Subject: Report Release
From: CJC Library (cjc.library@uq.net.au)
Date: Mon Mar 20 2000 - 22:32:48 CST
[please excuse any cross postings]
DATE: 21 March 2000
PRISONER NUMBERS EXPLOSION
The Criminal Justice Commission has called for an overhaul of Queensland’s justice system agencies as a key recommendation in its report on the state’s explosion in prisoner numbers.
Queensland’s prisoner population more than doubled in the five years from 1993 to 1998 and the state now has an imprisonment rate above the national average, despite its crime rate being below the national average.
The CJC found that the justice system failed to anticipate the increase due to a lack of coordination among key agencies. A fragmented approach to relevant data meant that the agencies were unable to clearly identify the downstream effects of their activities.
In 1998, the then Corrective Services Commission called in the CJC to identify factors responsible for the prisoner population explosion. Among the direct causes identified were; a decline in the use of community based orders in favour of short prison sentences, an increase in the recidivism rate, fewer parole approvals, a decline in the number of early releases and an increase in the number of fine defaulters going to jail.
CJC Chairperson Brendan Butler SC said, "We have to emphasise that the prisoner population explosion is not due primarily to longer jail terms for serious violent offenders. One of the most significant factors has been the huge increase in the number of people being sent to jail for one year or less. In the period 1993 to 1998, the number of prisoners in that category jumped by 205%."
The report concludes that any significant change in prisoner numbers will require a whole of government commitment to major policy changes. Further, the report concludes that the costs involved in a possible trebling of prisoner numbers within a single decade provide a compelling argument to improve the system.
CJC Chairperson Brendan Butler SC said, "The CJC is not about saying whether criminals should be sent to jail or not, that’s properly an issue for the community. What the CJC is recommending is a system that can more accurately predict the outcome of relevant government or agency decisions. Currently this information is not even available to decision makers, let alone the broader community."
Full report (or summary document) available on the web: www.cjc.qld.gov.au
(printed copies are available from the CJC for $30 each, plus postage and handling).
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