Page 3280 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 21 August 2018
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including mothers—children and youth, and residents who have had contact with or are at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system. I am pleased to report that the recently released evaluation by the Australian Institute of Criminology confirmed that the program is reducing crime and building community resilience. It reduced violent crime by 50 per cent, property crime by 60 per cent and disturbance incidents by 49 per cent. It also demonstrated increased levels of social cohesion amongst the high and complex needs residents.
The report by the Australian Institute of Criminology identified not only those crime outcomes but underlined the social benefits and also the financial benefits. Just on those numbers alone the simple reduction in call-outs to ACT Policing has had a significant impact on their workload and, therefore, their ability to address other matters as needed.
The government has also committed $152,000 to establish the Warrumbul court and the Children’s Court. The Warrumbul sentencing court—meaning “youth” in Ngunnawal—will be a culturally sensitive sentencing experience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. The highly skilled and specially trained panel members who are guided by restorative principles will help these young people to tell their story to the court in a culturally safe and respectful environment.
Under the guidance of a panel of elders, young people will be helped to understand the circumstances and underlying reasons behind their offending behaviours, who has been harmed and what can be done to make things rights. Through the process the panel of elders has the opportunity to work collaboratively with the ACT criminal justice system and identify gaps in support programs and services provided in the community and in custody.
Through the experience of the Galambany court, new culturally relevant and sensitive support programs have been established based upon needs identified by the court. This experience is expected to continue in terms of young people through the Warrumbul Circle Sentencing Court.
Finally in this space I want to talk about the $434,000 for the continued development of and operationalising of initiatives within the justice reinvestment program. The government will provide support to develop the recidivism reduction plan that will aim to reduce recidivism by 25 per cent by 2025. This will include funding for a range of legislative, policy and program initiatives within government and the community that will prevent or reduce people’s contact with the justice system. That work will come forward in several forms, and I expect to be able to present bills to the Assembly through the course of this financial year, as well as other policy initiatives. I look forward to the Assembly’s continued support for this approach to justice reinvestment.
I also flag under this area of the justice portfolio that the government will invest $557,000 over two years to upgrade the Human Rights Commission’s digital capabilities and implement a single case management system. This will enable the commission to improve the performance of their functions, to make them able to
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