AN INTRODUCTION:Forensic DNA testing – technology trumps due process The decade and a half following the introduction of forensic DNA profiling has seen revolutionary changes in the way crime is investigated and tried in industrialised countries. It has also seen unprecedented erosion of privacy and civil rights with police able to order a wide range
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Justice Action has endeavoured to improve the conditions of prisoners right across Australia. Latest NewsPrison Visit Lies 8/07/25Minister Questioned about Letters 8/11/23Life Prisoners’ InquiryInspector of Custodial Services’ Report into OvercrowdingSupermax’s Cruel and Degrading ConditionsSmoking in Prisons 2015 (2015)Prisoners’ Right to Storage 2014 20(2014)Malcolm Baker – A Breach of the Torture Convention? 2013 (2013)Treating Us Worse Than Animals: Comparing
Mentoring: Claire Seppings Churchill Fellowship Report Biography: Claire Seppings’ aspiration to generate reformative change in the criminal justice system is triggered and motivated by her substantial professional and lived experience.• As a Social Worker graduate from Melbourne’s Monash University in 1984, Claire worked with the Department of Social Security and recently worked with Centrelink. This
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Cost-Effectiveness of Prisons This fact sheet examines the cost of the prison system to New South Wales and the efficacy of imprisonment in comparison to alternative responses to crime. The cost of imprisonment is comprised of both tangible (including the costs of building, maintaining and running prisons) and hidden costs (including psychological trauma, the impact
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Rand Corp on Mandatory Minimums Studies in the US have shown that mandatory minimum sentences don’t work. A 1997 study by the Rand Corporation’s Drug Policy Research Centre demonstrated that mandatory minimum sentences were ‘throwing away taxpayers’ money’. Prison was not only an ineffective sanction against the drug trade, it was by far the most
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Justice Reinvestment is a proposed strategy that places an emphasis on preventative remedies by providing local communities with the resources they need to address the underlying causes of crime in their area. Evidence has shown that the most effective programs for reducing recidivism and providing a better life outcome for offenders are those administered by
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Intensive Corrections Orders (ICOs) exist as an effective alternative sentencing model that can work to address the growing issue of prison overcrowding in New South Wales. As a community based approach, ICOs allow offenders to serve their sentence within a community setting in an environment that fosters rehabilitation, working to improve recidivism rates while reducing
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Electronic Monitoring (EM) can be defined as the use of tamper-proof electronic device that transmits signals to correctional authorities to monitor offenders. This enables them to determine whether the offender wearing the device is abiding by the particular conditions imposed upon them as part of the sentence. Whilst EM has limited use in Australia, it
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Home Detention is an alternative to incarceration where the offender serves their sentence in a confined area at an approved residence for a specific period of time, pursuant to the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act. Although often given to offenders with less serious convictions, home detention has some serious problems. These include the shift of the financial