Page 931 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
is central to the way that the ACT government can continue its fight against crime. It is a pity Mr Hanson spent his valuable time focusing on one event rather than exploring the subject matter of the matter of public importance in a positive way.
The commitment to continuously building on a broad and in-depth body of evidence will result in an informed, whole-of-government response to reducing crime, as the minister said. This evidence base must also include a range of evidence sources, including statistical analysis, qualitative interviews with program providers and recipients and stakeholder consultations with the community, government and non-government agencies.
I will outline a few of the many evidence-based activities which the government has undertaken and which are aimed at reducing crime. A key source of evidence vital to the ACT’s evidence-based approach to reducing crime is the ACT criminal justice statistical profile. There is a data set that has been collected by the ACT government for over a decade. This profile is a historical series of crime data compiled quarterly by the legislation and policy branch of the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate. It provides trends in recorded crime offences in the Australian Capital Territory. The profile contains vital data from ACT Policing, the Community Services Directorate’s youth justice unit, ACT Corrective Services, the ACT law courts and the Restorative Justice Unit. This data reports the varying levels of crime in the ACT for government, relevant government agencies and the public.
The profile, along with many other evidence bases, is used to inform approaches to policy and program decision making within government. For example, public housing estates have increasingly become the site of economic and social disadvantage, physical deterioration and crime. There is evidence that disadvantaged people are more likely to be both the perpetrators and the victims of crime and that concentrations of economically disadvantaged young males in particular areas are a major factor in crime. The research indicates that those areas with falling crime trends have intensive tenant involvement and strong community partnerships in place. This may include a visible local police presence and/or a range of community development work and early intervention programs.
Research undertaken by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute indicates that successful intervention places emphasis on contemporary community renewal programs with interagency and whole-of-government approaches. This evidence has provided the basis for the development of the government’s high-density housing safety and security project which is a multi-agency, collaborative response to addressing crime and antisocial behaviour in high-density housing complexes.
The high-density housing safety and security project is a collaboration between the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, the Health Directorate, the Community Services Directorate and ACT Policing. It is designed to improve the lives of and reduce recidivism rates for residents living in seven high-density housing sites on Ainslie Avenue. It addresses safety and security concerns under the following objectives: improving personal safety and reducing crime, enhancing housing and physical environment, integrating access to government and non-government services and promoting health and wellbeing. The project has three interlinked elements that
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video