- Justice reinvestment
- This Chapter discusses justice reinvestment in the Northern Territory (NT) as provided by paragraph (d) of the Terms of Reference for this inquiry.
Introduction
6.2Justice reinvestment (JR) is a positive alternative to traditional criminal justice systems. It reduces crime, incarceration rates, builds community capacity, and saves money.
6.3JR is a way of reducing Aboriginal incarceration, by redirecting prison funding and implementing strategies that will address the root causes of offending.
6.4JR seeks to tackle rising rates of incarceration through community development approaches. These include empowering communities to identify local needs and develop diversion and early intervention initiatives and strategies aimed at reducing contact with the criminal court system and imprisonment.
6.5The Cairns Institute explains that there are four stages to JR:
1Gathering statistical data and other material for analysis
2Needs identification and strategy development
3Implementation of initiatives
4Ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
6.6However, others such as Just Reinvest NSW (JRNSW), have adopted a more place‑based approach to JR, which involves:
- Phase 1 – Site exploration and engagement
- Phase 2 – Community engagement, data collection and identification of justice circuit breakers
- Phase 3 – Development of community strategy
- Phase 4 – Implementation of community-led strategy
- Phase 5 – Incorporation with ongoing external support from JRNSW as required.
- In Australia, the criminal justice system is the primary responsibility of States and Territories. This includes being responsible for criminal law and overseeing the administration of law enforcement, court systems and corrective services. Therefore Commonwealth JR approaches require collaboration with states and territories.
- According to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) the monetary cost of incarceration is high. The commission reported that the annual national cost per prisoner was $103,295 in 2015–16, and the overall cost of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples incarcerated for 2016 was $3.9 billion.
- A 2021 Productivity Commission research paper on Australian prisons revealed the cost of corrective services across all Australian jurisdictions increased on average annually by 5.1 per cent between 2012–13 and 2019–20.
- The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation draws on the Productivity Commission’s research in its submission to the inquiry, stating that in recent years the annual cost to the NT and Commonwealth governments per adult has been $115,971.45 per adult and $743,888.25 per juvenile.
- Significantly, ALRC’s research into the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples shows that the impacts of imprisonment, particularly on people aged 20 to 39 and away from their communities, contribute to ‘intergenerational demographic, social and economic dysfunction’.
- The House Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs concluded from its 2021 employment inquiry that interactions with the justice system pose additional barriers to sustainable employment. For example, having a police record may limit a jobseeker’s employability.
- Furthermore, research by the Cairns Institute shows that expanding prisons to accommodate increases in populations has particularly poor outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, both in terms of being removed from their homelands, potentially by hundreds of kilometres, and in depleting social infrastructure expenditure to remote regions.
- According to the Cairns Institute’s 2018 report, Justice Reinvestment in Northern Australia, Aboriginal prisoners in the NT made up 84 per cent of the prison population. The Institute’s report also notes that the benefit of JR is gaining increasing recognition in Australia as an alternative to incarceration.
- The Commonwealth Government announced at its October 2022 Budget a First Nations Justice package including allocation of $81.5million for investment in up to 30community-led JR initiatives across Australia, and the establishment of an independent national JR unit within the ALRC. Alice Springs was identified as a priority site.
Reducing offending and incarceration
Justice related initiatives in the NT
6.16The NT Government conducted a review in 2011 of its criminal justice system. Thereview found benefits of adopting a JR approach and investing in preventative and early intervention initiatives, along with the need to evaluate programs, and improve data collection and analysis.
6.17In its submission to the inquiry, the NT Government outlined its commitment to the 2022Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA), which emphasised engaging with and supporting Aboriginal leadership to reduce offending and imprisonment, and improve justice responses and services. As part of the AJA, the NT Government noted that it is ‘coordinating a justice reinvestment working group to research and provide input to the AJA Governance Committee on developing a model for justice reinvestment in the NT’.
6.18Under the AJA, the NT Government has committed to several actions related to its justice system reform:
- establishing and offering alternatives to custody and community courts
- reviewing and reforming unfair, discriminatory or detrimental criminal justice legislative provisions
- expanding community-based sentencing options and non-financial options for the payment of fines, and
- increasing opportunities for prisoners to take part in programs aimed at reducing reoffending.
- NT Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Hon Chansey Paech MLA, told the Committee that for the NT Government, JR is community-led with place-based, preventative, and therapeutic intervention solutions.
- NAAJA stated in its submission that their 50years of experience and research have demonstrated that incarceration does not reduce crime, increase community safety, or protect the vulnerable; instead, it ‘perpetuate[s] the cycles of disadvantage across all areas of life’.
- NAAJA advocates for a JR approach to create long lasting and generational change, and made several recommendations to reduce incarceration rates of Aboriginal peoples in the NT:
- implement system reforms to address key drivers of incarceration
- fund ‘evidence-based Aboriginal best practice resources and programs that embed Aboriginal language, conceptualisation and cultural authority within localised, self-determining and culturally strengthening models’
- support self-determination, community-driven approaches and partnerships
- utilise interpreter services in development and implementation
- prioritise funding to Aboriginal-led services, programs and partnerships, and
- expand community infrastructure, including accommodation, transitional and safe housing.
- Mayor Matthew Patterson, of the Alice Springs Town Council, stated that the council is supportive of the AJA, particularly welcoming the expansion of community-based sentencing options and non-financial options to pay fines. Moreover, Mayor Patterson stated that the council would be amenable to expanding its own services and working with people leaving corrective services.
- Ms Anna Gill, of NAAJA, stated that NAAJA supports the NT Government’s implementation of the AJA, but advised there is a lot of work to do, including ensuring a ‘future justice system that is fair, rehabilitative and holistic in its response[s]’. Furthermore, Ms Gill emphasised the need for ‘a justice system that focuses on longer term outcomes instead of ineffective band-aid solutions’.
Alternatives to custody
6.24The City of Darwin in its submission encouraged the Commonwealth Government to invest in alternatives to prison and work with agencies such as NAAJA to develop strategies to decrease crime and strengthen communities. The City of Darwin advised that ‘strategic long-term investment in solutions proposed by First Nations run and led organisations seeking to keep young people out of the juvenile justice system is required’.
6.25The City of Darwin also advocated for adequate resourcing of organisations providing JR community services to enable the collection of long-term data about the impacts of their programs. To demonstrate, the City of Darwin highlighted current initiatives in Katherine and Bourke, NSW.
6.26The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) was also supportive of approaches to reduce corrections spending and re-direct savings to other criminal justice strategies that decrease crime and strengthen communities.
6.27The CDRC suggested to the Committee that a JR approach would reduce the incarceration of Aboriginal prisoners, prison over-crowding and recidivism. The CDRC added that early release into on-Country work orders with supervision and Aboriginal cultural care would ensure a timely return of Aboriginal prisoners back to Country.
6.28Mayor Matthew Ryan, West Arnhem Regional Council (WARC), told the Committee that providing rehabilitation services in communities such as Maningrida would be a solution to the high rate of incarceration of Aboriginal peoples in the NT. For WARC’s part, Mayor Ryan said they have land, they just need funding. He reiterated:
Let’s create something so that we have our own people in our community. That’s the culturally appropriate place for our kids and our men and women. We are fed up with the top-to-bottom approach. We are the grassroots people and we have the solution to our problem. For too long we’ve seen our kids go to the detention centres then, once they grow up, straight to the jail house—the big house. So work with us.
6.29On 9 December 2022, the Committee conducted a site visit to the Alternatives to Custody Life Skills Camp in Alice Springs. The Life Skills Camp was a result of NT Government’s Aboriginal Justice Agreement 2021-2027 and is funded by the NT Department of the Attorney General and Justice (DAGJ). About the program Ms Leanne Liddle, Director of the Aboriginal Justice Unit, DAGJ, stated;
This takes me to one of the success stories of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement, the Alice Springs Alternative to Custody, the Life Skills Camp that you're going to have a tour of later today. This is a residential setting where up to 10 women and their young children can stay and they have access to over 25 service providers that are funded by all parts of government. They have a place where they can receive the help to manage their behaviours at their own place, at their own pace. It means children staying there with their mums have not entered the child protection system.
Despite only commencing in 2019 our recent evaluations show it is delivering promising results. Twenty-five women have completed the program. We have a waiting list, and only three of those 25 women have gone on to re-offend. No participant has been exited due to the use of alcohol or drugs, and no participant has re-offended whilst residing at the facility. We are very pleased with these outcomes. We are looking to scale up this operation and expand it to 30 beds. Quite realistically, as long as the funding is there for the Alternative to Custody, we aim to reduce the female prison population in the Territory to zero.
6.30Attorney-General of the Northern Territory, Hon Chancy Paech MLA, give evidence to the Committee about the outcomes seen at the Life Skills Camp, stating:
So we strongly believe that justice reinvestment and alternatives to custody and those therapeutic and intensive family support programs are the best avenues to see that reduction in our correctional and criminal justice system.
6.31Previously, Amnesty International Australia (Amnesty) emphasised to the House Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs’ 2021 inquiry into Indigenous participation in employment and business, that, in terms of community services and programs, early intervention, prevention and diversion are critical. Amnesty noted that there is inadequate funding, training and support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led, culturally-appropriate early intervention and diversionary programs in the youth justice system. Amnesty further stated that these programs would keep children out of prison, and provide employment and training when run successfully.
6.32The National Indigenous Australians Agency, when questioned by the Committee, reiterated the Commonwealth Government’s commitment to JR initiatives, as well as its support services such as health and wellbeing checks, community night patrol activities and youth diversion activities.
Justice reinvestment
Justice Reinvestment in Katherine
6.33Between 2015–19, the Katherine Youth Justice Reinvestment Initiative was underway. Katherine-based service providers, including NAAJA and Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS), began working with James Cook University to research the potential of JR for young people in the area. This included extensive consultations with Aboriginal community members and other stakeholders ‘to identify the need, appetite and support for JR initiatives in Katherine’.
6.34In 2016, the Katherine Youth Justice Reinvestment Group (KYJRG) was established to progress the community’s vision to transform the youth justice system and services in Katherine towards early intervention and prevention, and to reduce incarceration rates. KYJRG is a volunteer community collective of individuals, service providers and agencies from across the Katherine region.
6.35The KYJRG’s strategic objectives aim to ‘engage young people through a person-centred, strength-based approach [and] individually tailored opportunities’. Included in KYJRG’s strategic approach is valuing and celebrating youth contributions to developing and implementing JR strategies, strengthening partnerships in planning, implementing and evaluating JR approaches.
6.36NAAJA also highlighted several proposed outcomes from the implementation of this approach, including:
- increasing educational retention and attainment rates, and reducing school suspension rates
- increasing employment opportunities for young people through enhanced business engagement
- strengthening cultural identity
- increasing service provider collaboration and enhancing complex case-management of ‘at risk’ young people
- building a more robust evidence base to inform future JR approaches, both locally and nationally.
- NAAJA advised that there is strong support for justice reinvestment within the Katherine community, particularly a ‘sense of urgency in addressing concerns related to youth justice matters’. However, it advised that funding is required to resource a local Aboriginal-led organisation to coordinate and progress the implementation of justice reinvestment strategies in the community. NAAJA also noted that legal services, the NT Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions had co-signed a letter to the Commonwealth Government suggesting Katherine be funded as a JR trial site.
Justice Reinvestment in Bourke, NSW
6.38JRNSW aims to support Indigenous communities to develop and implement local initiatives and solutions to reduce Indigenous peoples’ contact with the criminal justice system. JRNSW provides support, funds and resources to locally-led community teams—‘Backbone Teams’—to coordinate a community’s JR approach and initiatives.
6.39In 2013, Bourke became the first trial community for an Aboriginal-led, place-based model JR approach in collaboration among JRNSW, Maranguka and Bourke Tribal Council.
6.40Maranguka is Bourke’s Backbone Team, through which the community developed its local strategy and initiatives to reduce initial offending, recidivism and family violence, and to achieve positive social outcomes.
6.41The Executive Director of Maranguka, Mr Alistair Ferguson, has said of the Bourke’s JR approach:
Too many of my community were being locked up. Kids were being taken away. Families were being shattered, again and again. We decided that a new way of thinking and doing things needed to be developed that helped our children.
6.42Initiatives introduced under the Maranguka JR project include:
- Men of Bourke Healing and Connection to Country Sessions
- School Holiday Activity Program
- Birrang Learner Driver program
- Youth support services
- Three-year-old health and development checks
- Developing police and community protocols around bail conditions
- Operation Solidarity: a police-run program enabling regular proactive engagement by police with domestic and family violence offenders and victims, including routine check-ins and referrals to support organisations.
- In 2018, KPMG produced an impact assessment of the Maranguka JR project, estimating that:
- police recorded rates for domestic and family violence had reduced by 23 per cent
- days spent in custody by adults had reduced by 42 per cent, and
- Year 12 retention rates had increased by 31 per cent.
- Furthermore, KPMG reported that the Maranguka JR project and community changes in Bourke over 2017 had resulted a gross saving of $3.1million, with an additional gross saving of $7 million between 2018 and 2022.
- Maranguka runs several working groups to continue its community approach in Bourke. These include an early childhood and parenting working group, eight to 18‑year-olds working group and role of men working group. These groups, comprising community members, service providers, government and non‑government agencies, address goals set by the Bourke Tribal Council, as well as hold community forums to develop community-driven solutions to meet the needs of the community. Importantly, the groups have adopted a ‘test and trial approach’ to ascertain overtime which initiatives work best.
Committee comment
6.46The Committee heard strong support from witnesses about the need to reform the failing justice system, particularly the need to action the commitments in the NT’s AJA.
6.47The Committee agrees with the positive feedback and interest in place-based JR initiatives and community services in the NT. The Committee acknowledges the research presented about the economic and social benefits of JR models.
6.48The Committee welcomes the Commonwealth Government’s commitment to fund up to 30community-led JR initiatives across Australia.
6.49The Committee also welcomes the establishment of an independent national JR unit within the Australian Law Reform Commission.
6.50The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government implement the community-led justice reinvestment initiatives across Australia, particularly in Alice Springs and Katherine, as soon as possible.
Senator Patrick DodsonChair