Sweeping reforms recommended in justice system overhaul

Accused criminals would have a reduced chance of being thrown behind bars, and parole would be granted more freely under these sweeping reforms.

Bail and parole rules will be relaxed under sweeping justice reforms. Picture: Tony Gough

Accused criminals would be bailed more easily, and have less chance of being thrown behind bars, under sweeping recommendations to overhaul the state’s justice system.

Parole would also be granted more freely, and home detention introduced as an alternative to jail as part of wide-ranging reforms recommended by the Victorian Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee.

In a report tabled on Thursday, following its inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system, the committee has urged the state government adopt a more rehabilitation-focused approach to justice.

Among a raft of sweeping reforms, it has recommended:

• A review of bail laws to ease current tests for bail and give judicial officers more discretion to release accused people back into the community

• Expanding the eligibility to diversionary programs even for repeat offenders

• Using more community based sentencing instead of short jail terms, and

• Introducing home detention orders for a wide range of offences

Sentencing laws would be overhauled with courts also ordered to take into account “unique systemic and background factors” affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Adrian Ernest Bayley received a life sentence for murder and rape of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher.

Changes to parole laws, which were overhauled in the wake of Jill Meagher’s murder by parolee killer Adrian Bayley, have also been recommended.

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 hadn’t been completed due to limited availability.

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.

“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,” committee chair Fiona Patten 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.”

Fiona Patten is pushing for urgent justice reforms. Picture: David Crosling

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

The committee received 170 submissions and held eight days of public hearings involving more than 90 witnesses.

It found changes to the state’s bail system in 2013, and again in 2017-18 had led to a massive rise in the number of people on remand.

The figure had almost tripled to just under 3,000 by 2019.

“The purpose of bail is to keep the community safe from high-risk offenders,” Ms Patten said.

“Denying bail to so many has disproportionately impacted women, Aboriginal Victorians, children and young people, and people living with disability.”

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien said Victoria’s criminal justice system was the worst in the country.

And he said the recommendations to ease parole and bail laws was a “backward step for safety”.

“It is not even a decade since the horrific murder of Jill Meagher, committed by a criminal released on parole,” he said.

“The community revulsion to that crime led to a significant tightening of parole laws to keep Victorians safer.

“Protection of the community must remain paramount. We owe it to the memory of Jill Meagher and to all Victorians to not go back to what failed us before.”

Mr O’Brien said the inquiry missed an opportunity to address critical failing in the “worst criminal justice system in the country.”

A state government spokesperson said it would carefully consider each recommendation in the report.