Victorian election 2022: why relaxing parole laws will be an election talking point

Law and order looks set to be a key issue ahead of the Victorian election, but not for reasons we’d expect.

Despite best intentions, law and order looks set to become a key issue of this year’s state election.

Both major parties have been keen to stay away from the politically sensitive topic.

This is true especially of the Liberals, whose focus on African gang crime in the lead-up to the 2018 election spectacularly missed the mark.

Indeed the party’s own review of its 2018 campaign found the issue “became a distraction for some key voters who saw it as a political tactic rather than an authentic problem”.

It’s been easy to ignore the issue given overall crime rates in Victoria have fallen dramatically due to Covid.

There are, however, warnings that crime will again increase to pre-pandemic levels given restrictions have been eased.

Proposed law reforms — including parole — will be a talking point of the upcoming state election.

But that’s not what’s set to thrust the issue into the forefront of voters’ minds come November.

Instead it’s the sweeping and wide-ranging reforms recommended by the Victorian parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee in a recent report.

If each of the committee’s 100 recommendations were adopted, Victoria’s criminal justice system would be comprehensively overhauled.

Accused criminals would be bailed more easily.

Repeat offenders would be eligible for diversionary programs.

Community based sentences and home detention would replace short stints behind bars.

Other recommendations have called for better training for police and PSOs, the use of more cautions, and an overhaul of court buildings to make them more victim-friendly.

Victims of sex crimes would also have a dedicated appeal scheme to contest decisions to drop prosecutions while the appointment of judicial officers would become more transparent.

The government has also been urged to investigate a statewide, 24-hour bail system specifically for children.

Victoria's parole laws were strengthened in the wake of Jill Meagher’s murder.

It is the recommendations to ease Victoria’s parole laws, which were strengthened in the wake of Jill Meagher’s murder by parolee killer Adrian Bayley, that will prove most controversial. Under the changes, parole would automatically be granted for sentences under five years.

And the Adult Parole Board would have the discretion to grant parole even in cases where prerelease programs haven’t been completed due to limited availability.

It has been less than a decade since tens of thousands of people marched in the streets to honour Meagher and other victims of violence.

Parole laws were tightened following a review into the system by former High Court judge Ian Callinan, who proposed only those violent criminals, serious sex offenders and burglars who have a “negligible” chance of reoffending should be given parole.

How quickly we forget.

Committee chair Fiona Patten said the recommendations were centred around adopting a more rehabilitation-focused approach to justice.

Jill Meagher.

“We need urgent work to improve the way we deliver justice, to ensure community safety, and to find modern solutions to reduce offending and reoffending,” she said.

“Cautions and court-based diversions are key mechanisms to divert people away from the criminal justice system, however currently their application is inconsistent and often at the discretion of the attending officer.

“The government’s priorities should be focused on supporting victims of crime, rehabilitation of offenders, circumventing recidivism, ending over-representation of Aboriginal people in our jails, and ensuring early intervention for those who are disadvantaged.”

The committee’s report concluded that the existing punitive approach to criminal behaviour was “not reducing crime or improving community safety”.

Justice Reform Initiative executive director Mindy Sotiri urged the Victorian government to endorse and act upon the recommendations as an important first step towards long-overdue reform.

“Recidivism rates show very clearly that prison doesn’t work to reduce reoffending,” she said. “In Victoria, 44 per cent of people will return to prison within two years following release. “Jailing is failing – it fails to deter, it fails to rehabilitate and consequently fails to protect the community in any systemic sense.”

Such an approach will suit Labor, whose record weighs in favour of tackling the causes of crime to reduce reoffending.

Protesters have taken to Melbourne’s streets to protest violence against women on many occasions. Picture: AAP Image/Melissa Iaria.

But it risks alienating voters who support punitive measures.

The Liberals on the other hand are much more inclined to back punitive measures involving harsher sentencing, increased reliance on imprisonment, remand and post-sentence restriction. The government has six months to respond to the committee’s recommendations, which almost perfectly coincides with the start of the election campaign proper.

Which means the politics of law and order might again prove irresistible for both sides.

Shannon Deery is Herald Sun state politics editor