Page 1198 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
victim—as the research indicates that victims feel a greater level of restoration, acknowledgement and closure associated with restorative justice compared to conventional sentencing practices—and more beneficial for the community in terms of reduced cost in the justice system overall.
So the government is focused on undertaking this work. If it means that we can stem and, over time, reduce the costs associated with incarceration, if it means that we can further reduce levels of recidivist behaviour and if it means that victims feel better supported and better acknowledged through the justice system then these are beneficial reforms to undertake. This program and this justice reform strategy will give us the tools and the analysis we need to progress those future reforms.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Attorney, can you expand on the drivers and components of the justice system that the review will be examining?
MR CORBELL: The issues around sentencing and the interaction with criminal behaviours, particularly social and economic drivers, is a complex one. The review will focus on a broad range of issues, including the adequacy of the existing sentencing options, particularly in the context of the decision to decommission the periodic detention centre at Symonston and the repeal of periodic detention as a sentencing option. It will also look at mechanisms for addressing reoffending and making the justice system more efficient and effective. It will look at opportunities to reinvest resources towards primary crime prevention. So the principles of justice reinvestment now need to take a further step up and we need to look at how we can divert funding that is currently spent at the bottom of the cliff in dealing with the consequences of crime and invest more of those resources into preventing crime from occurring in the first place.
We need to undertake comprehensive research and evaluation. That is why the government is making such a strong investment in this program—to engage with the leaders, with the experts in the field, from an academic perspective, a legal stakeholder perspective and the perspectives of the judiciary, the police, victims of crime and the broader community.
We need to make sure that we have recommendations on the table that can drive future decisions on the part of the government. The overall reform agenda is placed to be a two-year program of intensive work and analysis to deliver options to government in 2016.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Attorney-General, has the review been prompted by community concerns regarding what the DPP described as manifestly inadequate sentences?
MR CORBELL: No, it has not, and I think that Mr Hanson puts the DPP’s comments out of context. From time to time, the DPP will comment on individual circumstances where he believes that sentences are manifestly inadequate, but the DPP would also assert that it is properly the role of the courts, and in particular the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video