Page 932 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
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involve the cooperation of a range of government and community agencies with on-the-ground staff to address safety and security issues such as law enforcement and security, community development and the integration and coordination of service delivery.
The physical presence of an on-the-ground project manager has enabled social engagement and inclusion, encouraging open discussion of issues and concerns. The program in and around the complexes promotes community responsibility, at the same time offering informal opportunity to engage with a range of service providers as well as members of ACT Policing. Research suggests that the justice reinvestment approach reduces offending behaviour and takes people out of the criminal justice system through policies which break the cycle of reoffending, avoid prison expenditure and make communities safer.
The high-density housing safety and security project takes a justice reinvestment approach, focusing on resourcing early intervention to reduce later costs to the community. This project provides the opportunity to devise and implement an ACT high-density housing model that addresses the key issues of criminality, health, employment, access to services and social engagement that could be transposed to other areas in the ACT. Data analysis from a variety of sources indicates the success of this project in impacting on the reduction of property crime and increasing community engagement.
As we know, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system as both victims and offenders. While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people account for 2.4 per cent of the Australian population, they make up 24 per cent of the Australian prison population. When population rates are taken into account, the rate of overrepresentation in the ACT is similar to that of other comparable jurisdictions. Research shows that overrepresentation is the result of poverty and disadvantage, flowing from historical social exclusion.
The research and data provide a consistent message as to the issues and circumstances surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the justice system. While reducing people and their experiences to percentages and numbers is problematic, they are useful indicators of trends over time and disparities as well as similarities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the non-Indigenous population. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody determined poverty as the underlying cause behind Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander overrepresentation.
This is why in 2010 the government signed the ACT’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice agreement 2010-13 with the ACT Indigenous Elected Body. This agreement is a demonstration of the ACT government’s commitment to improving law and justice outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT. The five objectives of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice agreement are: improving community safety and improving access to law and justice services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT, reducing the overrepresentation of these people in the criminal justice system as both victims
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