan urges us to go beyond bail reform and think about how we can address the deep colonial practices embedded within the criminal justice system.
Read MoreOver half of the people in Australian prisons have been incarcerated before, which means that interventions to help people stay out of prisons are crucial. If people find employment after they are released, they are less likely to return to prison. Here Dr Caroline Doyle, Dr Sophie Yates, Professor Lorana Bartels, Dr Helen Taylor and Associate Professor Anthony Hopkins discuss their research into the employment experiences of people released from prison in the ACT.
Read Moren today’s blog post Robyn Oxley from the University of Western Sydney discusses ways to look beyond punishment as a way to address crime, with a specific focus on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. She argues that defunding police and abolishing prisons are not radical ideas when funds can then be re-directed towards areas that improve social issues such as housing, health, education and employment, which in turn reduce incarceration rates.
Read MoreTackling COVID-19 must include building a sustainable response in prison systems and other detention settings.
Read MoreGerry Hamill from UK NGO First Time Inside helps new prisoners prepare for incarceration through ‘rehabilitation’. In this blog, Gerry reflects on the uses and abuses of people with ‘lived experience’ in the social service sector.
Read MoreWe need to provide much better health services to people leaving prison. Epidemiologist Dr Kathryn Snow (University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute) explains why the “good luck system” for prison leavers doesn’t make sense from either a financial or a human rights perspective.
Read MoreMeredith Edelman argues that ‘morally bankrupt’ corporations should face the possibility of a corporate ‘death penalty’ and having their shares redistributed among the victims of their crimes. Her post explains how this may help in corporate accountability.
Read MoreIn this article originally appearing in the UK edition of The Conversation, Gillian McNaull examines the increasing numbers of women in UK prisons, not for crimes of violence but typically for crimes of survival. Her research mirrors the Australian experience where many women, particularly Aboriginal women, are imprisoned for unpaid fines necessitating the important work, for example, of Sisters Inside founders Debbie Kilroy and 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner, Melissa Lucashenko.
Read MoreVictoria has recently committed to spending a whole lot more on prisons and corrections to accommodate its growing prison population. As Deirdre O’Neill, Valarie Sands and Graeme Hodge of Monash University report, Victoria relies more heavily on privatised prisons than anywhere else in the country, but lack of transparency makes it frustratingly difficult to tell whether privatisation has delivered on its promises of cheaper, better and more accountable. This post is based on their recent article in the Australian Journal of Public Administration.
Read MoreThe Women’s Policy Action Tank recently published a special issue of the Good Policy newsletter, exploring three areas of policy with a gender lens: women and the criminal justice system, Indigenous women, and women’s experience of employment. Each topic is explored using a dialectical approach, in which two authors approach a topic from a different angles. We will be publishing the paired articles on our blog over the coming three weeks. This week: Exploring the gendered impacts of incarceration on women. This article is a companion piece to The national tragedy of female incarceration, by Jacki Holland.
Read MoreThe Women’s Policy Action Tank recently published a special issue of the Good Policy newsletter, exploring three areas of policy with a gender lens: women and the criminal justice system, Indigenous women, and women’s experience of employment. Each topic is explored using a dialectical approach, in which two authors approach a topic from a different angles. We will be publishing the paired articles on our blog over the coming three weeks. This week: Exploring the gendered impacts of incarceration on women.
Read More*Content warning: This post contains references to sexual violence.*
A recent Victorian court decision to release a teenager charged with sexual assault on strict bail conditions has prompted an outcry from Victoria Police and the state opposition. Today's post from an anonymous Australian lawyer challenges us to consider a more progressive legal and moral standpoint- from an anti-carceral feminist perspective, imprisonment for the sake of harsh punishment will not lead to the teenager's reform and rehabilitation.
Read MoreIn 2008, for the first time in the history of the United States, more than 1% of the adult American adult population was incarcerated. The prison population had increased approximately sevenfold since 1970, the US imprisoned more types of criminal offenders than any other country, and it kept them in prison longer. Here Jo Luetjens reports on work with her ANZSOG colleague Prof Michael Mintrom on how design thinking drove the introduction of an investment approach in the US state of Kansas. Early results are promising, and many other states have since taken up this approach.
Read MoreThe number of women incarcerated in Australia is on the rise, yet there are stark differences in the nature of women’s offending which raise the question: is the criminal justice system poised to respond to gendered differences in the prison population? The Women’s Policy Action Tank has previously examined whether the prison system is an appropriate response to women’s offending. Today’s policy analysis provides the data to understand these gendered differences and proposes changes that will better respond to women in the criminal justice system.
Read MoreIn the lead-up to Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August 2016, the Women’s Policy Action Tank has asked some of the day’s participants to publish articles reflecting how current policy differently impacts on women. In today’s post, Rob Hulls and Elena Campbell discuss the shortcomings of Australia’s criminal justice system. When a significant proportion of all offenders come into custody profoundly disadvantaged - and traumatised - in some way, does imprisonment offer the best chance at behavioural correction and rehabilitation? This article originally appeared in The Conversation.
Read MoreElection campaigns tend to reduce complex issues to soundbites. In today’s post, Jesuit Social Services CEO Julie Edwards argues that it takes more than jobs and growth to help some young people prepare for and find sustainable employment. Without the right investment and support, young people with complex needs can be excluded from education and employment and are more likely to cycle in and out of homelessness services, mental health services and the justice system throughout their lives.
Read MoreMental health care is a significant policy challenge facing our prison systems in Australia. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1 in 3 people entering prison have a diagnosed mental illness; almost 2.5 times the rate of the general population. There is growing concern that people with an untreated mental illness are more likely to be imprisoned due to a lack of community-based care. There is also concern about the lack of quality of mental health care in prisons, and its implications for those making the transition back into the community. In this article, Stephen Hall, Leader Mission and Service, Baptistcare WA, outlines the need for better mental health services for the prison population. While the focus is on Western Australia, the issues raised here will resonate nationally, and internationally.
This article originally appeared on Stephen Hall's professional blog.
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